Research from search and social analytics software company, Searchmetrics, has found that Manchester United’s website is the most visible Premier League website when it comes to Google UK searches. In its analysis into the online visibility of 20 Premier League teams’ sites Searchmetrics also discovered that though Manchester United have the most visible website rivals Chelsea Football Club lead the way when it comes to visibility on social networks.
Using an SEO Visibility Score to measure how prominently and frequently websites rank in Google UK search results, Manchester United scored an impressive 44,954, with runners up Arsenal racking up 42,784, followed by Liverpool and Chelsea with 32,176 and 30,547 respectively. Current Premier League champions, Manchester City, ranked sixth with an SEO Visibility of 14,974.
Marcus Tober, founder and CTO of Searchmetrics explained: “When it comes to the web, in many ways Premier League football clubs act like media businesses. They try to attract visitors and fans to their official sites where they can engage with them and potentially sell tickets, hospitality packages and merchandise. They compete with newspaper publishers, broadcasters and online media, making visibility in search engines and social media a vital part of their online marketing.
“Our study shows, some clubs are doing really well with their search engine optimisation (SEO) and social networking strategies, but others are falling behind. This could potentially affect revenues and who knows - possibly even their ability to bring in money for players and hence performance on the pitch.”
Social network visibility was measured using a Social Visibility score based on how often content from a website is shared, liked, Tweeted, etc. Chelsea were found to be leading the way with a Social Visibility score of 50,363,039, much of Chelsea’s lead is down to a strong Google+ presence which was found to be responsible for 68 per cent of Chelsea’s social shares.
Tober added: “Social media is the perfect forum for clubs to engage with fans and what’s interesting is how some clubs, such as Chelsea and Liverpool have embraced newer networks such as Google+. This not only spreads their content further, but many SEO specialists believe Google+ activity plays a role in determining Google’s search engine rankings.”