Search engine optimization (SEO) seems to have become a more popular topic than pay-per-click (PPC) during recent months, research suggests.

According to SEO agency Hitsearch, the number of searches for the term SEO have outstripped those for PPC over the last 12 months - on Google at least.

Using the search engine's relatively new Google Trends search tool, it shows that not only has SEO become a more popular search term among users, but that its popularity has seen significant growth.

But considering it only refers to Google searches, can we really read that much into the results.

With Google commanding around 90 per cent of all the UK's online search activity, these results seem a pretty unprecedented indication of the growing importance of SEO.

Internet marketing company SEO 1 claimed earlier this month that PPC is now second to SEO in terms of cost effectiveness.

Is it possible the world of UK online business is finally waking up to this fact?

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