On the Blueclaw blog this week, we’re going to be looking at the technology and entertainment sector, including internet, mobile phones and TV packages.

Today, we’re analysing the broadband search market, and we’ll be evaluating the search presence of Plusnet using our MarketScout tool.

But first, here’s some information about the search trends around broadband related phrases.

Here we can see the search trend for the phrase ‘broadband deals’, a popular search phrase which now averages over 60,000 searches per month. It’s clear to see that there has been a substantial uplift in the trend since late 2011, which may be down to consumers becoming more aware of the opportunities available to them with regards to who they choose as their provider. Also, there are a number of comparison sites available to the consumer now, allowing them to make a more informed choice.

Continuing with our look at search trends, here’s what the trends around ‘mobile broadband’ look like.

Interestingly, here we can see that searches for ‘mobile broadband’ were at their peak for just about a year around March/April 2008, before dropping off. Despite the apparent considerable decrease in popularity, there is still an average of 8,000 searches per month. However, it is difficult to see why anyone would need mobile broadband now, with home broadband deals considerably cheaper than they were in the past, and with many public places including bars, restaurants and trains providing free Wi-Fi access. Also, the emergence of 4G and the development of technology has meant that mobile devices are a lot faster when accessing the internet than they ever have been.

Now we return to look at the report from MarketScout, our competitor analysis tool, where we’ve run off some data using www.plus.net as our referring domain. We have based the report on the top 100 keywords around ‘broadband deals’.

From the first page of the report we can see that Plusnet are performing considerably well, particularly in comparison to other service providers. They rank for 81 of the top 100 keyphrases identified later on in the report, and in terms of the number of rankings, only find themselves behind comparison sites Uswitch, BroadbandChoices and MoneySuperMarket.

From an off-site perspective, again Plusnet perform well and make the top 10. They are only “out-Trust Flowed” by the price comparison sites, Uswitch, Confused and MoneySuperMarket, along with publications The Telegraph and The Mirror, with the only competitors out-doing them being Virgin Media and Sky. In order to increase their Trust Flow, Plusnet should look to increase the number of links from strong and relevant domains.

From a Topical Equity point of view, once again Plusnet perform well, with the Computers/Internet category their most prominent topic. This is the topic which drives the industry the most, however Plusnet would benefit from having content and links around the Business/Telecommunication topic as this is another area which has significant weighting in this industry.

Finally, we look at the keywords around ‘broadband deals’ which plus.net is currently ranking for. The keyphrases here are colour coded in a traffic light system, with red meaning the SERP is competitive, orange meaning it would require some work for the site to rank in it, and green keyphrases mean that it would be easy for the site to rank for it. Arguably the easiest and most relevant phrases which Plusnet should look to rank for are the “best broadband deals UK” and “top 10 broadband deals”.

If you would like a MarketScout analysis for your website, then get in touch with us and a member of our team will be in touch.