GOV.UK Search Traffic Increases After Campaign

The GOV.UK platform has seen an increase in search traffic after the Government Digital Service (GDS) launched a clampdown campaign on misleading fake official websites earlier this week.

The Thunderclap programme used social media and networking sites to encourage people to start their search on the official government website when looking for services offered by Whitehall.

Following the launch, the Cabinet Office has released figures that have revealed an increasing number of searches for key government services on GOV.UK.

According to the statistics, the platform has a 72% market share of the top 20 passport-related searches – up 43% from last year.

The document claims that the majority of false websites are now closed or receiving very little traffic and no new sites have appeared, nor are they active in paid search.

Of the top 20 driving test searches, 74% are now going to GOV.UK compared with 56% in the autumn and 69% of click through activity went to the site in total, compared with 41% in the autumn.

For National Insurance numbers searches, GOV.UK and HMRC took 64% of the market share compared to 46% in the autumn.

“Still Work To Be Done”

“Many sites existing in the autumn seem to be active in paid and organic search and receiving traffic and work will continue to address these issues,” claimed the Cabinet Office.

“Insofar as possible, GOV.UK ranks highly in search engine results for the most popular keywords relating to government services,” it added.

However, the Department has also noted that it has no budget for paid search activity and boosting visibility, but it claims to be optimising the portal to rank highly in search engine results.

© 24N.biz