Who does SEO in Spain? A cybermetric methodology for the construction of company universes

Abstract

Due to their widespread use, search engines, and specifically Google, are extremely important to attract qualified traffic and thereby achieve the commercial objectives of corporations. Search engine optimization (SEO) allows enhanced connection of corporate websites with their audiences through search engines, using certain keywords. This study describes a methodology to determine the most important Spanish companies offering SEO services to third parties, representing an exploratory study of applied cybermetrics for the construction of a universe of companies. One of the relevant results of this work is the design of an information retrieval strategy based on a statistical analysis of search terms and the performance of geolocated searches in all the provincial capitals and Spanish cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants. After cleaning and reviewing the unique URLs, it is concluded that there are 1,043 companies offering SEO services in Spain positioned in Google. These are basically companies with more than one person, operating from a single location, and that offer other services in their portfolio together with SEO. In addition to providing a starting point for future research on the SEO sector in Spain, this research proposes a methodology for the creation of study universes of brands or companies.