Search engine optimisation (SEO) performed more strongly than contextual advertising and multimedia commercials in the latter stages of 2006, WebProNews has revealed.

Techniques such as paid search and mailing list adverts were the most consistent performers with 49 per cent and 47 per cent of respondents respectively citing them as reliable options for online marketing.

SEO ranked third with 45 per cent of marketing managers citing it as a well-performing technique in the research, which was conducted by MarketingSherpa in January.

WebProNews reporter David Utter said: "SEO made a double-digit gain, going from 33 to 45 per cent year over year."

"A shift in approach to SEO, maybe with a reduced paid search presence in favour of that change, could be the marketing trend of 2007," he added.

Up to a quarter of marketing managers expect to spend money on SEO in the coming 12 months, the research showed.

The same percentage said they expected to spend on rich media advertisements in the next year, despite multimedia commercials receiving support from 17 per cent fewer firms.