Is Being Number 1 In Google All It's Cracked Up
To Be?
Author: Frank Orman

Anyone who has ever even heard the phrase `search engine
optimisation' will have experienced, largely through countless
spam emails, adverts promising you the number 1 spot on 10 major
search engines (we're not even convinced there are 10 major
search engines) within a month or two. It's nonsense, and the
scam here is that you're often top for search terms that no one
will ever search for, but I digress: The adverts indicate that
the desirable number 1 spot in Google is all important for your
online marketing, but is that really true?

Now before you scoff and disregard this article I must stress
that ranking well for strategically chosen and targeted keywords
is all important. It's just that `well' doesn't always translate
as being `number 1'. Statistically speaking, minimal numbers
ever click past the third screen of results (although they don't
always go from Page 1 to 2 to 3 - many people look at, for
example Page1 then 4, then 9) before retreating to refine their
keywords if they don't find what they're looking for on their
first go. In fact, most people don't even click the second page,
so a top 10 ranking is definitely desirable.

That said there are definitely things that you should consider
before you spend valuable time and resources hunting that number
1 slot:

A site lower down the results page can outperform a site higher
up.

It's something of a myth that says a site's traffic numbers
from search engines is purely a result of its position. The
assumption is that the higher you are, the more traffic you get
– this isn't always true. If your titles and descriptions seem
to match the searcher's requirements, and you're still visible
you will often get the click ahead of number 1 (assuming you're
in the top 10!)

To take an example, for the search `Holidays to Istanbul' if,
in the results page, your title and description says "Low Cost
Holidays to Istanbul" but you are in the position 4, then you
are probably still likely to get more clicks into your site than
a competitor's listing that says "Low Cost Holidays to Turkey",
even if your competitor is higher up in the search engine
results page.

Page 1 on a Search Engine is not always good Value for Money

Imagine you rent a shop on the High Street. Yes, you will get
more traffic but your rent will also be very high, which means
that your profit per sale will be reduced. There are lots of
shops 2 or 3 streets behind the High Street and even further
away, who also do good business. They get lower traffic numbers
but, as their rent is much lower, their profit per sale is much
higher. Especially for niche shops, being on the High Street is
usually not good value for money.

This same analogy works for search engines. It costs more money
to optimise or PPC your site for the first page of a search
engine results page but sometimes being on a lower page will
actually prove to be a better business proposition as the costs
involved will be much lower.

Search engines aren't the only source of traffic!

Search engines aren't the only place online where people look
for your services or products. Sure, they're important and can
lead to more sales and brand awareness, but people can find your
site from other sources too: email newsletters, word of mouth,
traffic from other websites and increasingly through social
media. None of these replace the humble search engine in terms
of importance (yet!), but they do combine to provide a valuable
source of visitors, and often these may be cheaper and less time
consuming for a better quality of customer.

Site conversion and sales are more important than traffic for
traffic's sake

Let's go back a step here. Why do people care about their
Google ranking? To get more visitors. Okay, go back one step
further, why do they want more visitors? To get more sales.

Sure, top spot will, with the right title and description,
almost always get more visitors, but that's completely counter
intuitive if the users are rushing into the site, not finding
what they want and clicking out just as readily! In most cases,
it's a far better idea to spend more time and resources worrying
about site conversion strategies (look to book strategies) than
pushing for that spot higher in Google.

So perhaps it's best to stop obsessing over number 1 slot, and
be satisfied with offering the best experience you can offer.
Being number 1 is a massive ego boost, and will increase your
visibility, but there are more important issues to be concerned
with when marketing your website. Good sites will rise naturally
over time, and in the greater scheme of things a good site
conversion rate and customer experience is preferable to vast
quantities of unfocussed traffic anyway.


About The Author: Frank Orman is the managing director of
LeadGenerators (http://www.leadgenerators.co.uk) - UK online
travel marketing specialists. Focussing on site conversion, pay
per click and SEO issues, the company has achieved some
excellent results in its 4 years in business.