Number 1 Rank in Google Is Not the Goal

Number 1 Rank in Google Is Not the Goal

I am bombarded with emails from companies all over the world, often in broken English, proclaiming they can get me to the number #1 position in Google. Clients of mine report receiving several calls a month from telemarketers making the same claim. Getting a #1 position is easy and it shows well to a customer, but it often does no good for the customer.

Getting to #1 is NOT the goal. The goal is to get visitors which become customers.

You are probably already #1 in Google for some keywords. Try searching for your company name and city name. Unless your company has a very commonplace name (ex Al's Plumbing, witch has 30+ pages of results all for Al's Plumbing), you should be at or near the top of that search result. If you are not, try pasting a sentence or two from your web page content into Google and again you should in most cases be at or near the top. Try searching your domain name.

The problem is that a new and prospective customer would never use these searches to find you. A prospective customer, searching for your products and services would not be looking for you if they already know who you are. They are not going to type in a lengthy full sentence into their search that just happens to match a sentence on your website. If they know your domain name, why search for it? These cases are extreme examples of "worthless keywords". A "worthless keyword" is a keyword that has little to no searches performed for that keyword by real users.

If a keyword is rarely used, then ranking at the top position will rarely get you a visit and has no value, i.e. "worthless". These keywords will not bring traffic to your site - no traffic, no one to convert into a customer.

While the two searches above are extreme cases, it is also very common to find worthless keywords that are less obvious. Take the case of an auto repair company in my city of Riverside, CA. Riverside is the 12th largest city in California, 61st in the US. It has a population of 303,871 and the number of cars is probably higher than the population. We love our cars here in Southern California! It would seem obvious that "Auto Shops Riverside" would be a worthwhile keyword but this keyword has no search volume.

No volume, says who? Google says so. They should know. Google provides keyword research tools that indicate monthly search volumes for given keywords. The easiest Google search tool to use is located at https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

The key to success in being found online is to find keywords that are used frequently and then to rank well for those words. A keyword with high usage by real users is a "worthy keyword". By ranking well for a worthy keyword, you will get a volume of search visits. Take "Auto Repair Riverside" which has a monthly search volume of 1,600 searches. The difference between searching on "Auto Shops Riverside" and "Auto Repair Riverside" is huge! The top spot in Google for "Auto Repair Riverside" keyword is going to get a lot of visits. Depending on which statistics you believe in, at least 500 monthly visits to as high as 900 visits per month. That is a lot of traffic for a small auto shop's website. "Auto Repair Riverside is a very worthy keyword and is worth optimizing for.

The process of determining which keywords are best for a particular situation is called "Keyword Research" and should be the focus of any new search campaign. Failing to do good solid keyword research will lead to wasted time and efforts optimizing for worthless keywords. If you are expending effort to rank for worthless keywords, being #1 has actually hurt your business through the loss of time, money and opportunity costs.

When you are evaluating an SEO company make sure they can show you their keyword research and estimated visits each word can bring to your site. They should also be able to show you where you are likely to place in the ranks. Sometimes a #3 or lower result is still a worthwhile effort if the search volume is high enough. Number 1 Rank in Google Is Not the Goal - Spasat General Business Directory - SEO Directory Business -  Business Directory