First search engine results page, everybody I speak with as a SEO expert wants to appear there there. Many of my clients or students welcome me with the greeting “I want to be ranked number one in Google, can you help me?” Most of the time they expect one sentence as the answer. They are very surprised to learn being displayed or ranked number one on the first search engine results page has no value at all if you are missing traffic coming to your website, no visitor becomes a client, or nobody reads your blog. Also there is a difference between paid search and organic (natural) search.
Search engine optimization mainly helps with your organic search results.
- People type in the search term in the search engines search bar and choose from the results displayed.
- The first three results, coming up underneath the search bar and in the side bar are paid search results.
Sounds confusing, right? As an SEO consultant it is tough not to use technical search engine optimization terms to explain a very technical process. I use examples my students and clients share with me.
In this case, it helps to explain the fine difference between being on the first search engine results page, being ranked on the first engine results page or getting traffic to your site.
The Fine Line Between Being Seen on the First Page of Google, Being Ranked or Getting Traffic
In my last seminar a student shared with me proudly that he has set up a website under the keyword “Advanced Training for Insurance Companies” and was displayed on the first page of Google.
[bctt tweet=”You’re ranked number one? So what?”]
Let us name him George for this example.
- George just started to establish himself in South Florida and wanted to offer website design and search engine optimization services to his clients.
- He came to my seminar to better understand what he was doing right and things he could improve.
- George described how he thought about this specific keyword and it just felt right to him. You could hear on the way he spoke about it that he really deeply enjoyed doing his job and setting up his business.
- He looked in my face waiting to hear praise and compliments from the SEO expert about his keyword choice.
I am from Europe and we speak about everything in a very straight forward manner.
It can be a bit challenging for me with my students and clients as I can see their excitement and passion for their business but their SEO has not been done properly. SEO is a very technical topc and I guide my clients and students to find their online potential and to change the belief that they know the right keyword for their business purpose.
Being Displayed on the First Search Engine Results Page
What does it mean to be displayed on the first search engine results page on Google, Bing or Yahoo for example?
It means to my, as a SEO expert and also to you everything on your website that you –
- wrote (text content),
- designed (image content),
- recorded (audio content) and/or
- video taped (video content)
– is an excellent fit for the search term the online visitors were looking for!
In our example the keyword George wrote content for was “Advanced Training for Insurance Companies”.
That’s all we know at this point. If he is displayed on the first page of Google, Bing or Yahoo then at this point all it means that his content fits the searched term.
Being Ranked Number One In Google
Let’s assume George used the keyword well through the page or site. He is seen as authority for the search term “Advanced Training for Insurance Companies” by other online visitors. He would have a good chance to be displayed number one in a ranking report for this specific search term. But without having the ranking report in your hands and only from looking at the first search engine results page YOU REALLY DON’T KNOW.
Increase Web Site Traffic And Convert Visitors To Clients
To make sure you have a chance to get the right traffic with a good demand to your web site you need to do a niche and market research.
- If you are looking for keywords to write blog posts, a keyword research is needed.
- You can do it on your own by using the free Google or Bing Keyword Tool or ask a SEO expert to do it for you.
- Only a keyword with a demand (meaning people searching for this term already) will bring you traffic to your site.
- By providing content that is the answer people looking for, your conversion rate from online visitor to customer will increase immense.
- If both aren’t the case, I would suggest to do an SEO review. In most cases it means that your website’s focus isn’t clear enough for the search engines nor your online visitors.
Do you like what you read and feel the desire to discuss other SEO questions with me as your SEO expert, check out if your SEO and social media activity fits together.
If you want to check how your website can be better search engine optimized, reach me through my contact me page or just book NOW your life changing one hour SEO business strategy coaching session.