Is SEO All About Rankings?
Ok, so nobody is denying that keyphrase rankings in Google and other search engines is important, but we do need to set some things straight!
1. My SEO Company Can Guarantee Me Page 1 Google Rankings
We’ve all received junk emails and promises from companies who guarantee us 1st page rankings on Google. However, more often than not, SEO companies offering 1st page guarantees can live up to these promises by using irrelevant keyphrases for your business.
So, while you might get ranking on page 1 of Google, it is likely that the keyphrase/s are not relevant and therefore, will not bring in the right types of visitors to increase your sales and enquiries.
Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!
2. Once A Visitor Clicks onto My Website They Will Become A New Customer
The first key point here takes us back to relevancy. Any successful SEO campaign will be built on strong, relevant keyphrase foundations that are appropriate to your business. The more relevant your website’s traffic, the more likely a user is to convert into a lead or sale – but unfortunately this doesn’t happen 100% of the time!
The second key point here is that SEO isn’t a magic wand for good UX and design on your website. SEO is largely about driving relevant traffic to your website, however, once a user is there – the success of obtaining a lead or sale will highly depend on your website itself. Trust us, we’ve all been ‘put-off’ by a website if it was ‘outdated’ or hard to navigate. Don’t let your website’s structure and design let your SEO down!
3. The Best Place To Hide A Dead Body Is On The 2nd Page Of Google
There’s no escaping the fact that page 1 is the ultimate ranking goal for SEO. However, it’s vital to remember that if a search engine user is serious about a product or service, they are very likely to be searching deeper than just the 1st page results.
This means that pages 2 and 3 of Google are still very important in reaching new business opportunities and as such, you should continue to work hard on your on and off page SEO. Then over time, you may even find that your rankings even improve.
Evidence suggests that the top ranking positions on pages 2 and 3 of Google have similar high CTRs as page 1.
4. Zero-Click Search Results
Once upon a time in the land of SEO, Google used to have a traditional list of 10 organic ranking positions per search engine results page (SERP). These days are long over, as Google has pushed other aspects of their online marketing, and as a result, the number of organic ranking positions has gone down to sometimes down to as little as 6 or 7.
The zero-click search results are Google’s way of enhancing their UX for visitors so that they can spend more time on Google. Whether it’s Google Maps, Local, Ads, Shopping, Answer Boxes – Google really does have an answer to everything.
The best thing to do here, is to continue to ensure that your SEO stacks up and you may even just get featured in one of their feature boxes or similar.
So, with these things in mind you should continue to aim for page 1 rankings BUT if you are trying to rank well for a relevant keyphrase then you need to take it a step further and ensure that your high traffic volumes are converting into sales.