Being number one on Google doesn’t really matter. That said, most everybody has that secret desire to chant “We’re number 1, we’re number 1″ and Google, Yahoo and other search engines have clearly tapped into that part of human nature. Indeed, it never ceases to amaze me how many people will proclaim victory when they are number one on Google.
But being number one in a search engine should not be the goal of any blog or website. Your website/blog goal should be to get qualified traffic to your web site and to get those visitors to execute the behavior you want – buy, list, comment, read, sign-up, whatever it is that your site is encouraging. If they do that behavior before leaving your site – that’s victory and that’s what matters!
If getting to be number one on Google helps to reach that goal – awesome. But realize that there are many versions of search results.
If you search on Google.com you might get different results than if you search on Google.co.uk. Even if two visitors both go to Google.com, they may get different results based on Google recognizing the country of origin for their IP addresses. Football is a classic term to see the difference in search results. Football on Google.co.uk and football on Google.com may be spelled the same, but they will yield dramatically different search results.
Your search history will also impact search results. Searchers who are logged into Google – via a Gmail account, a Google Documents account, a Google Analytics account and so on – will have their search results affected by their search history. Even if you are not logged in to Google, they know what you just searched on. “Eagles” is a good word to use in testing out how this works. If you search on football and then search on eagles, the American football team will rise to the top. However, if you search on music and then eagles, your search results may vary.
With all the varieties of number one in search, I encourage folks to focus on what matters to the blog – not what matters to the ego. How many visitors came to your site via search and how many of those visitors met your goal – be it time on site, buying a product or downloading a white paper. Next, how do you get more visitors next week and how do you get more of those visitors to execute on your goal. Focus on metrics that are about business goals. If an occasional number 1 on Google comes along you can and should celebrate. But don’t celebrate for too long, because you best be thinking about how to convert all that new traffic!
Hi David,
I agree 100% with you, most people are obsessed with being number 1 in Google thinking that it is all they need to make money.
What matters if the quality of the traffic you receive not the quantity… for this reason you have to know where your traffic is coming from and it is converting, it is crucial if you want to succeed.
If you spend a lot of time trying to keep your Google rank but the traffic you are getting is not converting then you are wasting a lot of time and effort.
Tracking your traffic is key.
Thanks,
^PV Reymond
http://www.pvreymond.com/stair
I can also say that I agree. Although improving your ranking on google is very important, the most important aspect is once users get to your site, it is their perception of the company affects whether or not they continue to use it. Investing in web development and online marketing strategies are some of the ways to improve your ranking on some of the search engines.
I agree with your ideas here, though there is something to be said about having your site or blog up high in Google. The top 3 searches in Google get 80 percent more traffic that numbers 4-10 on the first page. That is a good incentive to work on the SEO!