We hear many clients and newcomers that they have been told from marketing and web companies even some so called studios….”We can guarantee you First Page Results on Google within 2 months”. Like dangling at carrot these companies are clearly targeting customers who think its the bees knees to have this result. Before you get conned, step back and think why do I want to get number 1 in Google?
“Because it’s good to be there isn’t it? It means my website is the best out there.”
Well, no, it doesn’t. Why do you really want to be Number 1 in Google?
“Everyone wants to be Number 1 don’t they? If I’m right at the top everyone will see my business and customers will come flooding to my website in their thousands.”
They might. But it depends what you’re top for. Have you thought what you would like to be at top for on Google?
“My company, 123Finance Limited, comes top on Google when you type in ‘123Finance Limited’. That’s pretty impressive isn’t it?”
No, frankly, it is not. How many other websites do you think are competing for the phrase ‘123Finance Limited’? There won’t be very many unless there are others out there who share your company name. Why is being top for your company name any use?
“Because people looking for us on Google will find our website”.
Big deal. You need to be found by the thousands of people already out there looking for what you provide that don’t know your company name. They don’t know what you look like. They don’t know where you’re based. They don’t even know you exist! What sorts of search phrases do you think they will be typing in on Google?
“Phrases like ‘finance loans’, ‘finance sales’ and things like that?”
Are you listed Number 1 on Google for phrases like that?
“No. We’re nowhere to be seen. So tell us how do we get Number 1 on Google?”
There is no simple solution or “secret” and we certainly would not offer a guarantee, 3 reasons why:
Reason 1 – There Are No Insider Secrets
Getting a high listing on Google, or any other search engine, is a combination of hard work, having the right phrases on your website, having lots of great updating content on your website, having lots of other highly-ranked websites linking to you and having your website built in the right way. There are no short-cuts and no insider-secrets.
Reason 2 – Number 1 on Google should be a small piece of your Marketing
If you focus on getting Number 1 on Google and nothing else it will never happen. You need to focus on all the other elements we mentioned above and especially on developing reciprocal links with other relevant websites. Remember – the top website marketing experts in the world (who do nothing else but market websites day-in, day-out) only attract around 15% of their website visitors from search engines. This is not because their websites don’t have a high ranking in the search engines (because they do and many of them will have that elusive Number 1 spot!) – it’s because they attract so much more traffic from other places such as directories, associates’ websites, reciprocal links etc.
Reason 3 – It’s Too Dangerous
Have you heard the phrase “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket”?
And yet day after day I hear people asking how they can get top on Google. People become obsessive about it and many derive their entire livelihood from visitors they get from Google searches. The result? When Google makes a big change to the algorithm which is how they rank the websites in their index (which they did in November 2011) many of these Google-dependent businesses actually WENT UNDER. That’s right – bankrupted because of an over-night change made by the powers that be at Google.
So yes – search engines, and Google in particular, should be an important part of your online marketing mix. But nothing more than that – just one small part of the bigger whole