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We all know that when it comes to ranking, it's easy to be number one at Google for your own name spelt backwards. What fun! No traffic!
But what if your reports show that you're in the top 10 for so many relevant keywords and keyword phrases, and still you get little or no traffic? It's a known fact that people rarely (if ever) click through to the second page of search engine results. And researchers have identified patterns of query chains, in which end users prefer to reformulate the query than scroll down the page.
Here's an interesting example from a month or so back. Take a look at this screenshot of a search for "iron man" There's only one result above the fold. What happens if you're number 10 or 9 or 8? You're still less likely to be found. If you sell "Iron Man" merchandise, being in the top 10 organic results may not be so beneficial. So you may have to pay to compete and become visible.
Look at this search for "bed and breakfast New York." What's the number-one result here? Would you rather be in the top 10 organic results or the 10 local results pushing the organic listings below the fold?
For the future, we must think more about visibility and screen real estate. Where can we position ourselves to be most visible?
And think about this: local listings don't necessarily rely on a crawler coming to your Web site. A number-one ranking video from YouTube doesn't rely on a crawler coming to your site. And end users are sending strong signals to search engines with their bookmarking, tagging, and rating. Again, no crawler or textbook SEO involved.
It's time to provide our clients new strategies, new tactics, and new products and services. So, I'll continue to through out some of my thoughts, simple as they may be to start with. Please join me over here and add your thoughts. |
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