Why Being Number 1 On Google Isn’t Always Best

This may be a strange strange statement coming from an SEO Consultant, but being number 1 in google search results isn’t always helping your business.

I have clients that say to me every week, ” I want to rank number 1 on Google for ………”.

My common response is why?

Have you carried out research to show if that keyword is going to bring traffic to your website?

Here are the questions you need to ask when targeting keywords that you want to rank for on Google (or any other search engine)

 

1.  Is the keyword being used by my potential customers?  

If not, then it isn’t going to bring you any business.  It may be a popular keyword but being used in another context.  A simple example is “Apple”.  It would be pointless for a fruit store to target “apple” as it is most commonly being used by people looking for information on apple computers and software.

 

2.  How many people are using that keyword in search engines?

It is pointless targeting a keyword that is only being used on a small number of occasions.  You need to carry out your research to determine how many people are using that keyword in Google search per month.  Some free tools to help you with this are Google Keyword Planner, Google Trends and Wordtracker.

 

3.  How competitive is the keyword?

If it is very competitive, it is going to be harder to get top rankings as you are going to be competing against websites with huge budgets and who probably have a very strong backlink structure.  Look for long-tailed keywords that have a good sized search volume but aren’t as competitive.  Long-tailed keywords are simply keywords that are a phrase and contain 3 or more words. eg. “buy fruit online in Sydney” is a long tail keyword phrase.

 

Remember, you only want top rankings in Google because they are going to bring traffic to your website.  And traffic from people that are your potential customers because ideally you want those visitors that click onto your website to buy from you, either now or in the future.

If you need any help and would like us to carry out the keyword research for you please get in touch.