The Lure of Being #1 in Google :: SEO Priorities Philly Area

Article: The Lure of Being #1 in Google
By Julie Friedman Bacchini

“I want my business to be #1 in Google!”

At first blush, who wouldn’t? But if you have ever found yourself saying the above words with stars in your eyes, it’s time to ground yourself back to reality with these three simple truths:

Search engine optimization is about sales, not ranking. You should search engine optimize your website not to become #1 in Google, but so that your target market can find you and buy from you. After all, you could generate 10,000 visits a day from the search engines, but if none of them are potential customers you have wasted your money. You could generate just 100 visits a day, but if they are all champing at the bit to buy your product, you could be rolling in profit. Search engine optimization is a question of quality, not quantity.
Search engine optimization is a highly competitive game. Type in the word “accountant” into Google. See how many results come up? As of the writing of this article, it was 38,400,000. That means that if you are an accountant and you want to come up in the top 10 on Google for that term, you have to beat out 38,399,990 other web pages. Wow. That’s fierce competition. When you realize what you are up against, you can modify your expectations to be more realistic. No longer is it a question of “I need to be #1 on Google for all the best keywords,” but “I need to generate X-amount of qualified traffic by various means and through various sources in order to maintain a viable and growing business.”
Search engine optimization is an ongoing process. Face the facts: even if you achieved #1 Google placement on Monday for one of your best keywords, you could drop in the rankings on Tuesday and be out of the running on Wednesday. The Web is a constantly changing place, and how your site is ranked for various keywords is more variable than the weather. That is why search engine optimization requires ongoing tracking, analysis, and testing. The goal is not to get to #1 placement on Google for a day, but to maintain a strategic and targeted web presence 24-7-365.

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About the Author:

Julie Friedman Bacchini is President of Neptune Moon Design (www.NeptuneMoon.com), a full-service agency providing businesses and non-profit organizations with custom web designs, web site marketing plans, and strategic search engine optimization (SEO), all designed to build brand recognition, increase site traffic, and generate leads, clients, and revenue. Be sure to visit NeptuneMoon.com to read additional articles that will help you reach your business goals!