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Let’s begin with a joke that’s well-known by those who are in the know about SEO: Where is the best place to hide a dead body? Page 2 of Google
Whilst this is just a joke, it does highlight the importance of ranking on page 1 of Google. We live in a digital age, where consumers search Google for anything and everything, including businesses that do whatever it is that your business does.
Simply having a website and a social media presence isn’t enough to generate customers, although it is a good place to start. SEO helps your website to rank higher in search results, and this can increase sales in several ways.
Here we will take an in-depth look at how and why you should want your website on page 1. Some of these benefits may seem obvious, however, many people still underestimate the importance of them.
For small business owners, a high Google ranking can be the catalyst to success. Here are 5 benefits of ranking on Page 1 in Google search results
Benefits of ranking on page 1
1. Visibility
First and foremost, if your website is on page 1, it increases your chances to get better exposure and quality traffic that can eventually be converted into a sale. This seems fairly straight forward, but many business owners underestimate the importance of this.
So let’s take a look at the top two reasons why increased visibility on Google is so important: targeted website traffic and brand awareness.
Targeted Website Traffic
For any business website, more than 90% of Google traffic comes from page 1. Only less than 2% of people advance beyond page 2. This demonstrates how much of a disadvantage your business has by not reaching the first page on Google. After all, for people to visit your website from Google, they must first see the link to your site.
The first search result receives more than 30% of all click-through traffic. So in this regard, your position on page 1 is also an important factor. However, the website that ranks #5 on page 1 receives a significantly higher number of clicks than a website at the top of page 2
So, if your business is already on page 1, there is still a lot of opportunities to increase your organic web traffic by achieving a higher ranking. But if your business is not on page 1, getting there should be your number one priority
Brand Awareness
So it’s established that if you’re on page 1 of Google, there is a much greater likelihood that users will click on your website. But even when a user doesn’t visit your website, a high Google ranking still gives exposure to your brand name. When customers come across your business in the future, chances are that the name will ring a bell
The mere exposure effect is a psychological phenomenon that basically means that the more you see or hear something, the more you like it. There is plenty of support from psychological studies to support the mere exposure phenomenon.
So what does this mean for you? Well, even if somebody doesn’t click on your website, the brand name becomes familiar to them, and in most cases, they will like your brand more simply because they have seen the name before.
The next time that they need to find a new business that does what your business does, they are more likely to choose you. If a friend says that they are considering using your business, they are more likely to support them, simply because they have seen your brand name on Google search results.
So in short, the visibility your business gains from being on page 1 increases the number of visitors to your website, makes your brand more widely recognisable, and increases the likelihood that social media users will engage with your business page.
2. Credibility
There are two types of search results that appear on Google: paid and organic. For those who aren’t aware, we will take a quick look at what each of these is.
Paid search results
As the name suggests, paid search results come from businesses that have paid for a prime position on Google search results.
The advantage of this is that it is an easy way to ensure that more people will see a link to your site. However, the downside is that people can see that it is an ad, and you lose credibility compared to organic search results.
Organic search results
Organic search results are those that Google has selected to appear on page 1 because it believes that they have the most relevant and up to date content.
Companies that opt exclusively for paid Google advertisements fall behind their competitors in terms of presence and credibility. Meanwhile, companies that achieve more organic traffic establish a strong sense of credibility with users
High organic search engine rankings make your business appear authoritative, both to Google and to your customers. It tells users that your website is extremely relevant to their search enquiry, and indicates that your product or service can be trusted.
3. Increased Conversion Rates
Ranking on page 1 in Google can increase your conversion rates in a number of different ways
The primary goal of SEO is to increase sales by attracting more quality traffic. But often, the qualities of a high-ranking website are also qualities that attract customers. That is, the tactics that you may use to get to page 1 will also make your website more appealing and useful to customers.
Websites that rank on page 1 have clear focused headlines, which will also improve the experience of users, thus increasing your conversion rates. The presence of regular, quality content will also increase your ranking while making your site more appealing to customers
This is why websites are penalised when they use spam tactics, without incorporating the elements that offer value to your customers
When you have a well-designed and informative website, and you reach page 1 through the expertise of an SEO specialist, you can increase your conversion rates by attracting more traffic and creating a positive experience for customers
Check out our SEO Brisbane or SEO Sydney page if you need help with SEO
4. 24/7 Reach
Your customers have different lives and schedules. One of the best parts about ranking on page 1 is that you can reach your target audience at any time of the day. When you finish work and go home to relax, your business is still on page 1, attracting traffic and demonstrating the credibility of your business
However, other paid marketing strategies and campaigns for Television, radio, and online paid advertisements need to be scheduled at a specific time to ensure maximum reach and tend to target audiences based on standard working hours. Because of this, plenty of potential customers are not even seeing your ad.
When your business website ranks on page 1, you still attract users who browse at the most popular times. But you also attract shift-workers, stay-at-home parents, people who work from home, and those who have opened Google specifically to find a local product or service
Unlike a time-specific campaign that misses out on some of its potential customers, your high-ranking website is being accessed during all hours of the day
5. Long-Term Results
When you buy advertising space on Google or in a magazine, you may be able to initially boost your enquiries. But these campaigns are short-lived. When your online campaign expires, or when the next edition of that magazine is printed, you have to pay for another ad or another business will fill that space
However, SEO is a long term cost-effective strategy. When you rank on Page 1 for a relevant search term, this is essentially permanent though your site may require some further SEO to maintain or further improve your position
If you’re offering a quality product or service and you have a high ranking on Google, your business has a great prospect for continued growth
Case studies
Whilst all of the above makes sense in theory, you may be wondering how much it can really increase sales. Let’s take a look at some case studies to see how a higher ranking on Google has helped other businesses
Watermark Plumbing
Watermark Plumbing is a Brisbane-based plumbing company that came to us in 2017 with a website that wasn’t ranking in search engine results. Through improving their website design and applying a variety of SEO tactics we were able to achieve a high Google ranking within four months.
After six months, they were seeing significant growth in organic traffic to their site, and by the end of the year, sales had increased by 150%.
Barton Family Lawyers
Barton Family Lawyers is a family law company in Brisbane. They came to us in 2018 with a website that wasn’t ranking anywhere in search engine results. Within four months we achieved high search engine rankings, and by the end of the year, we had achieved a 200% increase in organic traffic and sales through SEO
Jarvis Electrical
Jarvis Electrical is a Brisbane-based electrician company. When they first came to us in 2017, their website wasn’t ranking anywhere in search engine results.
We improved the design of the site and applied other SEO tactics, and within six months their site had reached the top ranking on page 1 of Google for the top keyword in their industry, as well as other high ranking keywords. Website traffic increased by 250%, and both website traffic and sales are still increasing to this day.
The importance of SEO and appearing on page 1 of Google should never be underestimated. We can apply the same tried and tested tactics to your website. Call us today to learn more about how we can help you to increase website traffic and sales.
Vikas Rana
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