Life outside the Google top ten

Sure, companies obviously do get those fancy addresses, but space is limited and there’s only room for so many. And whilst it’s probably a good aspiration, is it actually vital to land that prime spot? Or does missing out mean that the game is over, that it’s impossible to run a business in another location?

Obviously not. If that were true then the Internet would be a whole lot smaller – remember that (conservatively) only about 1 in 100,000 websites¹ can be in the Google top ten at any one time – it’s a rarefied group and in mainstream retail sectors the top ten is a conglomerate of giant brands and directories, neither of whom are realistic competitors for most businesses.

Also, the Internet is a big place getting bigger by the day, and the frenzied drive for page one Google listings is, to a large degree, a case of not seeing the wood for the trees. Of course everyone would love to see their web site listed in the top ten, but it is perfectly possible to do good business with a lower position, via traffic from other search engines (yes, there are other search engines out there), through partnership activities, advertising and most importantly, by providing value (as your search engine position is absolutely worthless unless you provide a service that people want to use).

Then there is the issue of what do users do when the listings on page one are low quality, which (let’s face it) is not unusual. Do they search again for different terms or do they click on to page 2? Research is clear that most users prefer to search again when a quick scan tells them the listings aren’t appropriate, but I don’t know of any research that looks at what happens when users can see they’ve got the search terms right, but that the web sites that the listings lead to are poor. It’s a good question and, speaking personally, if I think I’ve got the terms right, I will keep looking down the listings until I’m sure that Google can’t help me.

This leads to the possibility that the situation might not be so bleak for those web sites that seem mysteriously to remain trapped beneath poor quality competition occupying the spots above them. As I say, this is an educated guess, but no one I know has proved it wrong.

Benefiting from search engine position is simply a numbers game – and you should remember that search engines are most important for generating new customers, not for retaining customers. At the top end, the visitor numbers are so high that web sites can clearly afford to lose customers, and lower down the listings, web sites clearly cannot. The lower down the listings you are, the more important it is that you retain visitors and turn them into customers, by giving them what they want in an easily digestible form.

Providing good content is always the best policy. It is not only an important tactic in raising your search engine position (as other people tend to link to good web sites, and because high-quality text-based information gives the search engine more to chew on), but it ensures that while your web site is making its ascent up the index you are extracting the most from the customers you get. In an environment where resources are scarce, they must be nurtured carefully – providing good content is the best way to nurture your customer figures.

And, if you think about it, a visitor who comes back to your web site is probably better than a new visitor (especially for ecommerce web sites). New visitors are fickle: they are quick to judge, demanding in their expectations, often they’re only there to compare prices or availability, and they know there are usually other places where they can find what you are offering. By comparison, providing you maintain standards, new visitors are worth their weight in gold: visiting times tend to be longer, they will gradually ‘learn’ your site and so discover and use more of it, and though they still visit to make comparisons they are more likely to spend money if your offer seems competitive – having previously earned their trust to some degree. Unfortunately, a great many shopping experiences on the web end in disappointment so trust is very valuable – leading as it does to the holy grail of marketing: personal recommendation.

The point of this article is to remember that no web marketing strategy relies only on a high Google position. Prepare your website for its ascent up the Google charts by making sure you Search Optimize it. Then move on and deal with the reality that Google isn’t going to be swinging you much business for a while yet – through an ‘organic’ search listing anyway (an organic search listing is one that hasn’t been paid for). Now is the time to get on with the other equally important work of finding advertising and marketing opportunities that do not rely on organic listings in Google or other major search engines.

Some people are impatient though. They just can’t wait, and a ‘non organic’ listing courtesy of a sponsored AdWords advert seems so alluring. But however much it may increase your visitor numbers, it is also an expensive and relatively inefficient way to generate traffic, so finding out what your money is achieving should be a priority. This goes for any advertising you undertake, not just a Google AdWords programme. If your web marketing costs you money then, generally speaking, you should be quite interested in whether it is working for you or not.

You can find out where your ad money goes by using some of the other arrows in the well-filled quiver of your marketing programme – you can get regular reports showing where your search engine visitors go and what they do; you can set up target entry pages with user activities in mind (getting them to make an enquiry or buy a product, for example) and because you know what it has cost to get that person where you want them, you can see how much they return to your business. Remember to track the after-effects of a campaign, as intermittent advertising can be very cost-effective; set yardsticks and be brave enough to pause your campaign if it doesn’t measure up.

Many web sites do these things anyway as part of their standard web marketing activities. If your business spends a lot on advertising then you should do them too, you will learn a lot about your web business and become better at managing it.

But getting back to the Google Top Ten. In the shorter term, there are other important and profitable ways to market a web site (and ways a business can use the Internet for marketing). Sure, as a long-term aim, there’s no harm imagining yourself sharing a joke and a glass of bubbly with the boss on the day you hit the top ten, but for now why not explain to him how Google position is more a means than an end (and if you like cliches remind him that there are many ways to skin a cat); impress him with the fact that you do your job well enough to generate visitors under tougher conditions – in the long run, if your boss understands the bottom line, he’ll see you’re actually doing a good job.