Why Your Business Must Be on Google’s First Page

Imagine it’s the middle of winter and your heater suddenly stops working. What do you do? Dig out the yellow pages and look up a repair company? Of course not. You search Google for heating repairs in your city and, in seconds, you have a complete list of companies to choose from…and reviews that help you make the best choice.  

Why is the First Page so Important?

With 3.8 million searches per minute every day, Google is the most relied upon search engine on the planet. It crawls the web and decides which pages are the most relevant and useful to us on any and all subjects. We not only trust Google’s results, we depend on them to help us make decisions about all things, big and small.

Did you know that at least 75% of people never even scroll past the first page of Google?  So, you really can’t afford to have a ranking that lands you on any other page because you won’t get the traffic you need to make SEO worth your time and money. 

For local-area businesses, SEO and pay per click marketing can be expensive and intimidating. Since there are many ways to begin using search engine marketing, the best thing to do is start with a low cost and simple approach.

Here are a few ideas to get you started:

• Website Grader is a free SEO tool that scores your website on key aspects and gives you advice on how to improve those areas.
• Google Ads lets you create online ads that reach people at the very minute they’re searching for the services and products you offer. Since there isn’t a minimum on how much you spend, you can set and control a budget that you can afford. You also get to choose where your ad appears, so you’re able to determine what kind of impact your ad has on potential consumers.
• Make sure you understand the difference between organic and paid searches. Organic results appear under the paid ads. Organic traffic is the most valuable source of traffic. Because Google is the most trusted search engine, it directs the highest amount of traffic, and it ensures that the top results are the highest quality.

Inbound marketing has definitely replaced traditional (outbound) marketing. Companies need to focus on getting found by customers instead of trying to find customers.

The Technical SEO Hierarchy of Needs

Your site’s technical SEO needs form a hierarchy, and it’s important to make sure those needs are being met so you can be on Google’s first page. The needs at the top of the pyramid won’t be met until the needs on the lower level are functioning properly.

Let’s break down the five levels of the hierarchy: 

1. Crawlability – The foundation of the technical SEO hierarchy pyramid is crawlability. Is Google able to crawl your website content, locate all site links and their destination pages without any dead ends? Your site will rank lower if crawlers encounter dead ends.
2. Indexability – In the hierarchy pyramid, indexability is just above crawlability. In order for your pages to earn a high ranking, the search engine crawler needs to be able to catalog, or index, your website content according to keyword search terms. The crawlability of your site affects the indexability of your pages.
3. Accessibility and website performance – Besides being crawlable and indexable, your website needs to be accessible to both users and search engine bots. Sites and pages may rank, but they will be penalized if they constantly have accessibility problems.
4. Rankability – The top two levels have to do with optimization and are often considered advanced technical SEO. One way to boost your site’s rankability is to link your webpages to other pages on your website.   
5. Clickability – The top level of the SEO hierarchy pyramid is clickability. How likely is it that a user will click on your website when it shows up in a Google search? To increase your clickability, make sure you have a clear content design, links to important pages on your site, and high rankings. Another way to boost clickability is to feature content that is relevant to keywords your target audience is likely to search for.

Bottom Line

If you want to help your business make the cut and get on the coveted first page of Google, there are two important ways to achieve this. First, focus on inbound marketing in order to attract potential customers. Second, make sure the five levels of the technical SEO hierarchy of needs meet the necessary standards.

Contact us today to learn more about how you can boost your website’s performance and earn higher rankings on Google and other search engines.