Why is it important for your practice to be at the top of search results? Goal: Top 3 Google Rank

You need to earn a top 3 Google rank for visibility. Think of the way you conduct a search on the Internet. You type your query – the term you’re searching for – into the query bar. The results show up below the query bar. Which link do you click first? Most users will choose the top link, and if that link doesn’t have their desired results, they’ll go on to the second and then possibly the third link listed.

If these three links don’t accurately answer your search, will you check out the links at the bottom of the page? Will you go on to other search results pages? Probably not. Most users will rethink their search terms and try a new search before combing through multiple search results pages.

In 2011 Slingshot SEO performed a telling case study establishing click-through rates (CTR) that was posted on the SEOmoz blog.

CTR is a percentage.

It’s calculated by dividing the number of clicks a link receives by the number of impressions – or views – it has. If 100 people see a link and 10 people click it, the link’s CTR is 10 percent.

Slingshot researchers found that a first-ranked website has an 18.2 percent CTR, a second-ranked website has a 10.1 percent CTR, and a third-ranked website has a 7.2 percent CTR. All websites ranked fourth or lower had CTRs of 5 percent or less. Therefore, the most competitive websites are in the top three spots.

How to Earn a Top 3 Google Rank

But why does your practice want a to earn a top 3 Google rank specifically? Aren’t people using other search engines?

The answer is yes, but not much. There are several widely used search engines – Google, Bing, Yahoo! and Ask Jeeves – but Google by far brings in the most traffic. The StatCounter Global Stats graph shows the top five search engines used from August 2011 to August 2012. Google is the most used search engine – by a lot – at 91 percent. Bing and Yahoo! each count for just over 3 percent of traffic, while Ask Jeeves and Yandex only count for about one-third of a percent each.

The moral of the story is: If your site is built to rank well on Google, it will rank well on these other search engines, too.

Contact us to discuss how an SEO plan can help you achieve a higher ranking on Google, even a Top 3 Google Rank!