Sometimes, people look upon SEO only as competition. However, today you have access to a limited ranking space in SERPs. The truth is there are many companies similar to yours, who want to claim that space. The final objective is to get the highest rank possible for an increased set of crucial phrases and keywords. However, things are no more, as it used to be. Today, the new age SEO is changing a few priorities. Hence, it is important to ponder, whether a number one rank is the most crucial thing, as it was touted to be.
An old-school/conventional approach
The highest place for almost any search term previously used to be the ultimate priority. However, that was mainly for statistical causes. The very first position of particular SERP attained close to 32.5% of the entire online search traffic. Here the second position would get 17.6% and third 11.4% of the organic search traffic.
Considering that all the pages received equal traffic, it is good to attain number one, two or three online ranking. After the third position, the traffic decreases to a negligible amount. Hence, if you have ranked in position two for a query, it’s always worth your effort to try and move to number one rank. And sometimes that would entail, sacrificing the scope to anywhere else. If there are valuable terms, such a dichotomy is essential for you to consider. To know more about this, you can get in touch with an expert company specializing in online branding services.
Reasons why the importance of the number one rank has decreased
For search optimizers, the number one ranks have lessened its significance. The probable reasons are as follows:
- Number one rank is no more what it used to be
When was the last time you placed a query in Google and clicked on the first ranking that appeared? You must have viewed something different in terms of SERPs. Chances are you have come across the popular local 3-pack, which is a set of three important local companies for your question. You probably also see the Knowledge Graph Box or a useful answer set other than the organic search outcomes. Such new search entry types are bringing down the relevance of a number one search rank.
- It is becoming difficult to target the keywords
SEO success depends on keyword success to a large extent! If you could create a set of keywords with lesser competition and increased traffic, you might have placed all resources on the same. The keywords are still essential today. However, because of the prevalence of semantic search, the association between phrases and keywords have become unclear. It is very challenging to target a single phrase, as Google has been attempting to match the user questions with relevant content, instead of the precise text matches.
- An essential trend
Today, semantic search has an essential impact on the online search domain. For instance, you could have penned down long-form content on ways to fix a motorbike, and it has acquired several links. And these links will maximize the domain authority of your site. And that will contribute to high ranks. Also, the varied conversational content phrasing will help to optimize the web page for many keyword phrases that you probably didn’t target intentionally. Hence, till such time you keep creating quality content, you will get to rank for relevant phrases even when you aren’t targeting it.
- Click-through rates will impact the ranking value
The CTRs (Click-through rates) have a connection with the online search ranks. You will find a correlation that exists between a CTR and high ranks. Also, you need to look at a mutual benefit here. If your rank is high, the chances of getting more clicks are high as well. And this you give you increased relevance and ranks. However, you don’t have any assurance whether the number one rank will get you an increased CTR. Your selected question might get increased traffic. But just in case your second-ranking competitor gets another lucrative offer, that will end up receive a disproportionate number of clicks. Hence, it is important to get your site optimized. Also, it is essential that the metadata appeal to the users.
- The visitors’ value keeps varying
Traffic and rankings are essential metrics. However, ultimately, your SEO campaign value gets connected directly to the user value on the site. For instance, most of the incoming visitors will bounce before deciding on the final, meaningful act concerning your brand. And, that’s why it doesn’t matter the amount of number one ranks you can attain.
It depends to a great extent on the non-SEO strategies, comprising successful branding, conversion optimization as well as high-end user-based design. However, when you don’t have the components arranged correctly, the SEO strategy will not yield any value to you. You need to assign the resources to attain a complete balance between the quantity and value of the incoming visitors.
The ideal solution
Does this imply that you have to completely cancel out on the old strategy to get a number one rank, regardless of the expense? The answer is no. As the above-mentioned pointers are explanations on the way, the SEO landscape has been evolving in all these years. For a few companies in selected niche industries, there will remain a few important keywords that they can target to attain the number one rank. And for the others, it is even a success to rank in the second position.
Here companies need to consider the best strategy for themselves. And that certainly is not a particular strategy per se. Instead, it is an approach which can take in all the possible strategies and brings into light some of the apt and important ones relevant for your brand. Also, companies need to ponder on what will bring them SEO success. In simple terms, SEO success depends on having the idea about the big picture and having a clear understanding of the strategic implications. Also, every company SEO goal and requirements are different, and they should chart out their way forward accordingly.
