Number 1 Position on Google means NOTHING

[The Internet Bloke]

People often brag with great pride that they have number one position on Google for their keyword term.

That might be great for their ego, but in itself it means nothing.
UNLESS they are number one for a keyword term that a LOT of people are searching for.

There is an incredible amount of confusion in regard to search engines, keywords, etc.

I wrote a report for my newsletter subscribers about "Rex the performing ferret" which explains the basics of keywords in plain english.
You can download it from http://TheInternetBloke.com/Keywords.pdf
(There's no signups to anything required. Just download it and read it)

And if you search Google for the term "Rex the performing ferret", you'll see that my Hubpages article mentioning this lil critter is in number 1 position on Google!!!!!
Isn't this fantastic!!!!! That means I'll make millions!!!
Or maybe not.
You'll know the truth after you've read my report :-)

And you'll also discover why every page on your site should be a "home page".

Cheers,
Eric G.

[BB]

Thank you for this,Eric -

You've made it seem very clear, and self explanatory.

In my case, I now realise that if you're looking for a 'budget' - you probably won't find me; if you're looking for a 'bitch' - you probably won't find me.

But - if you're looking for a 'budget bitch' ... then there I am - number one on the page.

Thanks for helping me to realise that I've still got a way to go yet!

Cheers,

B.B.

[The Internet Bloke]

Thanks BB for your feedback.

The google external keyword tool says that there are 170 searches a month globally for "budget bitch"

Have you looked at the stats for your website to see how many visitors find your site by using this keyword phrase?
And what other phrases are being used to get to your site?
I'd suggest doing a bit of keyword research for your topics, and then use these in the titles, description, headings, and url's of your site.

I also noticed that there were over 10,000 searches for the term "bitch shirt" and similar terms.
Perhaps you can design a Budget Bitch T-Shirt with a snazzy logo, and sell them through Lulu or Cafepress or similar/
Could be a good little sideline if you can get some rankings for that term :-).

cheers, Eric G.

[Aidan]

Hi Eric,

I liked your paper - I use a similar approach myself sometimes for keyword research but in my case I tend to use the exact match figures - sometimes the broad matches are too broad for targeting KW's - so to my thinking its 46 searches a month for the KW 'budget bitch' lol

Note to self: Must take a closer look at the micronichefinder...

Thanks
Aidan

[Tracey Anne]

That is excellent, and very generous of you to post it

[Jexley]

Hey Eric,
Good of you to write that up and make it available, however there are some key aspects that I'd like to point out as well.

Google's Keyword Tool doesn't exactly show you how many searches are conducted per month. For now, Google doesn't release this information, but instead creates estimates based on the number of times a certain string of characters (related to the keyword) appear in their index (their database where website's pages are stored). That's why plugging in the phrase "kitchens and bathrooms" will give you "kitchens of" as one of the phrases. I think you and I both know that there is no logical way that there can be a Global Search Volume of 49,500 searches a month on the phrase "kitchens of", it just doesn't make sense.

Keyword Research is many things, and you've covered some of the most important, but there is one underlying message that gets passed down from the Gods of Google themselves and is a simple yet effective one above optimisation even... Relevance.

Make sure your website has relevance first and foremost and above all else. Keyword Research is GOLD for that first bit, but if your site is all about breeding obscure ferrets but you think you'll choose "ferrets as pets" as a keyword that you're going to target for optimisation, you may see results in the rankings and you may even get some good traffic out of it. But will that traffic convert? If your page uses the keywords in all the right places to get Googs to rank you, will users find what they're after?

Before you go nuts with optimising for the terms that statistically "look" the best (and remember that most of those numbers are only estimates, not hard data), make sure that you've got the goods on your site to back up that #1 ranking, because that Number One Spot also doesn't mean SFA without the conversions to back it up.

Just my six dollars worth (2 cents after cost-of-living adjustment) of stuff that I used to NOT know, and am glad that I know now.

[LeelaCosgrove]

Totally agree, guys - I may rate #1 for Business Writers Anonymous and Leela Cosgrove and that's good, but it's only going to get me people who are already aware of my company and looking for me ... Sure I WANT to rank for those words, but I also want to rank for stuff that's going to get new people through the door.

And that's just the start of course ... even if you rank #1 for the keywords you want, that doesn't necessarily mean you'll sell anything ... then you need to have a conversion strategy to ensure you sell!

The whole Google thing has been blown WAY out of proportion - "We'll SEO you to #1 for your keywords for $5k - but it's up to you if you make any money from it!" - it's become the "holy grail" of the internet and I've got the same issue with it as I do with the "holy grail" of getting on television for 15 minutes ... without a conversion strategy backing it up, it's merely another tactic that won't work.

[The Internet Bloke]

@Jexley:
All of what you say is spot on, and there are loads more subtopics and branches that lead off in all sorts of directions. That document is meant as a VERY basic introduction to the principles of keywords.

@Leela:
Yes, it's generally not too hard to rank for your business name or personal name, (Unless it happens to be Britney Speers or something)

And it's also right that all the SEO Mumbo Jumbo and pointing of magic chicken bones is not going to be a worthwhile investment unless the people who arrive at your site see something that they expected.
You then have to present them with something they want, and encourage them to do what you want them to do.

And yes, the SEO needs to have some purpose - as a part of your marketing strategy for your business. A "once off" flash in the pan achieves little, and would be as useless as me taking out a full page advert in the Australian as my sole advertising for the year.

Cheers,
Eric G.