Get The First Spot on The First Page in Google SERP

Almost 8 out of 10 people search the web to find services - buy gadgets, clothes, find doctors, find restaurants, order food and almost everything you can imagine...

Internet opened up a big box full of services and your business has to be in that box otherwise you miss 8 out 10 of your potential customers.

It is almost a crime for you business, if you don't have a web presence.

Only 2 in 10 still use dusty, thick, paper directory books - like Yellow Pages.

8 out 10 search the BIG 3 to get information. Big 3 search engines are the dominant names on the search market:

1. Google
2. Bing
3. Yahoo

Combined, BIG 3 represent more than 95% of the search market.

ASK and AOL completes the picture with other 4-5%. Stats from comScore proved it.

Who uses Google? Bing? Yahoo?

The answer is everybody relies on Search Engines more and more each and every day and Internet gets into our life from all the angels.

Our PC is connected to the Internet, our smart phones and tablets are too and even the old TV has a smart set-top box that links it to the mighty WWW.

So, we all are hooked in, but who uses what?

- Google tends to attract more skeptic individuals that search a lot until they decide where to buy from.

- Yahoo still has more conservators users, Yahoo's loyal and somehow older, which also search less until they buy things.

- Bing powers Yahoo now and it will bring the change for old Yahoo - Bing has a new breed of users - the skeptics that dislike Google and want a different search experience.

So, it's damn important to get your business listed on the big WWW and also you want it placed as high as possible in BIG 3's SERP (Search Engine Return Page).

Once you are there, you want your business to be visited and get thousands of potential customers, but actually who gets the traffic?

It's definitely a step forward to have a Site, Blog, and Social Media presence for your Business, but to get the traffic you need to AIM for PAGE #1 in SERP of BIG 3's.

How much traffic Google's Page#1 gets?

Let's start saying...a lot....almost everybody gets the info from first page, which by default has 10 organic results displayed on it.

Very rare, we adventure exploring Page 2, Page 3, Page 4....of SERP and even if we do, probably we do it for research purposes and NOT to BUY something.

If you want your SERVICES to be bought....you need to be on PAGE#1 of SERP for all your most important keywords.

Page #1 gets 90-95% of the traffic; the other pages get only impressions and NO CLICKS.

It's true that Page #1 in Google, by example, gets all the cream and based on stats the Top 10 traffic split would be (example below is based on my experience and my websites stats):

Get the first spot on the first page in Google SERP for your important key phrases and you will get between 35% and 60% of the clicks from a particular key traffic - percentage may depends on your particular niche.

Second spot is not bad either, it will give you 10-20% of the clicks and number 3 brings at least 10%.

In almost all the niches, from forth place onwards you will get less than 10% of the clicks and the drop is more linear than for the first three positions.

Read More

Linking SEO and Directories Together

While directories may be a key part of the SEO process, not all directories can add value. Finding websites that boast the best value can be tricky.

The top three annual fee-driven directories are Yahoo, Business.com, and Best of the Web Directory, while DMOZ is considered to be the best free directory. DMOZ has grown substantially over the last few years, with increasingly high standards and long approval times for new submissions.

These four directories should be among the first that SEO companies submit their clients to, as they will provide a good base and help with link profiles. Being listed on relevant directories with good PageRank can help your site appear more credible to the search engines.

After checking out the top four directories, finding additional relevant sites becomes trickier. Navigate to the directory you are considering using and find the page for the subcategory where your link would most likely be featured. If you search for the URL in Google, you will be able to see when the page was last crawled by viewing the cached version of the site. Forty days is a good cut off point for determining whether or not the site is worthwhile; anything after sixty is definitely not worth it. 

When inspecting the various categories and subpages, it is important to note how recently the pages have been updated. Keep in mind more obscure topics may not be as updated as much as commonplace ones. The pages should show up in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERP) when you type in the key words followed by the word "directory". Noting how much traffic is drawn to the site and its pages is also an important part of determining its overall strength.

Knowing where a search engine ranks directories will help determine how likely it is that your link will be crawled. Search engines use spidering or crawling as a way to gather data and index downloaded pages in order to generate fast searches. This, in turn, will give you an idea of how much traffic and business might be generated on your end. Low quality directories are a waste, so make sure you are paying for high impact sites. Most SEO companies also recommend staggering directory submissions; lumping submissions together at the end of the month will not produce the best results for newer companies. Established companies with more inbound links can be submitted to directories in a shorter time frame as opposed to the three month recommended staggering for new websites.

Finding valuable directories and planning for an increased number of submission fees, SEO will continue to be coupled with directories for now. In this ever-changing industry, the relationship will surely evolve and grow as new features are implemented and SEO practices change.

Read More