SEO Facts / Guidelines
Here is a list of 20 SEO facts. Since search engine optimization is not an exact science, we only consider these ‘facts’ as guidelines to consider when running your SEO campaign.
SEO Fact 1: The top 5 listings get 75% of the clicks. This may not be all that earth shattering since most of us find what we are looking for in the top 5 listings.
But you still may get lots of clicks if you are ranking a little lower – as long as you are still on the first page.
SEO Fact 2: Up to 80% of searchers scroll past the ‘advertisers’ – The organic results rule!
Sure that’s a lot of wasted potential but the remaining 20% is still a lot of business. But it’s clear that the organic search results is the most important part of the Google search listings that you want your website to be listed.
SEO Fact 3: Organic listings get 70% of the clicks!
If you are like me (and apparently most users are – I scroll past the ‘advertisers’ and prefer to click on the listings that got their on their own merits. There is a perception that the ‘advertisers’ just paid to be there and are more expensive etc etc.
SEO Fact 4: Google represents up to 70% of the search engine market share.
This is actually less than it was in the recent past but still the main reason why we measure your SEO success with your Google rankings. When we get you on Google, you can be sure that we got you on the other search engines too.
SEO Fact 5: The first page of Google is everything. 75% of users never go past the first page.
We usually find what we are looking for on the first page and if we don’t we usually change our search rather than click to the next page. We measure your SEO success by how many page 1 keywords we get onto page 1 AND our goal is always top 3!
SEO Fact 6: On Google the #1 position gets approximately 18% of the organic clicks, 10% goes to #2, and 7% of organic clicks goes to the #3. That’s why our goal is to get your website in the top 3 – number 1 if we can. Doing all the ‘right things’ such as blogging can have huge rewards – much higher rewards than the associated costs. Your best ROI (return on investment) with SEO is to get into the top 3 positions and to do everything that you can to make this happen.
SEO Fact 7: Website page titles are the 2nd most important SEO optimization after your content.
People click on your listing in large part because of the Title of that page. Of course your good content will keep them there, but the Title is what got them there in the first place. The stats on this suggest that people will spend about 1 second reading a title before moving along to the next one. So you only have 1 second to make that ‘first impression’ with the few words you can put in your title. And get that prospective customer to click on your listing. We write good titles for you!
SEO Fact 8: The top activities on the Internet are email and searching.
A good email marketing strategy is the next best thing you can do after your search engine marketing strategy. It may even be just as important. You can really add to the bottom line if you do all of these well.
SEO Fact 9: Most businesses (81%) consider their blogs as a critical part of their business marketing.
This just kind of makes sense since a blog gives your customers a reason to keep coming back to your site AND Google loves new, good content. So it’s a great idea to include a blog in your online marketing strategy.
SEO Fact 10: Websites that include a blog have over 400% more indexed pages.
More indexed pages gets you more traffic and more traffic gets you more leads. So add a blog to your online marketing strategy. Content, content, content – a good blog means you have good content. AND Google loves good content! We can help you with all aspects of adding a blog to your website and with writing the ‘good’ content too.
SEO Fact 11: Google estimates that it has only indexed approximately 0.04% of the Internet
The estimated size of Internet is approximately five million terabytes and most of it is ‘unknown’. We’ll make sure that your website is included in Google’s index (part of the ‘known’). And that’s just the start…
SEO Fact 12: Half of searches are being done on Mobile and this percentage will continue to increase.
So it’s imperative that your website is Mobile friendly. All websites that we develop are ‘Mobile Responsive’ so they look great on any device. Talk to us if your website is not.
SEO Fact 13: If you have a video on your website’s home page you are 53% more likely to show up on Google’s page 1. Videos are also informative and catch people’s attention. They are a great way to get your message across especially in this time of immediate gratification. Visitors are more likely to watch your video than they are to read you content. And Google loves them! Don’t forget that Google owns YouTube so maybe that’s no surprise.
SEO Fact 14: Searching is the #1 source of traffic to websites – More than triple that of Social media.
Even if you have thousands of social media followers it won’t be as effective as ranking at the top of the search results. Social media is great for customer interaction, but search is the most effective for attracting new customers.
SEO Fact 15: Converting visitors to customers is 10 times higher on search than it is on social media.
This fact has to do with desktop searches which is still about half of the searches. And the conversion rate for Mobile is also higher on search. We help drive traffic to your website through search – social media is better for interacting with customers after you get them. Social media does create repeat business though so it does need to be part of your complete ongoing marketing strategy.
SEO Fact 16: On smartphones converting visitors to customers is 15 times higher from search than social.
This fact is even more reason to give search ranking the higher priority that it deserves.
SEO Fact 17: Most SEO professionals rank content creation as the most effective SEO strategy.
We definitely believe this to be true – in fact we have the experience to say that it is the #1 strategy. Lots of good content gives Google exactly what it wants and this pushes your listings higher.
SEO Fact 18: Social media does improve search engine rankings. Over 58% of marketers who use social media for over one year improved search rankings. Social media is here and it works! It is a part of SEO and it should not be ignored.
SEO Fact 19: Google+ has the biggest influence on SEO ranking of all social media.
I suppose this is not a big surprise when you think about it – Google places the highest importance on it’s own social platform. So make sure you include it in your SEO strategy. We do!
SEO Fact 20: There are 10+ billion Google searches every month and 70+% of them are researching products and services. This is why reviews of your products and services are very important. They are an extremely effective way to drive great, positive traffic to your website. Many people search for reviews before purchasing a product or service so if you can get your customers to post reviews for you it can make a big difference. We can make it easy for you to involve your customers in this way.
Conclusion:
It is very important to rank high on Google search. If you rank high, you will get more new business. If you rank low, then your website will not generate much new business for you. It’s no wonder that SEO has become so popular despite the illogical claims that SEO is dead. No it obviously is not dead, but it has become more sophisticated. You don’t need to understand how it all works to know that it does work. And we can help!
