The value of first page SERPs
The value of first page SERPs (search engine results page) is truly a mystery. Multiple factors play a significant role. These factors seem to change almost every quarter to assure that Google’s advertising does not lose integrity. The most important factor for Google is their sponsored search integrity. Once integrity is lost, advertisers lose faith and stop advertising. This is why they constantly update their algorithm, to provide quality search results. It has been said that Google makes anywhere from .12 cents to .25 cents per search.
First page SERPs for both organic and sponsored search results are achievable through quality content, efficient Meta information and a competitive pay per click budget. Combine that with a social media presence, your goldmine is only months, if not weeks away, or is it? We now have to look at the competition.
Companies who rely upon impressions can blanket the entire country, whereas companies selling a product online or looking for golden leads require a more efficient and geo-targeted campaigns.
Thousands of dollars can be wasted by working on keywords that are either too broad or even too vague. A combination of geo-targeted and long tailed keywords are perfect for golden leads and conversions.
How competitive is your industry?
Your competition may be fierce, so fierce that you may need to geo-target your area to build some authority. Geo-targeting is the process of targeting local customers. For instance, if you are a service company, such as CHT Professionals located in Los Angeles, California and only service Southern California you would want to target that area. If would be terrific if CHT would be on the top of Google for “Home Theater Installation”, which is what they do, but not only is that keyword extremely competitive but it is also very broad. In my humble opinion their listing on the top of Google for “Home Theater Installation in Los Angeles” or “LA Home Theater Installation” could potentially convert more sales. You may ask why…well, ask why. Conversions
instead of impressions are the thought process behind this. People searching for “Home Theater Installation” will notice that places in New York will show up in search results. As a result Google has implemented Google Places.
Google Places:
Google Places locates the best local website in your area, at least to Google’s standards. Companies can dominate local traffic by utilizing a decent budget in their Google Places account and optimizing it to achieve quality results. Your competition will determine the amount of money necessary to become first on those particular results. Optimizing this campaign can bring some of the best sales if you are dealing with local customers.
We all want to be millionaires; at least I think we do, but to even fathom a company returning results such as that, we need to build it from the ground up. So, with that being said, study your competition. Learn from your competitors, their successes, their failures and then capitalize. Smaller companies should focus on more organic efforts to compete with larger corporations who can throw thousands if not millions of dollars toward advertising.
