In a recent and groundbreaking study, the
Atlas Institute has busted the myth that
the web traffic for the websites listed
in the top ten of a search engine is
the same. On the contrary, they have
come up with solid evidence to prove
that in reality there is a great amount
of difference in the traffic between
the sites located at the very top and
the ones situated at the fourth or fifth
position.
The index used by the Atlas Institute
is the Click-through rate or CTR, which
is obtained by dividing the number of times
the ad/link was clicked on by the number
of times the ad/link was actually viewed.
The CTR is an accurate indicator to the
web traffic although it cannot predict
the conversion ratio i.e. how many of the
HITs will translate to actual business.
According to the research, CTR declines
alarmingly after the surfer views the page
at the top of the search list. The search
engine turns up with a limited number of
options for every key word or key phrase
search. Increasingly there is more jostling
to be at the top. However, as the list
trails off from the top three, so does
the CTR. The steady decline can even doom
the fifteenth or twentieth site on the
search engine results. This clearly points
to the fact that despite being among the
best-designed and well-written sites, the
dividends are not meeting the potential.
Even listing the site with two hundred
odd search engines is of little use because
high web traffic can only be attracted
by the websites located at the top of the
major search engines.
Interestingly in spite of their differing
modus operandi, both Google Ad Words and
Overture show similar results of declining
CTR although they vary in terms of the
percentage. It is evident that the website
company can almost certainly double its
traffic by simply improving its positions
a couple of notches. Things are slightly
different with organic search procedure
promoted by Google. The free organic listings
ensure the hundred clicks per day for free,
once the website reaches the top of the
results. It is unbiased and helpful to
the smaller companies because only in the
organic search system, they can beat the
monetary muscles of the big brothers on
the basis of sheer relevance of their content.
An Organic search produces results by
indexing pages based on content and the
relevance of the keyword. This is contrary
to the listing systems which rank their
finds purely based on the amount of money
paid by the websites in order to feature
at the top. Overture.com operates in the
above-mentioned manner. Some search engines
like Google have successfully implemented
a combination of both paid and organic
search. Although Google primarily focuses
on returning fast, highly relevant results
based on the content, links to the page,
and other objective criteria, but it also
comes up with a list of websites on the
right hand side, which are listed based
on the amount of money they pay. For example
if one searches on “medical records” in
Google, chances are the first position
of the organic results will not match the
paid listings on the right side of the
page.
The organic search listing automatically
guarantees greater trust by the surfer
because a) the results are not motivated
by monetary benefits and hence do not compromise
on the ‘relevance’ factor;
b) offers a greater depth of choice. The
trust factor definitely ensures that most
of the surfers check out the left hand
column more often than taking a sneak peak
at the right hand list. The clients submitting
their websites at search engines have understood
that greater trust easily translates to
greater conversions. The best part is that
it is completely free.
So how does one site set about to reach
the summit of Google, MSN or other organic
or semi organic search engines. First and
foremost one must hire the services of
a professional expert with knowledge of
the Key words, Key phrases and who would
identify a target audience and develop
the site content accordingly. The better-targeted
keywords and relevant content would automatically
attract greater number of HITS from the
target audience ensuring higher conversion
ratio to potentially lucrative business.
So the site should not only be well written
but must have the right Keyword phrases
that people are actually searching on.
ACES provides innovative, reliable search
engine optimization (SEO) that can help
catapult your website to the top of the
charts. Click
here to find out more about
the Internet promotion services offered
by ACES.
The other virtue required
for the client is to have patience. The
famous adage "Rome
was not built in a day", applies
to this system, as even leading web content
developers agree that they expect results
on search engines to begin after about
four to eight weeks from the launching
date.
The key to succeed in the organic search
engines is to target the most relevant
keyword phrases a surfer is going to look
for in searching for your product or service.
Having the content and SEO developed by
companies with the expertise in this area
is well worth the investment as it can
be the difference between achieving high
ranking and being buried deep within the
murky depths of search engine purgatory.
By the way - there are no short cuts.
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