Using Search Engine Optimisation To Attain A Page One Ranking Is Not The End

A normal search request made with any of the leading search facilities will return hundreds of thousands of entries. It is apparent that only websites referenced on the first few pages of a search results listing will ever be examined, and there are statistics that show that most searchers do not progress beyond page two. For any enterprise intending to draw potential buyers from a search request, it is clear that its pages need to have a high search engine positioning to be noticed. This is where the use of promotional processes such as search engine optimisation become significant, as a means to develop the natural search engine positioning of the organisation’s pages until a page one positioning is reached. However, that must not be the end of search optimization.

It is tempting for a company that has used the services of a professional search engine optimisation company to end any agreement when a page one positioning has been reached: after all, the primary aim has been achieved. However, search engine optimisation is not just about that. Competitors will also be trying for higher rankings using the same keywords that have gained the page one positioning, so the work that the search optimization experts have been performing to promote the chosen keywords must be continued to maintain the position. It may be possible to reduce the level of support for individual keywords but it must not be ended completely. In addition, new keywords can be chosen for promotion, to encourage the search facilities to give more high positions for the pages that are now doing well or to take an interest in some of the organisation’s other pages.

There is an incentive for an optimisation company that has succeeded in reaching page one placements for its client to maintain those placements, and that is mostly financial, although professional pride should play its part. In many agreements, the optimisation company receives most of its fees from its client based on success, and that is typically defined in terms of an appearance on page one for a chosen keyword at a a chosen point that can be monitored by the client, typically an agreed day and time each week. These incremental charges are modest in themselves, but can be easily covered by the additional trade that the client enterprise attracts from the higher positioning. For the optimisation company it is possible that many months of work will be required before any rise in ranking is noticed, let alone rising to page one, and during that time the company receives no income. Its income derives from each page one appearance. The optimisation professional needs to preserve that level without being involved in a fight with rivals for the same keywords. While his client is seeing success, so is the optimisation professional, and both benefit.

Attaining a page one positioning is important for a company, but it is equally important to maintain the page one search engine positioning. The page one positioning alone is no guarantee of more traffic, but the chances of more traffic must be higher if the page one positioning is maintained. To do so, some search optimization work must continue.