YES IT IS!
This is a question I get asked all the time, and I cannot stress how important ranking on page 1 of Google for relevant keywords has become.
Search engines are providing users with better search results all the time and the more this happens the less users are searching deeper and past the first page. This is because they are finding what they need on page 1.
Additionally all the paid ads shown above and to the side of search results are taking a large amount of traffic away from pages listed past the first page. So yes it is very important to rank on page 1 of Google.
Recently a client of ours was ranking on page 2 of Google for a heavily searched and competitive keyword and it was bringing in some decent traffic. Then something happened, they jumped onto page 1 and they could not believe the change in traffic, it soared way above anything they ever expected.
So many potential clients in competitive industries come to us saying “We have to rank on page 1 of Google for a particular term” and you know what, YES THEY DO!
It is simple, whether it be a highly competitive term, or a less competitive long-tail phrase there is no doubt… you need to be ranking on page one of Google for it.
Peter said on December 8th, 2008 at 6:12 am
Hi Marc - I was at the recent Affilicon event and heard you talk. I would be interested to talk further about some of the issues covered in your presentation.
Anyway, what advice can you give to smaller companies that perhaps don’t have the resources to make it onto Page 1?
Marc said on December 8th, 2008 at 6:44 am
@ peter
You can contact me through the site, would love to discuss my ideas and presentation further with you.
As for smaller companies getting onto page 1 with less resources it really depends what you mean. If you mean less money then you need to be more intelligent. That means really understanding your product/service and the types of customer/user who will be searching for it. You may want to target more localized keyword terms, or put a major push behind ranking for a less competitive phrase that will still bring enough traffic, conversions and $$$ into you ’smaller’ business.
Remember you do not need to be ranking on page 1 of Google for your most competitive industry related term in order to make money, but you do need to be on page 1 for any smaller terms you may choose to target.