Question

Topic: SEO/SEM

How To Explain Why We're Not On Page 1

Posted by k.pohlman on 4/1/2019 at 1:38 PM ET 750 Points
Lots of factors involved regarding my company's current SEO situation but the short of it is I need talking points for a conversation with the boss. I need to easily explain why search results vary. He's used to seeing us on page one and at the top. Now we have more "paid" competition.

The conversation may happen tomorrow which is why there's urgency. Thanks to you all!
To continue reading this question and the solution, sign up ... it's free!
SUBSCRIBE
Or, SIGN IN

RESPONSES

  • Posted by mgoodman on 4/1/2019 at 3:57 PM Accepted
    At the heart of your talking points is that there are other companies (presumably competitors of yours) who are willing to invest more than you are in search engine ranking. In the past you may have enjoyed a premiere position without much investment, but now that "it has been discovered" the price of first-page ranking has gone up.

    It's probably time to compute/estimate the value of a high ranking. How many clicks does a high ranking generate, and what percentage convert? What is the dollar value of those conversions? If you follow the math, you will be able to determine whether it's worth chasing SEO (and/or Adwords) or not. That answer probably changes over time too, so it's a recurring calculation.

    Feel free to contact me directly if you need more.
  • Posted by Gary Bloomer on 4/1/2019 at 7:23 PM Member
    What terms have you ranked for, what terms would you like to rank for?
  • Posted by Gary Bloomer on 4/1/2019 at 7:24 PM Member
    Which search terms have traditionally placed you on P1? What's changed?
  • Posted by k.pohlman on 4/1/2019 at 9:51 PM Author
    We've invested in Spyfu and our biggest competitor spends approximately 40k per year, pays for over 300 keywords and has been doing Adwords for over 10 years. We are doing well organically and have 57% organic traffic to our competitor's 17%. Our website traffic has even doubled year over year for the past 8 months.

    However, the owner continues to express concern when our name/main keywords inconsistently ranking on pages 1-2. It's hard to explain how ten people on ten machines in different cities can have different search results.
  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 4/1/2019 at 11:38 PM Accepted
    Is the inconsistent ranking on all major search engines, or just one?
    Read up on Filter Bubbles (such as: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filter_bubble) to better explain how search engine results differ between people/places.
    Do you know which P1 keywords result in actual sales for you? Those are the keywords worth protecting in your future SEO efforts.
  • Posted by k.pohlman on 4/2/2019 at 7:49 AM Author
    Thank you for your insight. I'll do some further investigation based on your recommendations.
  • Posted by mgoodman on 4/2/2019 at 3:56 PM Moderator
    Let us know how your presentation went.
BACK TO TOP

Post a Comment

Related Discussions

Community Info

Top 25 Experts
(SEO/SEM)