April 11, 2018
What’s the top spot worth?
How much do you think it’s worth to be the first hit on Google for a particular search term?
Without inside information, this is impossible to answer in absolute terms. But we can answer it in a relative sense based on publicly available data.
The top spot is worth:
- Twice as much as the second spot
- Three times as much as the third spot
- Thirty times as much as the eleventh spot (i.e., first hit on the second page)
Let’s summarize this by saying:
Owning the top spot on Google is worth A LOT!
Okay so here’s the thing...
Positioning is like SEO for the mind.
Having great positioning is like owning the top Google search result for a keyword - but in people’s heads.
- If you search your brain for “safe car”, what’s the top hit?
- If you search your brain for “facial tissue”, what’s the top hit?
- If you search your brain for “cybersecurity expert”, what’s the top hit?
Now think about the last time you needed to hire a service provider, like a chimney cleaners, or massage therapist, or pediatrician, or personal trainer, or architect, or web designer...
Did you Google for it? Or did you ask your friends?
You asked your friends.
(Or maybe you did both, but you weighted your friends’ recommendations more highly than Google’s.)
Now...
What keyword are you the first hit for in the minds of your friends? What search term do they equate you with in their heads? What mental pigeonhole do they have you stashed in?
If the answer is “none”, then you’ve got work to do on your positioning.
If the answer is “computer stuff, I think?”, then you’ve got work to do on your positioning.
If the answer is something you don’t actually do, then you’ve got work to do on your positioning. And doing that positioning work is a good idea... because owning the top spot in people’s minds is worth a lot.
Just ask Volvo and Kleenex and Brian Krebs.
Yours,
—J