Organic Search engine rankings explained
Organic or natural rankings are what come up in the middle of a search results page. They are simply the sites that the engine has determined are most relevant to the term you used in your web search.
Early search engines were pretty simple and they did an ok job at finding info for searchers until the web exploded in it’s complexity and variety. Search engines had to evolve in order to be able to tell the difference between a site that might offer, say, pictures of the famous Star Wars character Chewbacca, and a site offering lessons on how to speak wookie, even though both sites might contain the word ‘Chewbacca’.
In addition, site owners and SEO specialists discovered that simple search engines could be fooled with simple tricks. For example, if you wanted your site, chewbacca6000.com to be #1 one for any term containing the word ‘chewbacca’ you might be able to achieve that by simply repeating the word 'Chewbacca', 6000 times in a row on your front page!
Search engines have evolved in response to both the expansion of the web and to various deceptions like keyword stuffing. We've heard that Google’s search algorithm analyzes upward of 500 factors to deliver reliable search results, and whether that’s true or not, it’s clear that Google is nearly human-like in it’s ability to discern the differences between site content and to filter out various attempts to fool it.
Since many SEO/SEM efforts in the past have revolved around techniques that are increasingly ineffective on search engines with near artificial intelligence, the question then becomes, how do you get a site ranked well these days? Understand this; a search engine algorithm’s only goal is to connect you (your site) with the people that most want to find you. It may be the only entity on earth that can be said to be on everyone’s side!
Generally speaking, the top ranked sites for nearly any term are going to be really good sites that searchers are happy to find. Beating them in the rankings is really centered on doing what they do, plus a little more. The great thing is that in outranking the best sites, your site will be improved in the process and will have a better conversion rate (buy stuff, sign up, join list etc.), not just more traffic.
Conversely, if you find a way to fool search engines into a ranking that you don’t really deserve, it’ll drive traffic to your site, sure, but that traffic won’t be happy when they arrive and you may end up with less success. You’ll also cheat yourself out of improvements to your site that could reap a pile of benefits for you.
To find out more about what you’ll need to compete, please contact us.
