Search Engine Rankings, Keywords and Page Positions

Search engine rankings can mean different things to different people. Some people may think they rank number one in the search engines. However, they actually only have one keyword term that has a number one position in Google. And that keyword may not receive actually add any real benefit to their website at all.

So, what exactly is a search engine ranking and how can it benefit your Internet business?

In general a search is conducted in a search engine like Google using keywords that represent the information the user is seeking. The results of that keyword search is a listing of websites that contain related content of the keyword searched.

Some people think of each listing as a rank. So, if your site comes up in the top number one spot, you’ve achieved a number one ranking. The results on this page are also referred to as page positions. Each link represents a page position. If your site is listed as the first link, than your site has a number one page position.

I personally like to refer to each of these results as page positions because a few years back Google introduced a system that gives each page of every website a page rank. And it can become confusing to talk about achieving a high page rank when it can refer to either a high page position or a high Google PR (page rank).

Let’s get back to obtaining a high page position in the search results. Many SEO savvy marketers will gain new clients that want to obtain a higher page position in the search results by promising them a “high rank”. Included in this promise is offering to help their website rank well for search terms that include the name of their City and State.

The price for this service can be anywhere from $60.00 a month to $1500.00 a month. What a business owner needs to understand is that obtaining a high page position for any keyword search term is only beneficial if it is a keyword term or phrase that their clients are using to find their type of business.

What good does it do for your business to have the number one position for the keyword search term, “Sam’s Pest Control, San Francisco, CA” if no one ever uses it to find a pest control business in Novato, Ca?

On the other hand obtaining the number one position for the search term, “San Francisco Pest Control,” a keyword search term that people do type into Google could be worth the time, money and effort to achieve it.

Sam’s Pet Control, San Francisco, CA is very easy for any SEO savvy person to achieve. In fact it could be done in less than 15 minutes and the SEO scam artist doing it could continue to charge poor Sam a $64.00 monthly fee for seemingly maintaining that number one position month after month.

The more you understand the basics of search engine optimization the more equipped you will be to spend your money wisely on SEO for your own business website online.