Being at position one on a Google search for a keyword or phrase associated to your business product or service is the Nirvana for most companies trying to get more online traffic. Trying to compete nationally for your chosen keywords in most cases will prove difficult but competing on a local level could just be the answer. Search engines like Google are focusing more and more on providing searchers with local results either with Google Places which lists relevant companies details, including a map with the office location, or in the Natural Search results. And research shows that people are much more likely to click on these type of search results that the paid for advertising in the top and right hand side of the search results.

 

 

If you are not on the first page unfortunately you are not in the game…

According to research* if your website appears in the first natural (unpaid) positions on page one of a Google search result you will get 36.4% of all user visits, or clicks (the click though rate or CTR). The top 3 natural positions share over a half of all clicks 58.4% and by just being on page one on average you will get 8.9% of the visitors. If your website is on page 2 the number of visitors you can expect falls to 1.5%.

This traffic is pretty much self-qualified, if someone is searching for “Accountant in Bristol”, or “I need an accountant in Bristol” they already have a need and are they are just after someone to help them.

So the reasons to achieve a page one ranking are very clear for any business, and accountants are no different.

Have a look for yourself at what a first page position on a Google Search for “Accountant Bristol” would mean to your practice with our “Google Rank Calculator“.

*Organic CTR December 2010

Author: Robert Trapnell – Bristol SEO Partnership

Connect to Rob on Google Plus, Twitter and Linkedin