Fortune 500 Companies Beware!
I was going through Google Reader the other day and I came across a stat that was very interesting to say the least. We’ve all heard it in the SEO (search engine optimization) world, but I thought it would be interesting to share here. Conductor recently reported that the companies in the Fortune 500 fall short when it comes to showing up in natural search results (un-paid) for their key “money” terms.
The report lists several valuable takeaways including the fact that only 28% of the fortune 500 companies have any kind of legitimate representation in natural search results. This means that the largest companies that represent some of the toughest competitors for small businesses for some reason or another are not choosing to have a significant presence in the natural results of the search engines. And believe me, I say “choosing” because they can definitely choose to optimize their sites and be listed (although I should say that a lot of work goes into optimizing websites so whether or not they rank well depends on how effective their efforts are.)
It’s hard to guess the real reason why the Fortune 500 companies haven’t joined the organic search bandwagon. Maybe “Company X” that sells gumballs doesn’t see the need to try and rank for the term gumballs because they already sell enough gumballs without needing to sell more from organic rankings online. But for most of us, making more money is not a bad concept in these economic times, and if your business is selling gumballs and you’re ranking organically for gumballs then you in essence are able to compete and gain market share from “Company X”.
Just in case the terms “organic” and “natural” are confusing you, I’ve included a picture to show you an example.
#1 Represents the search query or term. I chose to search for “things to do in tampa” (that’s where our agency is located.)
#2 Represents the paid listings. These are ads that a company pays Google for through their paid ad system called AdWords (Bayshore Solutions can manage pay per click advertising for you. We are a Google AdWords certified company.)
#3 Represents the organic or natural search results. That’s right, they’re not paid. The search engines found them.
You may be wondering how exactly the search engines find the websites that show up in the natural/organic results. The answer is that they “crawl” websites and use an algorithm that determines what sites are relevant for what queries or terms. Some elements included in the algorithm are content on your site, links on and to your site, Meta tags, Title tags, and more. Search Engine Optimization is the art of combining many different strategies and tactics to optimize your site for the best visibility possible within the search engines.
If you want to start competing online by ranking for your “money terms” or just want to find out about how online marketing can increase your bottom line, then find a company that specializes in SEO. Just as a side note, when searching for a SEO consultant, make sure they practice “White Hat” SEO. If you’re not familiar with what “White Hat SEO” means then just take a look at “What is Black Hat SEO” written by Stacey Whitfield.
