When was the last time you clicked, 'Next page' after scrolling to the bottom of a Google search? You might have done that on one of your first ever searches, but chances are, it's been a while. You're far more likely to click nothing at all than even scroll down the results page. More importantly, your target customers have the same search habits.
If you want customers to find you, you need to appear in their searches. But not anywhere will do—only 3.5% of searchers click on the third result. A few years ago, the gold standard was appearing as the top result, but with featured snippets and AI summaries, not even the first spot will suffice. How can your business ensure organic clicks on your pages? Through a sound search engine positioning strategy.
Developing this practice will give you more control over your search engine placement which can generate more organic traffic to your website. Let's explore what search engine positioning is, why you should care about it, and how you can get climbing up the results page.
What is Search Engine Positioning?
Search engine positioning is a branch of search engine optimization (SEO) that focuses on getting select web pages into the top results spot and any results page features. Whenever a user conducts a search, Google asks, "what is the best result to this search?" Search engine positioning is how you ensure your web page is the answer to that question.
Appearing as the top result isn't a one time target though. "Search engine positioning is an ongoing process that requires understanding user intent, creating high-quality, relevant content, and optimizing the website for technical SEO and removing the hiccups that Google encounters," says Brittaney Walsh, CMG's Senior SEO Specialist.
Benefits of Search Engine Positioning
For small or medium sized business owners, adding search engine positioning to their typical to-do list might seem far-fetched. With other crucial considerations drawing your attention, how do you know SEP will be worth it?
If it seems monumental, consider that Google accounts for 86.7% of the US search market and 94% of mobile searches. So unlike social media marketing, there's really only one game in town. Plus, once you master search engine positioning, you can reap benefits like better brand recognition, trust, and more organic traffic. Together, these give you a competitive advantage.
Search Engine Placement Improves Recognition and Trust
Appearing at the top of the results, or better yet, in the AI summary or featured snippet, increases the chances of the user seeing your company in the first place. As we've mentioned, it's unlikely they'll see you if you're on the second page and far less likely they'll see you if you're ranked lower than fourth.
Snagging a top spot also signals authority to users. Users, understandably, consider higher ranking results 'better' than lower ranking ones. When users repeat a search or search for similar terms and see your company at the top, they begin to think of your company as a leader in their search area. Additionally 77% of users trust brands that appear in their Google results. Showing up as the top result allows you to instantly gain that trust for 3 in 4 users.
Higher Search Engine Placement Boosts Traffic
The tactics you'll employ to reach the top spot in Google's results are the exact reasons why someone will decide to click on your page. Being in the top spot means that your result is providing the user what they're looking for. That's why the top spot receives roughly one third of all clicks in Google search results.
With that click, the user signals to the search engine that your company is offering the best result for them, giving your other pages a boost in that user's subsequent searches too. That context can help be particularly beneficial when the first search wasn't conducted with a purchase in mind.
Getting Started With Search Engine Positioning
Small businesses need to understand user search intent and how Google ranks results to improve their search engine placement. Search intent refers to why we conducted the search in the first place. Was it for information, to get to a specific web page, to purchase something, or to compare potential options? These intents are known as Informational, Navigational, Transactional, or Commercial searches.
How Google Ranks Results
Once Google determines what the user's search intent was, they have to sort through the millions of pages that match that intent and rank them. How they rank them depends on relevance, quality, usability, and context.
Relevance: If a web page matches the intent and uses the same keywords as the search, Google considers it more relevant than others.
Quality: When other sites link back to a page, Google considers that a higher quality site than others.
Usability: If one site loads faster and is optimized for the user's platform—like a mobile device—that site is considered more usable than others.
Context: This includes the user's location, language they use, and past sites they've visited. Pages that better match that context will rank higher.
Practical Tips for Search Engine Positioning SEO
So how can small businesses gain a competitive advantage over their competitors through search engine positioning? Is the key to just start stuffing keywords in as many places as possible to appear more relevant? While that may appear like the most time and cost-effective approach, it has significant limitations.
In the earlier days of search, "keyword stuffing" might have been enough. But those pages weren't what users were looking for, so Google evolved to better match user expectations. That's why, today, Walsh emphasizes semantic search, AI-driven algorithms, adapting to evolving user behaviors, and search engine updates when she assists clients.
"A single well-researched, user-focused piece often outperforms numerous low-value posts. Strategic content that addresses specific audience needs, paired with technical optimization and authoritative backlinks, drives better rankings than sheer volume" says Walsh.
For a small business looking to get started with search engine positioning, Walsh offers two practical tips to get off the ground.
Leverage Free Tools
Your foray into SEP should start with a few pages in mind. Remember this isn't a complete website overhaul like SEO, this is a targeted effort to boost specific web pages. How do you know what pages to start with though?
Free tools like Google Search Console and Google Analytics can give you insights into what pages are underperforming. If there are multiple options here, you will have to decide if you want to focus on pages at the top of your funnel or further down.
A blog may underperform if the keywords are related to a commercial search and your blog is purely informational, or transactional. Whichever one you choose, use free tools to discover what keywords you should be targeting on the page.
Focus on Low-Competition Keywords
When you receive a list of keywords to target, you'll notice there are two numbers. The first is the search volume for that term given a predefined search period and location. The second number tells you how fierce the competition is to take the top spot for that keyword—higher number=more competition.
If you're just starting your search engine positioning work, it makes the most sense to go after those low-competition keywords. You should also consider localizing those keywords. The majority of Americans are running searches for local companies multiple times per week, with 1 in 5 running those searches daily. Adding in your city to the keywords and listing your service area on relevant pages can help localize your information and yield faster results.
Carve Out Your Top Spot With CMG
As you get more involved and invested in boosting your search engine placement, you may find there's a ceiling using those tips above. Those tips provide a great way to get started making your web pages more relevant and contextual. But other key factors like search intent, quality, and usability, can be harder to develop. These require skilled writing, intentional partnerships, and deft web development.
As a business owner, you can't be expected to be great at all of these. But you can turn to others perfectly suited to the task, like CMG Local Solutions. Trust your search engine positioning to experts like CMG's Brittaney Walsh. We prioritize getting your business into top spots and features through a comprehensive SEP strategy that includes lesser known and more technical aspects.
Ready to drive traffic and boost conversions? Contact CMG Local Solutions today to become a customer.
