This is a question that we often get – Why should I make an effort to rank high on Google? I already have clients who know our website address, our business partners know our website address, why, therefore, should I make an effort to be on the first page of Google?

First, being displayed on the first page of Google is not easy, and it becomes more difficult with every day that passes as your competitors work hard to try and dominate that space.

There are plenty of rewards by appearing on the first page of Google search, and nearly all of them are financially quantifiable.

1. Traffic

A high rank on page one of Google search results directly implies more organic traffic. More traffic equals more clicks, which in turn means more active patients at your dental office.

Rank high on Google | Experdent Source: https://www.advancedwebranking.com/ctrstudy/

Here is what this graph means in actual numbers:

If your website shows on the 1st spot for a search query, you will get 31.5% of all organic traffic for that search term
The 2nd position gets about 13.5% of the traffic
The 3rd spot get 7% of the traffic
The 4th and 5th spots get 4.7% and 3.2% of the traffic, respectively.
Therefore, the first five spots on page one of Google pull in a total of 59.9% of the organic traffic for that term.
The first ten spots, i.e., the first full page of Google search results, gets about 68% of the total organic traffic for that term.

Now imagine if that term was “Family Dentist YourTown” or “YourSpecialty Yourtown”? Higher than two-thirds of the traffic that you would want would have gone to folks who appear on page-1 of Google search results.

Through some great SEO works, some businesses could occupy more than one spot on page-1, leading to some extraordinary traffic. However, from 2019, Google has put a stop to more than one appearance of the same business on page-1.

2. Trust

One of the significant benefits of appearing on page-1 of Google is the implicit assignment of trust that goes with that position. You do not need to be an SEO savant to realize that if a business appears on page-1 of Google search, then the business probably has what it takes else Google wouldn’t have put it on its page-1.

While this rationalization happens entirely subconsciously in the searcher’s minds, what is impressive is that this is close to accurate, and thanks to the artificial intelligence that Google has at its command, this is becoming closer to actual facts as Google continuously improves its ranking algorithm.

Here is what Google says about the progression of its own goals: Several times a year, we make significant, broad changes to our search algorithms and systems. We refer to these as “core updates.” They’re designed to ensure that overall, we’re delivering on our mission to present relevant and authoritative content to searchers.
Source: https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2019/08/core-updates.html

Rank High on Google - Ranking factors in Google | Experdent Source: https://moz.com/blog/weighting-the-clusters-of-ranking-factors-in-google-analytics-whiteboard-friday

Towards that stated end of presenting relevant and authoritative content to its visitors, Google uses upwards of 250 ranking factors powered by artificial intelligence (AI) that enmesh to give us in split seconds the results of our searches on Google.

This satisfaction from the usefulness of results received on our own searches over time develops trust. The average person intuitively trusts the results that appear on Google and particularly more so if the results are on the first page of Google.

3. Other Search Engines

A powerful rank on Google has been found in several studies to influence a high rank on the other search engines too.

We know that Google is the dominant search engine of our times. Just how dominant is shared in this report by Statista.com, where it records that as of April 2020, Google’s share in the Global search market was a whopping 86%. The rest was divvied up between Bing, Yahoo! Duckduckgo, the Chinese search engine Baidu, etc.

So, why should we even bother worrying about the other search engines?

Here is why!

The 86% market share is not the entire story. These numbers showcase Google’s global dominance.

Here are the numbers for Canada, which is similar to the US in terms of breakdown:

Google’s market share is about 91.7%. Clearly they are the dominators of the search engine market, no question
Bing’s share of the market is 5%. Interestingly the share of Yahoo is 1.8%. Given that Microsoft owns both Bing and Yahoo, it could be said to command a 6.8% market share of the US market.
The remaining niche players have less than 2% market share

Final Thoughts on why you need to rank high on Google

Google is continuously updating its ranking algorithm to showcase the most relevant and trustworthy websites on its search results pages.

Google is trying to deliver value to its search customers. In that process, Google will keep looking to improve its search ranking system or algorithm continuously.

As webmasters, our goal is to create a technically robust website populated with quality content, which helps position you an expert in your domain, in your local area. This website will need to be easy to navigate, its user interface will need to be intuitive, and its user experience will need to be top-notch.

This discovery of consistently created, original, high-quality content on your website by Google’s bots will, over time, pull you to Google’s first page.

Getting there needs effort and patience. And it’s absolutely possible to do so.

At Experdent, our focus is SEO for dentists, and that is just what we do. So, get in touch, send us an email, or call us to set up a time to chat very quickly. At Experdent Web Services, we put these very ideas into practice.

We are results-driven, dentist-focused, and experts in SEO for dental offices in North America. So, if you are a dental office looking for SEO or need advice on your digital strategy, call us for a free 30-minute consult.