Google is by far the most popular and used search engine in the market. It has a clear dominance over all other search engines. This has made Google incredibly powerful and they can essentially make or break your website. Users trust Google to give them exactly what they are looking for.

With so much power in the hands of just one search engine, getting your website to the first page is vital if you want to be noticed by customers. To the newbies however, it can seem like such a daunting task and you may not even know where to begin.

Well, the first thing you should do is understand why it is so important to get to the first page. Many have a basic level of understanding but if you know exactly why, you are better equipped to develop strategies that are effective in getting you the ranking you want.

Take a look below at some of the main reasons getting to the first page of Google is crucial:

1. Improves Online Visibility

According to SEO Shark the digital marketing agency, being on the first page ensures that you get more eyeballs on your search engine results listing. This doesn’t always directly translate into more traffic, but it certainly increases the chances – you have to be in it to win it!

The higher up you get on the first page the better because the lower your listing is the less eyeballs. Remember – users trust Google to give them the best, most relevant results first. This is why many users always seem to find what they are looking for in the first couple of listings.

Think about this – when was the last time you clicked onto the second page of Google’s results? Probably a very long time ago (if ever). With so many users not bothering to check the second page and beyond, you need to ensure you are doing all you can to get yourself on the first page.

There are more people then ever online these days, meaning there are more people that could potential become your customer. As well as this, most customers use the Internet to conduct research before making a decision – over 80% to be exact.

2. Increases Traffic

When your website gets to the first page it improves visibility (as discussed above) and this usually has a knock on effect and also improves traffic. While this is not a guarantee, it is more than likely. You should also be focusing on getting the right type of traffic.

This means finding the type of users that are going to engage positively with your site. To do this you need to focus on targeting the correct keywords. Improving traffic is great, but if they aren’t going to translate into becoming a customer then you should revisit your keyword list.

The results from Google can be quite brutal. Being on the first page is great and there are a number of benefits associated with this. However, being on the second page is a significant disadvantage. This is because the results on the first page take about 70% of total traffic.

3. Become Trusted

This is probably a benefit that not many think of first. By having your site on the first page, it builds trust with consumers. This is because they trust Google to give them the best results and if Google trusts your website enough to give you a great ranking, then consumers understand this as well.

When your site is on the first page you are pretty much getting Google’s tick of approval. As well as this, if you can manage to get on the first page for a number of different keywords, this works to improve your branding. If your listing keeps popping up, eventually customers will remember your name.

There are however, no shortcuts to getting an awesome ranking on Google. The tactics and processes that need to be put in place are certainly long term. So you know that once you are on the first page, you definitely earned your spot.

4. New Customers

While it is important to maintain the relationships you have with existing customers, you should always be looking for new ones as well. By being on the first page of Google more new potential customers are seeing your business.

Google is the perfect place to find new customers because so many people use the search engine giant every day to assist them to find what they are looking for. The lower you are in the rankings, the more difficult it becomes for new customers to find you.

So make sure you are doing all you can to ensure you get to the first page. That way you make it incredibly easy for new potential customers to find your website and then go on to become an existing customer!