Diminished Value of Top Organic Google Rankings
For those that have held top positions in Google, they understand that their largest competitor has become Google. Regardless of how popular ones site is, Google is creeping into the mix by competing for organic traffic in many niches. And folks, they are continuing to expand at an alarming rate. This is why I felt it important to discuss some of the problems even top SEO professionals are coping with.
As an example of what I am talking about, do a quick Google search for dishwasher. Only the top two organic listings are above the fold. Searchers are bombarded with Adwords ads, a related searches box and shopping results. While this is not new, I have witnessed the expansion of Google’s desire to expand their reach into a variety of products and niches. Why is Google doing this?
As with any website, it is only natural to provide users with as much information onsite as possible. What Google is doing is no different. They have been moving away from their search business model to a find business model. And Google is making every effort to monetize this traffic.
In some niches Google has certainly given preference to listing those sites which offer Google Checkout. This has been going on for a while. Those that submit product feeds to Google shopping understand this. One of the easiest ways to rank products higher is to offer Google checkout. But Google’s move to monetize its search traffic is expanding and delivering a blow to many websites which rely heavily on organic search traffic.
In some cases, where a sites ranks number three for a heavily search for keyword, they are now compelled to bid high for an Adwords listing which actually appears above the fold. In one case, which I am personally aware of, this has caused a large advertising budget shift that has taken away a significant amount of money from a private advertising budget. Most of these funds have been reallocated to Adwords. Therefore, it is safe to assume many other companies are doing this or considering the same. This essentially will squeeze smaller websites which rely on selling advertising space for revenue.
When Google begins taking over a niche with added information being displayed in the search results, the traffic loss is horrific. I’ve seen sites which were ranked in the top three positions lose over 50% of their organic search traffic. Searchers are being driven away from these organic listings and clicking on product images, related images and of course Adwords.
It once was true that if a business wanted significant organic search traffic, they had to be listed in the top three positions. This is no longer true for some niches. With the third organic listing well beneath the fold in some niches, Google is driving more people into Adwords and to ramp up their SEO efforts to capture an above the fold listing. While this may be good for Google and SEO professionals, it has now forced many webmasters to realize that their largest competitor has become Google itself.
