Do you need to be successful in search results to have a successful company? Obviously, the answer is “no”.
Many people have successful small businesses that meet their needs for personal job satisfaction and enough income. From the individual selling baked goods or homemade bracelets at the Farmer’s Market to the independent plumber, painter, or electrician who has built a clientele whom they have serviced over the
years.
However, there are many individuals who desire to grow their business and seek opportunities, and having an online presence can be crucial to their success. There are many options out there to build a website for free and even promises to help with ranking in Google searches. Unfortunately, just because one has access to the tools, it does not mean that most small businesses know how to use them.
The reality is that most websites never appear in an online search. I know thios from experience. I have searched
through tens of industries and most locsal businesses do not show up in the most basic search of what they do. There are businesses that have paid 25 or 50 thousand dollars for a website and they never appear in a search. Why would anyone expect their website to appear in a search when they paid $500-1000?
It does not matter how much the small business is worth. Most still do not show up. Here is a good example. A
few Fridays ago I met the CEO and two other top executives of a business here in Halifax. When I engaged with them, they were astonished that I had not heard of their company. The name was “Raffle Box” and it is okay if you have never heard of them since I had not either J. The company’s specialty was “online fundraising”. In any case, I said that my specialty was SEO and that I would see if I could find them. One of them, Simon Cusak, reacted quite strongly at the suggestion the website could not be found.
Well, the value of a company and online ranking do not have any necessary connection. A few days later I searched for “charity fundraising” and “event fund raising” and their company did not appear. Then, I searched “online fundraising”, which is exactly what they do. I found several lists of online fundraisers and Raffle Box was not named on any of them. Their company did not appear in the first ten pages of that search, which means they likely do not appear at all J. Now, they have become quite successful and are valued at 55 million dollars, but they do not do online fundraising like Kickstarter or Indiegogo. They find corporate clients and manage their campaign for online donations. In case you are wondering, they do not show up in a search in that category either.
So, the irony is that the only way that Raffle Box is going to appear in a search at all is because I am
mentioning the company in this blog. The lesson to be learned is that the value of the company or how long it has been in business has nothing to do with whether it will rank in a Google search. Most companies will never appear in a search unless you google their name. Well, the only ones Googling your name are the customers or people you already know. It does not matter about company value when it comes to ranking in Google searches.
What matters is having a website that demonstrates to Google that you are an expert and provide top
quality products or services in the area being searched. In other words, any company has the possibility of achieving firat page results in multiple searches on Google if it is built well and has well written content.