Currently Number 2 - Worth Shooting for 1?
-
Hello SEO Community,
So I was able to rise to #2 in a highly competitive search term after a guest blog post that I wrote really took off (wish I could recreate that for my other terms, haha)
Anyway, I steadily rose from 30ish to number 2 and have obviously seen more traffic, which is awesome and I'm happy.
But still, in terms of the amount of traffic that google estimates the keyword gets, and the amount I'm getting at #2, it seems like #1 is getting the VAST majority (I know this is how most markets work).
Judging from my link profile compared to #1, it would be extremely difficult to dethrone them.
So what do y'all think? Is it worth spending time and resources shooting for the glory and traffic of #1 and potentially never getting there - or focusing my efforts on my middling keywords and getting those on the first page as well?
-
It depends on what your end goal is.
The #1 position will always get the lion's share of traffic. If getting more revenue is the end goal and moving from 30 to 2 has been profitable for you, then it will likely remain profitable for you to go for 1.
Not all competitive terms are profitable so you should monitor the performance of your search term to help you decide what to do next.
-
I agree with Egol - if you can provide an enticing Title Tag people may want to click your link over the first. Maybe pose a question or again offer a deal.
-
Use your title tag to steal clicks away from them.
offer free beer
tell them you have Secrets
shout a kickass price or free delivery
make your title tag so much more interesting and enticing than theirs.
-
Very good question and becomes a discussion over time and resource management.
It should be said - you will usually see a marked increase in click-through rates even between #1 and #2. So on that basis, always go for #1.
Whether or not to spend most of your focus improving this ranking to #1 or whether to improve some other keywords will depend on a few things - competition for those other keywords, what's their estimated search volume, can you attribute different levels of searcher 'intent' (eg 'red shoes' versus 'buy red shoes in london' - second one has much more intent to convert).
What I would do over the coming weeks is monitor your traffic and conversion rate in analytics. Look out for any significant improvements that you can attribute to this higher ranking term - either through direct last-touch channels, or indirectly through increased brand search and/or conversions where organic search was a touch-point. If you see a big increase, it may be worth pushing for the number one spot. However, if you don't see a decent increase, even when ranking at 2, then it might be better to focus on your other keywords instead.
Hope this helps, would be good to get other feedback as well.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Which is the best tool to check number of css, js, images and it's size?
Hello Team, Can you please suggest which is the best tool to check number of css, js, images and it's size of my competitors? Also what if they are using CDN network and bundling? Will that tool consider that also? Thanks! Wrights
Competitive Research | | wright3350 -
Blocking Competitive Analysis Tools in robots.txt.... Worth it?
I've been considering blocking third party crawlers for a while – specifically those crawling my website for the sake of competitive analysis, such as SEMrush and Ahrefs. I'm familiar with how to do so, but when researching the question I found practically no one asking the same question. The guides I've found on what to put in your robots.txt make no mention of whether to block competitive analysis crawlers. Which makes me wonder whether this is a good idea after all. My chief concern here is rival sites going after the same search terms we target – one of our competitors in particular has an uncanny way of going after the same searches we are. I know blocking crawlers won't prevent competitors from watching our content, but it will make it slightly harder for them. Is there any major drawback I'm missing? Any big reason not to go ahead and block SEO analysis crawlers?
Competitive Research | | davidwaring0 -
How can you rank nr 1 for high competitive keyword with low DA and only 1 backlink?
Hi! Was wondering if anyone can explain this a bit clearer...
Competitive Research | | AleksanderOlsen
Image attatched... How is it possible to rank on Google Norway for spot nr.1 (page in English language) and spot nr.2 (page in Norwegian language) , when all you competitors have higher PA, DA and a lot more backlinks and better on-page optimization according to MOZ? Is there something I´m misunderstanding?
Just when I thought SEO started to make sense 😞 7sXH00d0 -
Why is my competitor's site ranking #1?
I'm about to work for a local business website that offers cleaning services and products. The keyword they want the most is ruled by a very odd site; My client's competitor's site has been around for 7 years. (Less than the average of it's competitors. Less than my client's) Has 1 backlink. Lower PA MR MT & DA than any other in the SERP. It's a 1 page site made with Flash. They do not have FB or Twitter accounts. So I thought maybe they were ranking so well because of their traffic. But neither my client, me or my coworkers have ever heard of this company. And yet, they are ranking #1. And the only thing I notice that might have helped is that the title of their page is the exact keyword and nothing more. Any ideas?
Competitive Research | | Eblan0 -
One client - 2 domains / same business - good or bad idea?
This is a follow up to a previous question actually: My client has one domain that has 'hardwood flooring' in it and one that has 'concrete polishing' in it - both services they offer. **Would it be wise (for seo purposes) to have them both point to ONE domain (more general of course) ** **- They only have a few local competitors that aren't doing anything to rank well. ** **- They aren't trying to rank nationally. ** If the smart thing to do is to have them point to one (more general) domain using a 301 direct will there traffic drop significantly? (at least for a short time) Does it matter if they continue to keep the existing domains they are using now on their literature, business cards, etc. and let them continue pointing to the new domain or should they really start promoting the new domain name? (They do NOT want to do this). My only concern is saving them time and money by not having to build links, submit articles, social media, on and on for two different sites OK, that's like 3 questions Thank you VERY much for any thoughts or opinions on the matter! 🙂 Have a great week everybody! Matthew
Competitive Research | | Mrupp440 -
Reached No. 1 for my Keyword, what next?
Hi, After months of targeting, promoting etc... I have now reached Google.co.uk rank position 1 for my phrase "creative recreation trainers" and I stand at rank 3 on Google.com. I am happy with these results as this is the phrase I targeted and this is the brand I wanted to rank first for. But were do I go from here? I am thinking I change brand and try work some magic on that, but still continuing to add backlinks etc... to the Creative keyword phrase? What would people advise? Also can anyone do an analysis of any sort on that keyword phrase and/or the url http://www.designerboutique-online.com/all-clothing/creative-recreation/ and tell me some good points, bad points, what to do next and so on? Any help would be great. Thanks
Competitive Research | | YNWA0 -
How hard could it be to outrank a huffington post article with PA:1 ?
or what would be the quick way to find out? Page Authority 1 mozRank 0.00 mozTrust 0.00 Total Links 0 Internal Links 0 External Links 0 Followed Links 0 Nofollowed Links 0 Linking Root Domains 0 On-Page Analysis Grade A Broad Keyword Usage in Title Yes Broad Keyword Usage in Document Yes Keyword Used in URL Yes KW in Domain No KW Exact Match No Exact Anchor Text Links 0 Linking Root Domains w/ Exact Anchor Text 0 Partial Anchor Text Links 0 Partial Anchor Text Root Doms. 0 Domain Authority 100 Domain mozRank 7.6 Domain mozTrust 7.9 DmT/DmR 1.0 External Links to this domain 40443657 Linking Root Domains to this domain 223797 Linking C-Blocks Domains to this domain 40697 Tweets 6 FB Shares 20 Google Plus One Shares 0
Competitive Research | | antoniorigo0 -
Are web directories worth the effort?
I'm looking to see what sites my competitors are linked from via the open site explorer and all I see are web directories and when I visit these sites it seems they want you to part with $20 in exchange for a link. It obviously works as the sites I am researching are on page one for the keyword I am targeting. For example Site 1 Has 18,222 followed links and 1,089 no followed links Has 243 linking root domains and 17 NoFollowed linking root domains Site 2 & 3 are very similar My site is only 2 months old and has 85 followed, 10 NoFollowed and 4 linking root domains and 3 NoFollowed. My domain Authority is 15 my 3 competitors I'm tracking are between 30 and 45. In spite of this huge gulf I still rank half way up page two! I'd be really grateful if someone could explain to me what the followed links, NoFollewed links etc all means and also the opinion on getting links from web directories. Thanks for your time - Jay
Competitive Research | | JasonHegarty0