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You Don't Need to Be #1 to Be Number One
Just a reminder from the keeping-things-in-perspective department: Position isn't everything. If there was ever a better example, it's the results you get when you do a search on "search engine." Did Google not having the #1 spot in their own organic results for that search phrase diminish their market leadership (or their stock price) in any way? Don't go chasing the #1 spot at the expense of executing a sound business plan (hint: depending on splogs is not a sound business plan). All things being equal, being #1 in the results is better than having the second spot, but guess what... all things are never equal.
Posted by Melanie Phung
Posted by 
: 12:28 PM, September 17, 2006
"Don't go chasing the #1 spot at the expense of executing a sound business plan."
Your statement is so right. Chasing eyeballs and clicks doesn't have much economic value. A sound business plan is designing Web pages that provide the right information customers can use to make a decision.
Posted by 
Andrew: 7:47 PM, September 17, 2006
I think Mel's right. Raw position certainly isn't everything. Google doesn't need to be number one on Google, anyone searching there is already using Google. Position is secondary to keyword-and-position. I'd rather be ranked #5 on a converting keyword than #1 on a pointless one.
Posted by Melanie Phung: 2:30 PM, September 18, 2006
Hi Andrew, welcome to Melanie Phung's humble SEO blog.
And hello other fake personas. It's been a while. But I do believe I instituted a 'no more than 2 fake user names per person per post' rule a couple of weeks back. Don't force me to require registration for commenting - that'll just ruin it for other people.
[insert emoticon that conveys: I'm smiling, so you know I'm not being too serious, but I'm serious enough to mean it when I say I'll stop allowing anonymous/fake comments]
Posted by Melanie Phung: 2:34 PM, September 18, 2006
p.s. So for the love of dogs, please don't now flame me (again) for not publishing your other comments.
Posted by
bill bakers: 4:39 PM, September 16, 2006
"position is not everything".
I have to disagree with you on this. "Location" is "the" key factor not only in real estates, but also in any conentional and online commercialism. Being ranked #1 in any search is equivalent to placing an ad in the front page of a newspaper; it attracts much more clicks and eyeballs.