What is Position in SEO and Why Does it Matter?
Contents
The number one search result on Google has a 27.6% CTR and is ten times more likely to receive a click compared to the number 10 spot.
What does that mean for you?
It means that position matters and if you want traffic on your website, you need to rank at the top of page one if you want to have any results.
But, what is position in SEO and what types of actions can you take to improve your position? Let’s talk about it.
What is Position in SEO?
Your position is where you rank in the search engine for a certain keyword. For example, if I Google “internal linking tools,” these are the top results:
These top three results have the highest likelihood of getting a click because they have a high position in the search results.
As you produce content, build webpages, and expand your website, your ultimate goal should be to rank as high as possible for as many keywords as you can. This increases your traffic and your ability to generate revenue from that traffic.
Why is Position in SEO Important?
The significance of position in SEO can’t be overstated because it’s one of the most important things – in fact, it’s the reason SEO exists. It’s the ultimate goal and dream of every site owner to obtain the number one position for every keyword they target.
Here are some specific reasons why position is important to SEO.
Visibility: The higher a web page ranks on a SERP, the more likely it is to catch the attention of users. As I said, most people click the top three results so the more pages you have in these positions, the more traffic you’ll get.
Credibility: Websites that occupy the top positions in search results are often perceived as more credible and trustworthy by users. This is because search engines like Google are continuously refining their algorithms to deliver the most relevant and valuable content to users.
Traffic and Conversions: Position has a direct impact on your traffic and since the higher positions get more clicks, this increases your CTR which looks good to Google and only helps you even more.
What Factors Impact Your Position?
All of this sounds great and we understand that position is important, but what are the driving factors behind your position in SEO? Here are the most important ones:
DR (Domain Rating)
Your DR is a metric used to determine the overall credibility of your website based on the number of high quality backlinks you have. The higher the score, the more credible your website is.
This is one of those metrics that site owners are always trying to increase because it has a blanket effect on your site as a whole. It can improve your rankings, your CTR, your bounce rates, time on site, and much more.
Age of Site
The age of your site is one of those things you obviously can’t control but it’s important. Search engines view sites that have a proven track record as more trustworthy and authoritative. This can lead to higher rankings.
That said, it doesn’t mean that a new site can’t outrank an older site if they provide fresh valuable content. Follow the fundamentals of SEO, get great backlinks, create valuable content, and you shouldn’t have to worry too much about this.
Content Quality
There are two main components in my eyes that make content “good quality.” Relevance and value.
Your content needs to appeal to a specific audience and it needs to provide so much value that they have no reason to go anywhere else to get the information they need.
Content should address user intent, provide solutions, and offer unique insights to enhance the user experience.
Backlinks
We’ve talked about this a little with your domain rating but backlinks are one of the most important factors that impact your position in SEO. The more high quality backlinks you have, the higher you’ll rank.
Google sees backlinks as a vote of confidence from another site to yours. They’re saying that your site is valuable enough that they want to recommend you to their audience. If the site giving you a backlink is also high quality and authoritative, that’s a big thumbs up to you.
UX
User experience plays a crucial role in determining position. A positive UX encourages visitors to spend more time on your site, navigate through pages, and engage with your content. This reduces bounce rates (when users quickly leave the site), signaling to search engines that your content is relevant and valuable.
Mobile Optimization
Google uses mobile-first indexing which means they determine a website’s position based on how the website performs on mobile before they consider desktop performance. This means that your website needs to function perfectly on mobile and provide a seamless experience across all screen sizes.
How to Improve Your Position in SEO?
You understand the in’s and out’s of what position is, why it’s important, and what factors determine it. So, how do you go from the bottom of page one to the top of page one?
Keyword Research and Optimization: Conduct thorough keyword research, understand search intent, and optimize your content for keywords that your audience is targeting.
Create Awesome Content: It all comes down to the content. Create compelling, well-researched, and informative content that addresses the needs and interests of your target audience.
On-Page SEO: Optimize meta titles, descriptions, and headers based on your target keywords.
Backlinks: Develop a backlink strategy to acquire high-quality, relevant backlinks from authoritative websites within your industry.
Internal Linking: Connect your website with a great internal linking strategy to help bring content together and make it easier for Google to crawl your site. Use a tool like Link Whisper to help.
Final Thoughts
Your position is everything and if you can’t get to the top of page one for some of your most valuable keywords, you’ll have a hard time getting the traffic you want.
Focus on creating great content, develop a backlinking strategy using manual outreach, and make sure your site works perfectly and functions well across all platforms. Follow these steps and be patient!