Has a marketing company ever told you they can guarantee you ‘top rank in Google’?
It’s one of the most common phrases in marketing, and it’s very popular with salespeople, mostly because it’s one of those terms that isn’t technically a lie, but certainly doesn’t mean what you think it does.
What you mean by ‘top rank’ is being the first entry for a popular term that describes what you do, but what the salesperson means is being the first entry for a search term that won’t cost them very much money – regardless of whether people are actually searching for it or not.
For example, being ranked first for “inexpensive apparel” doesn’t have the impact of being ranked first for “cheap clothing”, because no-one’s going to be searching the first term anyway.
Everyone wants top ranking in search engines, but top rank for a random term that no-one ever searches isn’t going to get you more business – and that’s the whole point of paying out for marketing in the first place.
An honest online marketer won’t promise you ‘top ranking’, because it’s a meaningless phrase. What you really need from a marketer is a guarantee that they will work to find the most useful terms for your business, terms that balance the cost of the click against the business it brings you.
So beware of marketers promising you top ranking. They might not be lying, but they’re coming damned close.
