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Dominating Google – Don’t Just Aim for the Top of Google, Aim to Dominate Google

Posted by Dawson Barber on October 7, 2010 ·

Dominating Google is a term that Internet marketing “gurus” and consultancies commonly toss around, but typically provide little or no hard evidence to substantiate the success of their efforts to dominate Google or even get a single page to the top of Google. And on those rare occasions when they do provide evidence of the “success” of their efforts at dominating Google, the evidence typically has the following in common:

Just two or three positions at top of Google or somewhere on Google’s first page – since Google typically serves up 10 search results per page, two or three positions represent only a 20% or 30% “share of the page,” which is a far cry from dominating Google (in my view)
Obscure search terms that have very little search volume and very little value to anyone even if he/she did dominate Google for them – this wouldn’t be so bad if they at least acknowledged the fact that the search terms for which they’re dominating Google were practically worthless
Search terms are enclosed in quotes (e.g., “dominating Google”) – quotes around a search term direct Google to refine search results to only display pages that include a match to the phrase that was searched for, which always results in far fewer search results being displayed and, therefore, makes it much easier to dominate Google (a search for the phrase dominating Google without quotes returns 1.32 million search results while a search for the phrase “dominating Google” with quotes returns 20,300 search results)

This kind of misrepresentation generally leads to two results:

First , aspiring Internet marketing entrepreneurs and established small and medium business owners empty their wallets so they, too, can dominate Google just like they were told they could
Second, those same Internet marketing entrepreneurs and small and medium business owners stop believing that it’s possible to dominate Google after it does not happen

This is unfortunate for a number of reasons – not the least of which is that people lose out on the very real opportunity to not only achieve multiple positions at or near the top of Google, but also to literally dominate the first page by taking over 50% or more of Google’ first page of search results.

The example that follows is one of many that provides proof-positive that dominating Google is not only achievable, but it is also realistic within a short timeframe.

Dominating Google for a Worthwhile Search Term

Skills for Growth is a workforce planning and development initiative run by the State Government of Victoria (in Australia), open to all qualified small and medium businesses in Victoria. And even though the government has been promoting the program and has a website where business owners can gather more information and register, there are still people who go to Google every day looking for information specifically about Skills for Growth.

I’ve chosen this one from a number of different examples I could have used for a couple of reasons:

There is no commercial value to me because I’m not part of any business that can benefit from the program – so I’m not giving anything away of any value to me
There is no commercial value to any client of mine because no client of mine is currently involved in the program – so I’m not giving away anything of any value to a client (which, of course, I wouldn’t do under any circumstances)

And while the search term skills for growth does not have a particularly high monthly search volume – about 3,600 global broad-match (no quotes) searches every month – people who are looking for information about the Skills for Growth program are potentially very valuable to the businesses that are on the panel of suppliers – due to the fact that the suppliers are “fighting it out” with one another for a slice of a $52 million pie (that’s the total funding behind the program).

This means that, if you happened to be one of those suppliers, dominating Google for the term skills for growth could potentially be very valuable to your business.

Video Evidence That’s it’s Possible to Dominate Google

The screencast below was recorded on October 6, 2010 – approximately one month after I wrote a basic overview of the Skills for Growth program and published it to one of my websites. I followed this up by converting the content into some different formats – PDF, PPT, and video – and publishing them to different Web properties shortly thereafter.

Click on the link to see a high-definition version of the “Dominating Google” screencast

As you can see in the screencast, in the month since I first created and published content about Skills for Growth, my content is dominating the first page of Google’s search results for a search term with 3,600 broad-match global monthly searches – currently holding:

First position
Second position
Third position
Fifth position
Sixth position
Seventh position
Ninth position
Eleventh position (although Google typically only displays ten results on the first page, it’s increasingly common to see additional search results on the first page when Google serves up “universal” content, such as videos, news, images, and so forth)

Given that Google’s first page gets about 90% of all of the clicks for any search – with the first three search results getting about 60% – it should go without saying that the content that I’ve created and published pretty much controls where the majority of all of the searches for skills for growth goes.

Strategies for Getting to the Top of Google and for Dominating Google

My strategies for getting to the top of Google and for dominating Google are, of course, completely confidential. And while some of the savvier Internet marketing minds might be able to divine some of the elements of my strategies, there’s no way to unravel the full “mystery” of how to dominate Google.

My time and expertise are, however, available.

So if you are interested in getting some of your website’s content to the top of Google – or if you’re interested in aiming even higher and dominating Google – click on the link to get in touch with me to see if – and how – I can help you.

Note: it’s important to note that these results are from Google.com’s website, not Google.com.au’s website. Since none of my content was published to a .com.au top-level domain (TLD), it does not hold a dominant position in Google Australia’s regionalized search results (content doesn’t begin to appear until about the third or fourth page on Google.com.au).

If the content had been published to com.au TLDs, then there is little doubt that it would hold a similarly dominant position in Google Australia’s search results.

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Categories: Search Engine Optimization - Tags: dominate google, dominating google, Internet Marketing, online marketing, search engine optimization, SEO, top of google

Google Places – Could Local Business Search Results Be Your Ticket to the Top of Google?

Posted by Dawson Barber on October 3, 2010 ·

Google Places could be your ticket to the top of Google

Google Places – formerly known as the Google Local Business Center – is a great resource for people in need of local business information because Google serves up local business search results in response to any search query that has a “local intent” to it. The local business search results are displayed on the first page of search results – either on top of the organic search results or somewhere towards the middle of the page within the organic search results – and feature a map alongside a box of business listings that link to each business’ website and Google Places Page.

Google Places strives to make it as easy as possible for searchers to find relevant information about local businesses.

Google Places Enables Local Businesses to Tap Into Huge Online Demand

Google Places is also a great resource for businesses that depend upon local clientele because it helps them tap into the huge online demand for local content, which, according to Google, is responsible for about 20% of all Google searches (that number climbs to about 33% for Google searches via the mobile Web).

When you consider the fact that Google’s search volume for August 2010 was a little over 10.2 billion searches in the US alone, you can begin to appreciate just how significant the demand is for local content.

The Importance of “Places” at the Top of Google

Content that ranks at or near the top of Google’s first page of organic Web search results gets the lion’s share of all of the clicks for every search query (according to all available data and studies, the first page of Google gets about 90% of all of the clicks for every search, with more than half of all clicks going to the first three search results). So a top Google ranking for a keyword with a high search volume can cause a huge increase in traffic to a website.

But getting to the top of Google’s organic search results has, historically, been challenging for a number of reasons. It can also, in some cases, take a long time.

Google Places Could be Your Ticket to the Top of Google

Because Google only ever serves up local business search results on the first page of search results – and commonly on top of the organic Web search results, Google Places opens up another entry point to the top of Google.

Moreover, since Google Places is still in its “infancy,” it is entirely possible for a business to come along, claim its Places Page, make a few, simple tweaks to it, and end up at the top of the local business search results – at the top of Google’s organic Web search results.

And because Google indexes Places Pages differently than other web pages, modifications can have an immediate effect on the ranking of a Places Page.

All in all, Google Places is an excellent way for a local business to “get found” on the Web by people in need of what the business sells. If you haven’t already claimed and optimized your Places Page, make sure you don’t wait any longer. Thousands of people in your city are searching the Web for your type of business – right now. Make sure they find your business before they find a competitor’s business by establishing a solid presence in Google Places.

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Categories: Google Places | Local Business - Tags: Google, google places, google places page, local business search, local business search results, top of google

Dental Practice Marketing – Google Places Offers Quick, Easy, and Free Access to the Top of Google

Posted by Dawson Barber on September 30, 2010 ·

dental practice marketing on google places

Dental practice marketing efforts should include Google Places

If your dental practice marketing efforts do not currently target Google Places, you are losing out in a big way by forfeiting a lot of free and easy-to-win business to other dentists who are either lucky – in some markets simply having a Google Places Page with the right keyword in the title is good enough to get traffic – or who have at least made a modicum level of effort to ensure that Google Places is a core part of their dental practice marketing efforts.

Google Places could easily be the best investment of time and effort any dental practice marketing practitioner makes – be it a do-it-yourself dentist-as-marketer or a consultant or agency that offers dental practice marketing services – for three very good reasons:

1. It’s free to list a business with Google Places

That’s right, unlike all other dental practice marketing efforts, Google Places doesn’t have to cost a cent – and it doesn’t have to take up much time. You can claim your Google Places Page (odds are good that it already exists because Google creates them automatically for most businesses) in a matter of minutes and you can effectively manage your account by spending only about a half-hour per week on it.

2. People in need of dental services are heavy users of the Google search engine

Check out the search volume (taken straight from Google’s free Keyword Selection Tool) for just five keywords people use to find dentists, dental practices, and dental procedures in the city of Houston:

8,100 monthly searches for the phrase “dentist Houston”
6,600 monthly searches for the phrase “Houston dental”
3,600 monthly searches for the phrase “dentist in Houston”
2,900 monthly searches for the phrase “Houston dentist”
1,300 monthly searches for the phrase “teeth whitening Houston”

That’s 22,500 searches for just five keywords – out of dozens or, possibly, hundreds – that people use to find dentists, dental practices, and dental procedures in the city of Houston every single month (and it’s highly likely that you’ll find similar results in your city, wherever that may be).

3.It’s usually somewhere between “extremely easy” and “relatively easy” to capture a position at the top of Google’s organic search results with a Google Places listing, depending on the market you’re in

Since the first page of search results captures about 90% of the clickstream for every keyword search (with more than half of all clicks going to the first three search results), the first page is the only place you want to be. And since Google serves up Google Places Pages as part of their three-pack, seven-pack, or ten-pack of local business listings that only ever appear on the first page of search results, a Google Places Page can give you the opportunity to capture a share of the clickstream for a number of high-value keywords.

When you put it all together – free and easy + huge consumer demand + easy rankings – you should really be able to begin to appreciate the benefits of adding Google Places to your dental practice marketing program.

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Categories: Dental Practice Marketing - Tags: dental marketing, dental office marketing, dental practice marketing, dentist office marketing, google local business search, google places

Dental Practice Marketing Reality Check – Cut through the Hype to Get to the Facts about the Role of Social Media in Marketing a Dental Practice

Posted by Dawson Barber on September 17, 2010 · 1 Comment

dental practice marketing social media icons

Is there a role in dental practice marketing for social media?

Lately a growing number of dental practice marketing practitioners – from dentists-as-marketers to marketing and advertising agencies that specialize, or claim to specialize, in dental practice marketing – have been raising questions in online dental practitioner forums about social media marketing. Specifically, they’ve been asking their peers and others about whether or not they think that it would be a good idea to invest some of their dental practice marketing time, effort and money into establishing a presence and – marketing their practices – in social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.

And why wouldn’t they be curious – especially when they’re exposed to such big numbers:

Facebook has more than 500 million users
Twitter has had more than 24 billion – that’s right, billion – messages posted to it
YouTube gets an average of 2 billion video views every single day

They’ve obviously also been exposed to the fact that a growing number of businesses are leveraging social media as part of their broader overall marketing efforts, and they don’t want to miss out on what could be the “next big thing” in dental practice marketing.

What Nobody Says About the Role of Social Media in Dental Practice Marketing

While the consensus among people in online dental practitioner forums seems to be that social media is worth the time, effort and money, it’s important to understand that many of the voices that are weighing in on the issue belong people who are in the social media marketing business. Therefore, they have a vested interest in promoting social media as an effective dental practice marketing method (their voices are also likely being heard in other online professional forums where similar questions are being raised).

There are, however, a number of things they’re not saying –such as:

The “big numbers” like those listed above are absolutely meaningless at a local business level – the fact that Facebook has 500 million users globally has no value to a dental practice whose patient base is limited by geographical boundaries
Social media marketing takes a fairly significant investment of time, effort, and money (for dentists who need to outsource or use automation tools) – while setting up profiles in a few of the more popular social media sites takes only a few minutes, participating in the “conversation” can easily consume many hours every week
Social media sites are, by definition, “social” – as a rule, people visit social media sites to stay in touch with friends and family, not to find businesses to buy from; when they want to do that, they use search engines, online review sites, and the Internet Yellow Pages
Getting a lot of followers and fans can be totally useless – if the people in a dental practice’s social circles are not targeted, then they’re not going to do anything for the dental practice (targeted, in this case, means that they are the type of people who are “dental practice promiscuous” and that they live or work close enough to a dentist’s office that they’ll make the trip – which, for about 72% of people, is a 20 minute drive, according to a study on local consumer behavior by Nielsen/WebVisible)
Attracting “fans” and “followers” that are relevant to any local business is a long and hard journey – this is especially true of local services businesses like dental practices, law firms, real estate agencies and the like (and going the other route – asking people to become followers or fans isn’t altogether different from traditional interruptive marketing, save for the channel)

The last point is probably the most important consideration. Think about this from your own perspective. How likely are you, personally, to seek out a local business on a social media site and become a fan or follower – while being open to the possibility of ultimately becoming a customer of that business?

Probably not very likely – unless they’re recommended by someone you already know, like, and trust or unless their profile has somehow caught your eye. And this is what makes it a long and hard process.

Social Media Should Ultimately be Seen as One Part – of Many – in a Broader Dental Practice Marketing Program

In the end, while social media participation can add value to dental practice marketing, how much value it can add – and at what cost – remains to be seen. So rather than falling for the hype about social media marketing being the “next big thing,” dentists should set their expectations realistically and understand that social media is simply one in a number of different marketing channels – each of which should be seen as part of a broader overall dental practice marketing program.

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Categories: Dental Practice Marketing - Tags: dental marketing, dental office marketing, dental practice marketing, FaceBook, internet dental practice marketing, local business online marketing, online dental practice marketing, Social Media, social media marketing, twitter, YouTube

Dental Practice Marketing Strategies – Destined to Fail Unless They Really Embrace Search Engine Marketing

Posted by Dawson Barber on September 16, 2010 · 1 Comment

Dental practice marketing is critical to the success of any dental practice because, no matter how great a dentist is, patients will always leave:

They move
They change benefits providers
They grow dissatisfied with an element of the service or price
Etc, etc etc

The key to the success of a dental practice, therefore, is to make every effort to minimize patient attrition while, at the same time, endeavouring to continuously attract a steady stream of new patients. This is where dental practice marketing comes in.

Dental Practice Marketing Ensures Survival and Drives Growth

Dental practice marketing provides for both the survival of a dental practice – if patients who leave the practice aren’t replaced the practice will simply cease to exist – and for its growth, provided that its marketing efforts are effective at attracting new patients at a faster rate than it loses “old” patients.

Dental practice marketing prevents empty dental chairs

Effective dental practice marketing should prevent "empty chair" syndrome

And yet, in spite of the obvious importance of marketing to the success of any dental practice, the majority of dentists seem to make some pretty poor decisions when it comes to how and where to spend their marketing dollars. They spend their marketing dollars mostly the same ways they always have – “if t ain’t broke, don’t fix it” – and mostly only dabble in anything outside their dental practice marketing “comfort zone.”

Well, the reality is that “it is broke” and it needs to be fixed. The audiences that dental practices market to have moved away from the places where they spend most of their marketing dollars – consumer usage of the Yellow Pages, for instance, continues to fall dramatically year after year – and twords places where most dental practices have little or no “strategic” visibility, such as search engines and Web 2.0.

Search Engines Trump Web 2.0 Sites as Targets for Dental Practice Marketing Effort and Spend

And even though Web 2.0 sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and the like generate most of the buzz these days – and with good reason because the high-level (but meaningless at a local level) numbers are, frankly, jaw-dropping – they’re not where a dental practice should be directing a lot of its marketing effort or dollars for the simple reason that people visit Web 2.0 sites primarily to connect/socialize with friends and family. They’re not there to look for products and services and are certainly not there to be marketed to.

Search engines, on the other hand, are where people turn when they’ve got an itch to scratch:

8.8 billons searches were conducted in the US in July 2010 – Nielsen Wire
90% of the 239 million US Internet users who use the Internet to find local businesses use search engines to do so – the Kelsey Group
52% of people who use search engines to find local business information usually or always follow up their online search with an offline purchase – Nielsen/WebVisble
39% of people who used a search engine to find a local business were looking for medical/dental services – Nielsen/WebVisble

When you look at what’s going on in the search engines at a local level – in this case, in the city of Vancouver – you’ll see that the numbers make a compelling case for dental practices to invest more of their marketing effort and dollars into search engine marketing.

The following numbers are taken from Google’s Keyword Selection Tool which, among other things, tracks and reports on monthly keyword search volumes:

4,400 monthly searches for “dentist Vancouver
2,400 monthly searches for “Vancouver dentist”
1,900 monthly searches for “Vancouver dental”
1,900 monthly searches for “dentists in Vancouver”
1,600 monthly searches for “dental Vancouver”
1,300 monthly searches for “dentists Vancouver”

That’s 13,500 monthly searches for just six keywords – out of dozens – that people use every month in their efforts to find dentists/dental practices/dental services in the city of Vancouver.

An Effective Dental Practice Marketing Strategy Must Include Search Engine Marketing

Search engines, very simply, connect people in need of products and services with businesses that sell the products and services they need – at the precise moment when their needs are at a peak level. That’s why they’re searching on the Internet in the first place. They’ve got an itch to scratch – such as a tooth ache – and they need it scratched – and usually pretty urgently.

And not only are search volumes for dentists and related terms already high, more and more people are turning to search engines to help them find dentists than ever before – searches for dentist and related keywords reached their highest volumes ever July and August 2010 – as you can see in the image below from Google Search Trends.

The message is clear: your dental practice’s patients of tomorrow will not be found where you were investing time, effort, and money to find them in the past. They’ve moved online – and continue to do so.. And unless you move more of your dental practice marketing efforts online – in a strategic and cohesive way – your dental practice simply will not be found.

Click on the link to download a free copy of the brand new 25-page report Local Search Marketing: Let the Power of Search Engines Drive the Growth of Your Business’ Growth” (no opt-in required).

Click here to contact me for more information or a complimentary initial consultation.