How Important is Search Engine Ranking?

Just how important is search engine ranking?

Being involved in search engine marketing, I hear a lot about the importance of ranking, how appearing at the top is the desired goal, how appearing outside the top 10 is virtual suicide. But is it?

Well, I don't know. OK, perhaps I have a theory then.

Where I live, my nearest shop is a convenience store. I need to pass at least 5 other similar convenience stores before I get to my nearest supermarket, which is Asda. In my, albeit geographic, rankings I make it that Asda comes 6th. So where do I shop?

Further afield is my favour butcher, baker and fishmonger, Sainsbury's, Marks & Spencer, Waitrose and so on. They're well down my personal geographic rankings but what do I do?

What's more important, imho, is the relevance of the offering, the quality of the business and how it meets my needs. If I'm looking for something, I'll go to where it is offered that best suits my needs. Why should it be any different on the web?

Why should anyone think that a savvy Internet consumer will choose a website just because it appears at the top of the ranking page, rather than spending a few seconds to see which site most suits their needs?

Spend time attuning your site to your needs rather than worry about fancy tricks to appear at the 'top' of the search rankings, well that's my opinion anyway...

Peter van Zelst is the Principle of Inovative Internet Marketing, a practical online marketing company.