Search Engine Results Page and Ranking

Ranking, in cyberspace terminologies means a web page’s relative placement on a Search Engine Results Page ( known as SERP ) for specific search query. If you go to a Search Engine, let’s say Google and type for example, “wedding planner” into the search Box, you will be given a list of all web pages where your search “wedding planner” is found or is associated with the content of the page. In Google, the default is 10 listings per page and the first page results are generally the most relevant to the search phrase “wedding planner”. Results are also sorted in order of relative importance to the search term.

If Search Engines do not list your site among the top 20 for your most important keywords, you might as well drop the idea of getting more customers from your website. Because many people, never go pass the top 10 results or the first page of SERP. If you are to be seen by your prospective clients, you really need to be in the top 10.


How much more traffic a page ranked #1 gets compared to say, a #2 or #4 is debatable. Those listings above the fold on an SERP do get clicked more than those below it. Above the fold are those results displayed before you have to scroll downward.

A recent study gives us some interesting statistics on the subject of ranking vs. percentage of clicks for that position. This study gives us the number of times people clicked on search engine results based on their ranking.

First Page:

Position 1: 35%
Position 2: 15%
Position 3: 8%
Position 4: 6%
Position 5: 5%
Position 6: 4%
Position 7: 4%
Position 8: 3%
Position 9: 3%
Position 10: 5%

Second Page:

Position 1: 6%
Position 2: 4%
Position 3: 2%
Position 4 and beyond: less than 1%

As you can see, if your site is not on the first two pages, there's a very slim chance that your site will be visited by prospective clients. When was the last time you went as far as the third page of your search results versus just starting a new search?

A website that does not appear in SERPs remains invisible to internet users and is almost useless. Thus you paid for nothing and you'll continue paying for your domain and hosting renewal for nothing, unless you have other good reason to have a website.

The good news is that it's not yet too late. You can optimize your website for a better ranking on your important keywords. There are many firms out there offering Search Engine Optimization service. Almost all claim to be the best, but don't easily trust people. You've wasted your money enough for a website that searchers don't get to see. Ask for proof!

One of our SEO clients, http://www.mls-dentalcosmetics.com has the following keyword ranking in Google as of this writing.

Dental Clinic St. Luke's Quezon City - Rank #1, #2
Dentist Quezon City St. Luke's - Rank #1, #2
Mall of Asia Dentist - Rank #3, #4
Dentist St. Luke's Quezon City - Rank #3
Dental Cosmetics Manila - Rank #1, #2
TMJ Dysfunction Philippines - Rank #1, #2
Filipino Dentist - Rank #4
Dentist Philippines - Rank #4
Dental Implant Philippines - Rank #4
Dental Clinic Philippines - Rank #6
Dental Clinic Manila - Rank #7

although we share the credit with a third party link builder who helped increase the site's popularity.

Dr. Santos now enjoys an average of one to two inquiries per day mostly from foreigners and overseas Filipino Workers (Balikbayan). One client alone who acquires a dental implant maybe enough to give him 100% Return Of Investment for the Search Engine Optimization work.

ICONCEPT.COM.PH as of this writing has the following keyword ranking:

In Google

website design makati - #1
website design bulacan - #2
website design cavite - #4
Web designer makati - #4
Website designer bulacan - #6
website developer bulacan - #6
e-commerce developer philippines - #5
e-commerce developer bulacan - #9

In Yahoo!

website design philippines - #1
web development philippines - #3
website design manila - #7, #8
web development manila - #8
website design bulacan - #4
website designer philippines - #6
website design cavite - #7
e-commerce website philippines - #7