Have you ever heard of a company claiming to get a business on the first page of Google or Bing? Perhaps you own a business or have just seen the ad on Facebook.

These claims are everywhere but they do not really tell the whole story. This claim is lacking context and does not give a true explanation of what this means and what this entails. If a business uses Search Engine Marketing and targets keyword phrases that match their business and its services not only can the business show up on the first page but it can help the business grow. This is not a huge secret but may be outside the technical expertise of some entrepreneurs and business owners. To get on the first page without Search Engine Marketing is a different story.

In order to get on the first page of search results, the business website must be determined that it is the best result for a search engine query based on the algorithm of the search engine. When a search spider crawls your website, the results must match the signature criteria that determine what makes a result more relevant and applicable to what the query is asking. This involves search engine optimization and building up on-site content that will maintain relevance and viability for the long haul. If you search the name of the company and it is unique, it should be returned as a top result unless the site is poorly configured. Well thought out names support the brand and tell the user what the company is about. Where it gets tricky is when queries are mundane and generic without obvious characteristics that specifically match the business alone. If you are a soil company and you want to end up on the first page when a user types in “soil company”, that is going to take a lot of work, resources, time, and money to achieve. And it will also require becoming an authority recognized beyond the locale of the company.

Does this sound like what the advertisement is professing to do?