How Falling Search Engine Rankings Could Affect Your Business Revenue

Did you know that Google processes more than 40,000 search queries every second? Or how about the fact that it processes approximately 3.5 billion searches every day?

This doesn’t even take into account search engines with a smaller market share, such as Yahoo and Bing.

Search engines provide the opportunity to connect with individuals all over the world. However, there’s a catch: you won’t generate much search engine traffic if your website isn’t listed on page one of the search results.

Once you reach page one – ideally the number one spot – your job isn’t done. Now, it’s all about staying there.

Falling search rankings can affect your business in many ways. And if you’re relying on organic traffic to drive growth, you could soon find your business in bad shape.

#1: Less Traffic

There’s a big difference between your website appearing on the first page of Google search results and the second. Just the same, there’s a big difference between position number one and position number two.

Smart Insights breaks this down in simple terms:

“This shows the value of being in the top 3 clearly with CTRs from nearly 30% in first position to 10% in third position. In the lower positions of 9 to 10, CTR has fallen to a paltry sub 2%.”

Simply put, as your search rankings fall so will your amount of organic traffic. A drop from position one to position 10 will cut your click through rate from approximately 30% to 2%.

Depending on the keyword, this drop could amount to hundreds or thousands of lost visitors over the course of a month.

#2: Fewer Sales

Generating organic traffic is only half the battle. The other half is converting visitors once they land on your website.

To a certain extent, this is a number’s game. The more people who visit your website, the greater chance you have of a conversion.

Let’s take a look at two examples:

Example #1: your website is ranked number one for a keyword that’s good for 6,000 searches per month. If you receive 30% of the clicks, it’ll result in 1,800 people visiting your website.

If your conversion rate if 5%, you can expect 90 people to take the desired action.

Example #2: your website is ranked number three for a keyword that’s good for 6,000 searches per month. If you receive 10% of the clicks, it’ll result in 600 people visiting your website.

Maintaining the same conversation rate of 5%, you can expect 30 people to take the desired action.

Now, let’s add numbers into the equation.

Maybe you’re selling a $100 product. With the first example, 90 sales would result in $9,000 in revenue.

With the second example, 30 sales would result in $3,000 in revenue.

In other words, you’re losing out on $6,000 per month if your website slips from position one to position three.

#3: Competition Will Pass You By

Regardless of your industry, there’s no way to avoid competition. There are sure to be other companies offering the same product or service.

There are many ways to outdo your competition, but when it comes to search rankings there’s only one: beat them to the top (and stay there).

If you lose your number one ranking to a competitor, they’ll receive more traffic to their site and probably generate more revenue directly tied to organic search.

Final Thoughts

As you can see, falling search engine rankings can affect your business in more ways than one. From traffic to revenue to your brand’s standing within your industry, even a slight drop can have a profound effect on your business.

How do you feel about your current search rankings? Are you happy or is it time to implement a strategy for climbing to the top?