Most brands that practice search engine optimization dream of reaching rank one for strong keyword terms associated with their industry. Rank one is the most visible and most clicked position in an SERP – and it’s often many times more powerful than its closest competitor, rank two. Moving from rank two to rank one for a sufficiently high-volume keyword could help you get thousands of additional organic visitors every month easily.
But what if your industry is ridiculously competitive? If there’s an entrenched and motivated competitor in the rank one spot, it may take an exceptional effort (and a huge monetary investment) to displace them.
So is rank one an unachievable dream?
Let’s start by taking a look at the brute force route. The idea here is to displace your top competitor by outdoing them in every search optimization category you can think of. If your content is more keyword optimized, if you have more backlinks, and if you have a better reputation, you should be able to outrank your competitor.
The problem, of course, is that if your competitor is heavily entrenched and still actively optimizing for a target keyword, you’ll need to significantly step up your efforts to outdo them. Think of it this way; if a car is speeding at 100 mph, you’ll never be able to catch up to them even if you reach that 100 mph speed. Instead, you’ll need to travel at 110 mph or more just to catch up with them, let alone pass them.
Still, the brute force route is possible. The big question is whether all that extra effort is truly worth it.
Here’s how you can begin your approach:
Is all this effort worth it?
Every situation is different, so it’s impossible to provide a universal answer. In some cases, the target keyword is so valuable that it’s worth exhausting your marketing budget to get that rank one spot. In other cases, you’re much better off spending that money elsewhere. It all depends on the value of the keyword, the level of competition present, and the alternative strategies currently on the table.
If you feel like reaching rank one is an impossible dream in this situation, don’t worry. There are plenty of alternative ways to directly compete with the competitor in that top spot.
The bottom line is yes; it’s definitely possible to reach rank one in even the most competitive industries. The problem is that it’s not always worth it to do so. Competing for rank one can be exhaustively expensive, and it may not yield enough results to justify what you spent in terms of time or money. Strategize carefully before proceeding.
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