In the past several months, I’ve noticed a dramatic shift in the ranking of hundreds of companies on most search engines.  Unfortunately, consequentially, I’ve also suffered temporary hearing impairment as a result of business owners’ alarm bells going off at decibel levels not previously witnessed to date.  Why is that?

Quite simply, the Internet has become a critical medium for the generation of revenue for many companies.  Many of these companies rely heavily on the revenues generated from their organic traffic, or unpaid search results.  The result of losing even a few positions in rank, often times is the difference between a business that is thriving and a business that is bleeding.  Unfortunately, it doesn’t take much to shift the tide, and the difference between a few placements could easily result in the loss of 70-90% of a companies’ targeted traffic.  Think about how you use a search engine.  Most individuals open the first 3-5 links that catch their eye and within a minute they’ve narrowed down their potential customer list to 2 or 3 options at most.  If your website is not one of the links that catches their eye, then you don’t even have a chance to make a sale…. zero percent!!! That’s horrible odds!

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