There’s never been a better time to be online. Whether you’re running business or browsing the web for fun, the Internet (and search engines in particular) has provided endless avenues to both discovery and the act of being discovered. Part of this has to do with the proliferation of social media and how we’re now more connected to each other, but an even bigger part relies on Google. In keeping with that, here are four facts you probably didn’t know about the king of all search engines.
Google began humbly in a California garage.
In the late 1990s, Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page were using Lego blocks to create storage compartments for the 10 4-gigabyte hard drives they needed for their operation. They kept all this gear in a friend’s garage, still perfecting the PageRank algorithm system that would become their creation’s hallmark. Now, search engine optimization is a blooming industry, and that’s all thanks to a one-time garage project of two graduate students.
Without Google, SEO tools wouldn’t be nearly as powerful.
Search marketing is technically based around all search engines, but none carry the weight that Google does. Today, entire agencies are founded specifically to create search-savvy content loaded with relevant keywords in order to help a business obtain a wider audience. SEO marketing has become the focus of campaigns across the world for businesses hoping to land more business simply by being ubiquitous in search rankings. Plus, organic results yield more money and business opportunities than pay-per-click ads. That’s all thanks to Google.
Because of Google, web users expect relevant results up front.
Data suggests that almost half of users today will click on the top-ranking search result. That makes sense, though, considering Google’s “I’m Feeling Lucky” button, which dared the user to take a chance that its algorithms could get it right on the first try. This mentally has pervaded nearly every facet of the search marketing world, and now companies fight for that top spot because they know it means bigger business.
Google plays a huge role in lead generation for businesses.
Nearly 60 percent of business-to-business marketers today say their lead generation is most influenced by SEO. Additionally, SEO-generated leads tends to have a close rate of 14.6 percent, which far outweighs the paltry 1.7 percent close rate of typical outbound leads. It’s a new era, after all — one where search engines allow the business to come to you, rather than the other way around.
The more you know about search engine marketing, the more you can use it to your advantage whether you’re running a business or simply trying to get your blog read by a more variegated audience. It always helps to know the facts. That goes double for Google.