A new study confirms what most people already know intuitively, but it is always nice to have data to back it up: Most people stop looking at search results at page three, and many expect to find what they want on page one.
It is an issue for businesses, but also for communities and economic developers. With most relocation research starting on the Web, if your community is not getting relevant community site links on the first page of most search engines, it is telling relocation consultants you are not "connected." And your community is probably not even getting on the short list for consideration. Worse, you won't even know, because no one is calling the economic development office at this stage of relocation search.
It also underscores the importance of a broad, communitywide cooperative effort among local Web sites. Without a comprehensive and collaborative effort, few of your community sites--government, economic development, tourism, civic--will show up on page one of search results.
Unfortunately, I still see many communities managing (or not managing) community Web sites as private fiefdoms that get little time, attention, or resources. And at the same time, the community is wondering why so few businesses are taking a serious look at their town or region.
Design Nine has been helping communities design Web strategies longer than any other company on the planet (we started designing community portals in 1993). Call us if you want to get your community on page one.