Reached top 10 in Google at last

[Flightmapping]

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Having spent about 3 weeks at #11, I've finally broken into the top 10 of Google UK for "cheap flights".

This is a major milestone for me, so I just wanted to say thanks to all the people on this board who have offered advice and suggestions, and obviously to the merchants & networks who have provided the advertising revenue to make continued growth possible.

James

[Darren]

Congrats James......I know how you feel.....I've got a site sitting at position 11 right now, for quite a popular term - grrr!

I was going to say, and don't want to put a downer on your achievement, but don't forget google is in flux right now, and the SERPs are changing virtually constantly (have been for a couple of months now).

However, I really hope you'll keep climbing though....onwards and upwards

[drivetowin]

Well done James - wait till you get to No1 for a really popular term (well 1 out of 1,840,000) - then you will get a real buzz (and a real increase in traffic)

I'm not going to publically say which term I'm no1 for as I want to keep the revenue its bringing in without someone else knocking me off - but it is travel related

Be interesting to know in a few weeks time whether being no10 brings substantially more revenue than being no11 - I've got a few sites at the moment which are in the 11-15 range and I haven't put effort into trying to get them higher but if being 10 brings a lot more revenue it will inspire me to try to get them higher.

[999gi]

Yes well done - and good to see your doing it with a nice site too

[DutchRomano]

My personal experience is a #11 site will get more Google-traffic than a #10 site

[Flightmapping]

Thanks for the comments.

It is more a pyschological barrier than necessarily a financial one - #10 doesn't actually get that much traffic, relative to being "above the fold", in the top 3 etc, but it all adds up.

Keith, we did get to #1 worldwide for a very popular term earlier in the year, but we didn't own the site, and had to part company with the owners a few weeks later, as they kept on saying it was all down to the fact they owned the generic domain (that site still ranks very well, but most of their other generics have long since dived).

Google will always be in flux, traffic and rankings can always "go down as well as up", but the key thing is that this is a site I've built from scratch, and however much work it may still need doing on it, no-one can take it away from me.

[Ste]

Its always a good feeling when you get near the top on the free results for a common search term. I used to be on the front page of Google for 'Cheap Flights' but got bombed off on the last update.

Luckily Yahoo and MSN still like the site, but from my stats you get better results if you are between 3 - 10 than at the top spot. Browsers usually scan over the first couple of search results and then start clicking.

It is some feat getting on the front page of google with over 8 million results returned for Cheap Flights.

Please can I have my spot back?

[Rich]

Well done James.

I was sharing your excitement for a while when I noticed I'd got into the top 5 for "cheap books" on Google UK, but I've just ran it thru the adwords traffic estimator and it shows how much more important your term is.

For a #1 adwords ad: -
Cheap flights - all countries - 5,600 clicks/day - cost £6,683.22
Cheap books - UK only - 37 clicks/day - cost £18.39

I guess I'll have to try for just "books" - any tips?

[lowndsy]

Originally posted by Rich
I guess I'll have to try for just "books" - any tips?

Sell your eternal soul to the devil?

[fishboy]

is it just me or are you abck to 11th? That was quick

[Ecco]

10th or 11th, getting that kind of positioning on such a highly competitive phrase is a hell of an acheivement. Well done fella.