That is what I like to call the first position on Google. While doing online business consulting, each week the overlying theme from businesses looking to move online is “How do I get listed first on Google?”Here is a little hint, you don’t want to be at that first position. It may sound surprising but here is a little background about the number one spot. Being the first listed automatically builds distrust. Unless you are personally in first, your psychology tells you that they cheated or bought their way to the top.

Therefore, consumers and surfers tend to click on the second position more than the first spot. Actually the third position also rates very high, more than what you would think.

I am not going throw out numbers, you can do the research if you are that interested but I will provide a sports analogy to help you better understand.

Think about it, the first year the New England Patriots won the Super Bowl everyone loved the dream after 9/11 and the military just getting into the war, the Patriots were now our Champions. After winning a couple more, they were one of the most hated teams outside of the Northeast. They have gone from NFL darlings to a team that must be cheating to win.

The same principles apply to search engine optimization. If you listed number one, the underlying thoughts of the user is that you used black hat or bought your way to the top.

You are not Ricky Bobby, second is good enough.