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Over the past few days, my inbox has been flooded with spammy SEO pitches promising the same thing:
“We’ll get you ranking #1 on Google.”
And while these offers have exactly zero value, they do raise an important question that a lot of business owners don’t stop to ask:
What does ranking #1 on Google actually mean?
Because here’s what I keep seeing, over and over again.
People are selling SEO strategies, courses, and services based on the claim that they rank #1—without any context around what they rank for, who is searching for it, or why that ranking matters.
This week alone, I saw an influencer promoting her SEO strategy by pointing to a #1 ranking for a product name she completely made up. No competition. No search demand. No one looking for that thing.
Technically? She’s ranking #1.
Strategically? That ranking means nothing.
This is how people get hoodwinked.
Ranking #1 is not inherently impressive. It’s not automatically valuable. And it’s definitely not proof that an SEO strategy works.
The real questions are much less flashy—and much more important:
- What term are you ranking for?
- Are real people actually searching for it?
- Do those searches have anything to do with hiring you?
- And how did you get there in the first place?
If you don’t understand those pieces, it’s very easy to mistake empty rankings for real visibility.
Let’s break down what ranking #1 on Google really means, and why chasing it blindly is one of the easiest ways to waste time, money, and trust.
Ranking #1 Only Matters If Someone Is Searching
Search rankings only have business value when the keyword has real demand and aligns with how people actually look for services.
This is the first place most “#1 on Google” claims fall apart. A ranking without context tells you almost nothing.
You Can Rank #1 for Almost Anything
Google doesn’t have an opinion about whether a keyword is useful to your business. If a phrase exists and there’s no competition, it’s often very easy to rank.
That’s how you end up with #1 rankings for:
- Fabricated product names
- Hyper‑specific phrases no one would ever think to search
- Terms that don’t map to a known service, problem, or category
These rankings are technically real. They’re also strategically empty.
If no one is searching for a phrase, ranking for it won’t bring traffic, leads, or clients. It only brings screenshots.
Competitive Keywords Are Harder for a Reason
Terms like “personal trainer” or “copywriter” are competitive because people actually search for them.
High competition isn’t a punishment from Google. It’s a signal that:
- There is consistent demand
- Businesses are actively trying to be found for that work
- Ranking well would likely support real business goals
Difficulty doesn’t make a keyword bad. Irrelevance does.
Low‑Volume Does Not Mean Low Value
This is where nuance matters, especially for service‑based businesses.
Some keywords show zero or very low volume in SEO tools but still reflect strong hiring intent. For example:
online postpartum personal trainer
That phrase isn’t searched at scale. But the person typing it into Google knows exactly what they want and is likely looking to hire someone right now.
That’s very different from a made‑up product name or an abstract phrase no one associates with a real service.
A good SEO strategy can tell the difference between:
- Low‑volume phrases that reflect real problems, services, or buyer readiness
- And phrases no one will ever search because they don’t match how people think, talk, or look for help
Search volume is a data point. Intent is the strategy.
When people brag about ranking #1, the first question to ask is simple:
Is this a phrase real people would actually search when they’re ready to hire someone like you?
Not All Search Traffic Is Equal
Traffic only supports business growth when it comes from people who could realistically become clients.
This is another place where SEO promises get misleading fast. More traffic sounds good. Higher numbers feel reassuring. But traffic by itself doesn’t tell you whether your SEO is actually doing its job.
The Ice Cream Shop Problem
I heard a great example on a podcast recently that illustrates this perfectly.
Realtors are often told to write hyper-local blog content to attract people in their area. Things like:
“Top spots to get ice cream in Seattle.”
That post might perform well. It could bring in plenty of local traffic from people who live nearby and like ice cream.
The problem is obvious once you say it out loud.
Those readers aren’t looking to buy a house.
The traffic is real, but the intent is wrong. And intent is what turns visibility into business.
Why Views Don’t Equal Leads
SEO tools and reports love numbers. Sessions. Pageviews. Clicks.
None of those metrics tell you whether the right people are finding you.
A blog post that brings in 5,000 casual readers who will never hire you is far less useful than a page that brings in 50 visitors who are actively searching for your service.
This is where people get stuck celebrating growth that doesn’t translate.
What a Good SEO Strategist Actually Looks For
A solid SEO strategy looks for a very specific overlap:
- People are actually searching for the term
- The term clearly connects to what you offer
- The competition is realistic for your starting point
That’s the sweet spot.
It’s not about maximizing traffic at any cost. It’s about aligning visibility with business goals.
When SEO is working, it doesn’t just bring people to your site. It brings the right people—at the moment they’re already looking for what you do.
How You Rank Matters More Than Where You Rank
The methods used to achieve a ranking determine whether that visibility compounds over time or disappears the moment someone stops paying for it.
This is the part of the conversation that rarely makes it into sales pages.
The Click Farm Story
I spoke with a woman recently who had hired a faceless SEO company to “handle her SEO.”
As soon as she signed the contract, her traffic went up.
And the day she canceled the service, it disappeared.
There were no new leads. No uptick in inquiries. No meaningful business impact.
What that tells me is simple. The traffic wasn’t coming from people who were actually searching for her services. It was being manufactured.
Click farms are a real thing. They exist to simulate activity, not demand.
Traffic was delivered. Results were not.
Best Practices vs Shady Practices
In SEO, there’s a clear difference between work that builds long-term visibility and tactics that prop up short-term numbers.
Best practices focus on alignment and durability:
- Creating and optimizing content people are already searching for
- Earning high-authority, contextually relevant backlinks
- Improving page load speed and technical performance
These efforts compound. They keep working after the work is done.
Shady practices focus on optics:
- Buying links in bulk
- Using click farms or traffic bots
These tactics can inflate reports, but they don’t build trust with search engines or with real people.
This is why understanding how you’re ranking matters just as much as where you show up.
If a ranking disappears the moment someone stops paying for it, it was never doing the work you thought it was doing.
Why "Too Good to Be True" SEO Usually Is
Guaranteed rankings are a red flag because sustainable SEO depends on alignment, not shortcuts.
If someone promises a #1 ranking with certainty, they’re usually leaving out the most important part of the equation: what has to be manipulated to make that promise possible.
SEO that works over time is constrained by reality. Search demand. Competition. Trust signals. Your existing footprint.
Guarantees bypass all of that.
They rely on tactics that look impressive in a report but fall apart under scrutiny. Ranking for irrelevant terms. Manufacturing traffic. Gaming metrics that don’t connect to real business outcomes.
That’s why these offers are so tempting. They give you something concrete to point to without asking hard questions about whether it matters.
A healthier way to evaluate SEO help is to ask:
- What keywords are we prioritizing, and why?
- How do those searches connect to people hiring me?
- What work is actually being done on my site?
- And what should I expect to see over time if this is working?
Understanding those answers protects you from confusing activity with progress.
SEO isn’t magic. It’s a system. And systems don’t respond well to shortcuts.
Sometimes #6 Beats #1
A lower ranking for a high-demand, relevant keyword can outperform a #1 ranking that no one searches for.
This is where fixation on first place does real damage.
If a keyword has strong demand and clear intent, being visible on page one matters more than owning the very top spot. Especially when the alternative is ranking #1 for a phrase that doesn’t connect to a known service, problem, or buying decision.
A #6 position for a keyword with real search volume means:
- People are actually seeing you
- The query aligns with how buyers think
- There is room to improve visibility over time
That kind of visibility compounds. It builds familiarity. It brings in qualified visitors. And it often outperforms vanity rankings that exist in a vacuum.
Obsession with #1 encourages shortcuts. It pushes people toward meaningless wins instead of durable positioning.
Search visibility works best when it’s treated as a spectrum, not a podium.
Being found consistently for the right searches beats being first for the wrong ones every time.
What Ranking #1 on Google Actually Means
Ranking #1 only tells you something useful when you understand three things:
- What keyword you’re ranking for
- Who is actually searching for it
- How that ranking was achieved
Without that context, “#1 on Google” is a headline, not a strategy.
A ranking can be easy to manufacture if the keyword has no demand. Traffic can be inflated without bringing in a single qualified lead. And visibility can disappear overnight when it’s built on shortcuts instead of alignment.
What actually matters is showing up for searches that reflect real problems, real services, and real hiring intent and doing it in a way that holds up over time.
That’s how SEO supports a business instead of distracting from it.
Rankings don’t matter unless the keyword does.
So the question becomes: which keywords are actually worth your time?
SEO Simplified is a practical keyword research workbook that shows you how to answer that question with confidence.
Instead of guessing, or relying on whatever a keyword tool spits out, you’ll learn how to evaluate whether a keyword has real potential for your business: real searchers, real intent, and a ranking opportunity you can realistically capture.
Inside, you’ll learn how to:
- Identify search terms your ideal clients actually use
- Spot low-volume keywords that signal strong intent
- Filter out phrases that won’t lead to meaningful visibility
If you want rankings that feel intentional, not accidental, you can download a FREE copy SEO Simplified here.
