I don’t always get the number 1 search ranking for a Google search on my targeted keyword phrase. But guess what? It doesn’t bother me because there is a way to pull more traffic than the web pages ranked above me.
The answer is to make sure that the title of the page you are using to target your keyword phrase is optimised with a good direct response style call to action.
Most niche sites will have a title similar to this one:
Keyword Phrase | All about keyword phrase
I would use a title something like this:
Keyword Phrase | Five secrets to get the best results from Keyword Phrase
Obviously you would make sure the title is appropriate for the keyword phrase.
The reason I know that this works is because for a couple of particular keyword phrases I have web pages at the top 1, or 2, search result position and also at position 5 or 6. What I found for these particular phrases is that the lower position pages were getting more traffic than the pages at the top!!
When I looked at why this was happening it dawned on me that the title of the lower position page was better written to get a click. When a searcher types in that keyword phrase, the title of my lower ranked page really stands out compared to the other pages in the top 10 results.
So if you just can’t seem to crack the top 2 or 3 search results for your target keyword phrase, try to improve the amount of traffic you get by writing a better page title that really appeals to the searcher and gets them to click through to your page.