That single tweet above captures the conventional approach to content marketing, which is that search rankings are vital. There is the perception that your content is invisible (and ineffective) unless it ranks high in Google searches.

I agree that it matters, but not enough to warrant distorting the firm’s marketing message—or missing the firm’s real marketing priorities.

Because of this drive to rank high on Google, many A/E/C marketers put their content through an exhaustive workout in search engine optimization (SEO)—burrowing through Google Analytics to find keywords, rewriting headlines to capture those keywords even if the text doesn’t make much sense, and other techniques.

When their content ranks high in their test searches, they rejoice. When their content appears “below the fold” or on that dreaded second (or third, or fourth) page of search results, they resolve to do better.

I think that this is not only misguided, it does firms a disservice. Here’s why.

Do Your Key Prospects Use Google?

Let’s say your firm is big on designing buildings that are energy-efficient, so “zero net energy” and “carbon neutral” are important search terms for you.

One of your firm’s goals is to generate content on these topics to show its expertise, and then have that content easily found by potential clients searching for firms that can build energy-efficient buildings.

While this conventional approach to content marketing might work for consumer goods like furniture, home renovation services, or home coffee makers, it’s not the way multi-million dollar business decisions are made.

So, just who would be typing something like “zero net energy” into a Google search box? People your firm doesn’t want as clients, that’s who. They are:

Threefers: Prospects who reach out to your firm when their boss says, “We know which firm we’re going to get to do this project, but we need three quotes to make it look good. Here, Google around and find two other firms with this specialty, and get a quote from each of them.” Do you want

your firm to be investing time and effort in a proposal, on that basis?

Tire kickers: From the world of automobile sales, a “tire kicker” is someone who isn’t serious about buying a car, and will just stand around the showroom, kicking the tires while wasting the salesperson’s time.

There are lots of not-really potential clients who are just in early stages of their search. Sure, you likely have no problem with them learning from your firm’s content, but you probably don’t want your senior professionals putting a lot of their time into educating them. That’s particularly because tire kickers tend to be driven by price, and their first question is likely to be, “How much does it cost?”

My point, as I’ll go into below, is that any-one who is doing a topic search on Google is by definition not well-informed, yet, on the topic. You want to have your firm’s senior people talking with prospects who are ready to buy, not just thinking about it.

Juniors: This category of Googlers is a bit more promising. A senior executive at a prospective client organization might ask a junior-level person to do a topic search to find out which firms seem to be credible in a given area, such as “zero net energy”

@shanselman What’s the best place to hide something? In plain sight (or the second page of Google search results)?

Why You DON’T Want Your Firm to Rank High on Google By Carl Friesen

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design and construction. But although that junior person can influence the search, she or he can’t make a decision.

There are much better ways for your firm to get the attention of the C-suite in potential client organizations. This includes being seen as offering the most credible expertise in your chosen fields of focus, with the name-brand thought leaders, causing your firm to be seen as the preferred vendor.

Choices of A/E/C firms are big, career-making, or career-damaging decisions. There are a lot of zeros involved. And it’s unlikely that a serious, qualified, senior-level prospect is going to Google a topic like which firm is best for a multi-million-dollar project. Rather, it’s part of their job to be plugged into their network enough to know the major firms in any field they’re likely to need. They won’t be searching on Google.

So let me ask you: How much business has come to your firm after a client did a subject search online? What has all that SEO effort done for you lately? Or has business come in through prospects that were already aware of the expertise your firm offers and are already favorably disposed?

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Here’s how to get to that sweet spot.

Looking Good in a “Name” Search, Not a “Topic” Search

While building your firm’s reputation, you want to help your senior professionals have serious conversations with people who are:

Senior level, able to make decisions, and have signing authority

Motivated by an urgent need or opportunity with which your firm is able to help

Already familiar with and impressed by your firm’s senior professionals who work in that field

Making those conversations possible is what marketing is all about.

It can be difficult to get your firm’s content to rank high in a subject search, particularly for heavy-traffic terms like “energy efficiency,” “carbon neutral,” and “zero net energy.” But it is much easier to rank high in a name search.

To see how it works, let’s imagine that your senior professional in zero net energy is named Yasmeen. She’s good at her work, articulate, and hungry. She’ll go far, and you can help her get there.

But Google—in a topic search—isn’t your friend, or Yasmeen’s friend either. That’s because you don’t want to see Yasmeen’s

time wasted on threefers, tire kickers, or juniors. You want to put her in front of senior people who have authority and are ready to buy.

Getting her there is a two-stage process.

Step One: Build Awareness of Yasmeen in Her Market

Marketers can support Yasmeen best by helping get her ideas in places where her ideal clients are already looking:

Presentations at industry conferences, luncheons, and other meetings

Articles in business and trade magazines

Guest posts in well-read blogs

Videos and slide shows on association websites

White papers posted in LinkedIn groups

That way, people in her target market come to see Yasmeen as someone with expertise, who knows how to apply that expertise in their world.

If your firm has done a good job of building awareness among potential clients for Yasmeen’s services, and she does her own networking, she develops a reputation as the go-to person in her field.

Step Two: Helping Yasmeen Look Good Online

Those articles, white papers, videos, slide shows, blog posts, and other content help build Yasmeen’s profile for Step Two: making Yasmeen look good to anyone who’s doing an online search under her name.

Your goal is to make it so that anyone who’s heard her speak at a conference, read one of her articles or white papers, or met her at a networking event will want to know more.

Your job is to make sure they’re impressed. How?

You want Yasmeen to dominate at least the first screen of results in a search under her name, even if there are several high-profile people with the same or similar names.

Her LinkedIn profile should glisten with accomplishments—listing her publications, speaking engagements, association memberships, academic credentials, endorsements, and recommendations.

Some of the content can be on your firm’s website, but because other sites, such as SlideShare and Engineering–News Record, rank so much higher with search engines, it is important to have some of Yasmeen’s ideas on third-party sites.

This approach works partly because it’s so difficult to get good search engine rankings under commonly-used “topic” search terms. But if your firm is doing a good job of supporting its key thought leaders in building their profile, you can leverage that work to help impress potential clients who are in some ways pre-screened because of their demonstrated interest in the subject.

In short, it’s not about helping your Yasmeen to get found online. It’s about helping her look good to anyone who has heard about her and wants to learn more. n