Anyone with a website probably knows what Google Search Console is, and what it does; for those that don’t, it is a website analytics built to show you the phrases people that search on Google, and where your website shows up in relation to that search. A few words, a few numbers, and an interesting story.
Early on when I was building this website, I started learning about search, and how to get seen. In learning how to read the data, and tracking my first clicks, excited for a prospect. I found some interesting data. At first, it seemed like a fluke, or worse yet, a complete failure. One click, one query, and a search result on position 61, and then I dug deeper.
I was still new to search queries, and reading the data itself, but something stuck with me. How often does position 61 get clicked? The answer, as it turns out is very infrequently that most research can’t really measure it. The vast majority of clicks are gobbled up by the five search results, and it’s all down hill from there. So what does that mean for position 61?
The truth: I don’t know, they clicked my website, but they never reached out. Since then, I’ve had time to reflect, and it’s been a few months. Here’s what I know, and the story it told me.
Someone opens up their browser, probably late at night, and opened Google’s famous search bar, typed a question, and hit enter. What gets displayed immediately to the searcher is a Search Engine Results Page, tailored directly to the question. The first page of the results is essentially what Google thinks is the most directly relevant. Fifty plus photographers, with websites built, and optimized to sell them exactly what they just searched, except for mine, but they clicked anyway.
I can only imagine what they thought they might find. My website, if anything, wasn’t anything anyone would call optimized for the query at hand, and still isn’t.
Position 61, that is deep. No one goes that deep, not unless they are looking for something, something very specific. In this particular case, searching for something different, not different from the query, but different from the perfectly optimized results built for just that.
What were they searching for? How many of those other websites did they open and read? What did they read or see that told them? This is NOT what I am looking for. How deep did this person search if they made it to me, at position 61? How much deeper do you search if nothing aligns? Eventually, I suspect, you might start thinking that what you’re searching for, doesn’t exist, or may as well not exist.
This person clearly didn’t want the confidence language. Not the transformation styling into someone else. Not the wardrobe filled with all of the essentials. Not the public galleries. Not the empowerment. That’s a lot of nots. What were they searching for?
I honestly don’t know, but I have my theories, and a website to build with, so I built a page with my answer to their question on it. The page can’t be found in the main page, can’t be found in the maine website navigation, but it can be found if you’re looking for it, and paying attention. If you're looking for something special, and you can’t find it on those other websites, but something brought you here, and you’ve come this far. You might just be in the right place. If you’re looking for something unique, and want to chat about it, reach out. Or… you can keep searching, but if you think the answer might be here. Welcome, I hope that you feel seen.
Some projects don’t have galleries.