Does top 10 search engine ranking matter any more?

Though this is highly subjective to the industry you are in but the common phenomenon in which search engine's especially google is listing its SERP's (Search Engine Ranking Pages):

NO - First page does not matter what matters is TOP 3 rankings on google or any other search engine.

Long ago, when search engines were much less money minded, listing on organic through search engine optimisation worked better for businesses. With the search listing page being modified to accomodate more paid search listings, the chances of users scrolling down a page and clicking on anything under top 5 became very less.

How to get to top 3 of search engines:

Well, only search engine optimisation can help you get there to the top 3, just because there is too much competition for any imaginable keyword. We should also keep in mind that search engines like google are trying very aggressively to combat web spam, however its far from reaching a solution to perfect stopping spamming or trying short cuts to achieve rankings. So you are left out with less options when it comes to truly organically ranking a website. However you can find an ethical seo company in the market that can help you in keeping your seo efforts organic and still get you top rankings.

How to combat this?

If you have enough money: If your search engine optimisation efforts takes time and if you have enough budget to invest into adwords, get some visibility on paid listings.

Limited budget: Try optimising long tails in each category of your keyword list. Its pretty easy to rank for long tails and gradually you can improve your rankings on broad match keywords.

At SEC we offer free consultation for small businesses and we have also designed our seo packages that will overcome these challenges.