You only have to look at the Yellow Pages, a listing resource in use before the internet, to see how important it is to be on page one.
In almost any category, businesses prefix their companies name with ABC to try to get a listing on page one.
Absence of a page one ranking for a company doesn't say much about the brand.
The experience for the buyer is like walking into a shop to buy a product, only to discover it is not on the shelf.
In the buyer's mind, the fact the retailer does not stock the product creates confusion and perhaps suspicion.
Does the absence of the product mean the brand is not popular? If it is not popular, maybe it is defective, and is consumers are complaining? These are what retailers call 'negative cues'.
When you are trying to sell a product or service, you want to avoid negative cues.
The buyer could forgive Hewlett Packard if their notebooks do not appear on page one for a search on 'laptops', but may be puzzled if the brand does not appear when they key in 'HP'.
A page one ranking adds a lot of credibility to the brand.
Without the buyer needing to be influenced by advertising, they begin to form an opinion about which is the leading brand, just by what's on page one.
By being at the top of the page, the brand becomes top of mind.
Page one position implies the brand is popular, well visited, frequently updated, and most of all legitimate.
It is easier to achieve a page one ranking for a brand name, than compared to a category.
For example, HP will have an easier time getting their brand name 'HP' on page one, compared to the category 'notebooks'.
This is because notebooks is a term used frequently by competitors and non-competitors.
In Singapore, Google is the top search engine, so optimise for it first.
To get started, refer to this article of search engine optimisation.