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Are Search Engine Rankings That Important?

Written by: Stoney G deGeyter

Article Overview: What's more important, conversion or rankings? It's the modern chicken or the egg question as it pertains to marketing online. Assuming even for a second that you had to sacrifice one for the other, which should you choose?

Are Search Engine Rankings That Important?

What's more important, conversion or rankings? On one side you'll get the argument that if you achieve top rankings (which drives traffic) but you cannot convert your visitors substantially, your rankings are then wasted. On the other side you’ll hear that if you build your site and are able to generate a substantial conversion rate, but don't attain top positions in the rankings (and therefore obtain less traffic), then you won't have anybody to convert.

It's the modern chicken or the egg question as it pertains to marketing online. Assuming even for a second that you had to sacrifice one for the other, which should you choose?

Ideally, you wouldn't have to sacrifice either, and in real world practice, you usually don't. As algorithms get better, and engines like Google have more access to analytical data, how users interact with your site, including page views, time spent on the site and actual conversions will play a significant role in a site's ability to rank.

This is why, as I stated in a previous article of mine, SEO is Dead, that those employing SEO from the old perspective based on keyword manipulation (on and off the page), without taking usability and other marketing aspects into consideration, are a dying breed. It simply doesn’t work. But even if it did, the point about not being able to convert visitors once they arrive is a valid one. Why pay to drive 10,000 visitors to your site if you can only convert .05%? Wouldn't it be more lucrative to send only 5,000 visitors to your site and improve your conversion rate to 3%? Absolutely!

But SEO isn't measured by the number of visitors as is the case with more traditional forms of advertising. Yes, visitors need to be tracked and we do measure for visitor increases, but a SEO campaign is not built around getting your site before X number of people, but rather about capturing as much targeted traffic as possible. Different industries and keywords will produce different traffic numbers.

Ideally, you want to increase your conversion rate as much as possible, but you wouldn’t make a decision to try and capture fewer leads through SEO in order to do so. No, you want to gain site exposure and drive mass amounts of traffic. Obtaining top search engine rankings isn't the only way to do that, but it is one of the most effective, which means rankings are still very important.

Many in the SEO industry are trying to move away from using rankings as the sole measure of success altogether. I applaud those efforts, and the points made are valid, but I often wonder if it is realistic. Most searchers don't go past the first, second or third page of results, which means if you don't have top rankings for your targeted phrases, you're missing a considerable sum of traffic.

But as I said earlier, top rankings are not the only means to generate traffic. Good SEO can bring traffic from many avenues, not just the search engine. But is that still SEO? No, not in the strictest sense. Can other marketing efforts bring in just as much traffic as top search engine rankings can? Sometimes, but usually this results in a much higher cost.

So, are search engine rankings still important? Yes, rankings are still important, which means SEO is still important. But since SEO is more effective with usability and conversion tracking along with other online forms of marketing, the best SEO is that which offer more than just "top ranking" services.

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Article Tags: conversion rate, search engine, search engine rankings, SEO, targeted traffic



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What Do You Want To Be Taught? - Hi, My name is Jeff Foster, I will be moderating this new section. I want to get your opinion on topics you would like to discuss & be taught on. I see a great need for small business owners to learn how to perform basic Search Engine Marketing (SEM) which would include the basics about Search Engine Optimization (SEO). What do you want to be taught on? Jeff
Re: Search Engine Optimization - If you are interested to get more information about Search Engine Optimization you can visit Search Engine Watch site gives you a great way to keep up with what’s going on in the search engine world. This site provides a ton of information about a very wide range of subjects related not only to search engine optimization, but also the flip side of the coin; subjects related to searching online.
Re: Search Engine Tips and Ideas - Share Yours - Hi there, I answer this post, to start off. I am still learning a lot on all these subjects. Moreover, we have a wonderful tool to find out from previous posts. On the top right corner, use 'Advanced Search' and write 'Search Engine Tips'. It brings up all the previous posts with that information. Check it out. You will be surprised all the inherent information stored.
Re: Can someone explain Search engine optimization to me? - Search Engine Optimization (SEO) could be compared to a big popularity contest: A High School Computer Geek and a High School Football Captain who are trying to promote a party. The computer geek tells everyone in school & even hands out 100's of flyers about his party Friday night...what happens? his friends end up showing up and a few new people...even the new people leave right away because it is not what they are looking for. The High School Football Captain ends up just telling a few good buddies, and within hours the entire school not only knows about it, but everyone wants to come, and everyone does come & stay. One defenition of "optimize is "To make as perfect or effective as possibe." How effective are your article marketing campaigns? Could you be distributing content (that is what search engines index) more effectively? In a perfect world, who would you want promoting your website, web pages, and web content? Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is determining this perfect & effective way to do this. Jeff
Re: Search Engine Marketing - Optimization For Local Businesses - Nice information about SEM / Search Engine Marketing... It's very help me to know benefits if using SEM for local business.. Thanks for sharing this information..


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