Traffic vs Rankings—it’s a question or dilemma many search agencies and businesses will face over the next few years.
In todays’ environment, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is a lot more than keyword ranking and positions. In this post, we aim to dive into what you should really be focusing on and what you should be looking out for.
1. Stop Worrying About Keyword Positions!
So many businesses operate on the mindset that improving ranking position from #4 to #3 is going to change their world. It won’t.
Case studies and experience shows us that focusing solely on keyword ranking positions won’t get you, your business, or your client very far. We’ve seen so many instances where a clients’ set of keywords has increased by an average of 3 positions in a month, while traffic has remained steady in comparison. Simply put, an increase in keyword ranking from #4 to #3 is more for vanity (look at me I’m number 3) than anything else.
Our take on SEO is a lot more in depth and holistic than simple keyword rankings. Ranking reports are almost redundant. They’re a report that doesn’t provide any reflection on how well your website is performing from an SEO perspective. While you may be #1 for five of your keywords, you’re still 50% down on where you expected to be (traffic wise) in your yearly forecasts.
Why? Put simply, your SEO strategy was not focused on the what it should be focusing on—organic traffic growth.
2. Organic Traffic Growth Is So Much More Important Than Keyword Rankings.
As the internet grows and the audience matures, users are being more precise with their searches and ‘long tail’ searches are becoming more prevalent.
Let me ask you—would you prefer a lift in rankings by an average of 3 positions over the course of 6 months, or would you prefer an increase in organic traffic by over 40%? I know what I would take! Focus on ranking for more terms, rather than single keyword increases.
Use us as an example. We put effort into ranking for a set of search terms and found that once we started seeing some positive ranking results, the traffic did not follow. Our website currently ranks #7 for Adwords Agency, but despite our best efforts in enticing users through alternating titles and descriptions, we get almost no traffic coming from that term.
3. SEO Today Is Worlds Away From Where It Was 10 Years Ago.
There are so many intricacies, a hell of a lot more competition and so many other additional factors which play a role.
So while you think it might be amazing to rank #1 for everything, a smarter move is to shift your focus to growing organic traffic and gearing it towards keywords that not only resonate, but also convert for you.
This has been another insight from the team here at SYNQ Digital
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