How Important Are Keyword Rankings to SEO?

Grading Your SEO

If you own a website and you’ve started an SEO campaign then you’re probably like most other website owners, always checking to see how you’re doing in the search engine rankings. It’s pretty simple. You Google certain keywords you’re battling for and hope that your site shows up at the top, or at least near the top of the search engine results page. Whenever you see your site popup on that first page, you get that warm-fuzzy feeling that all is right in your SEO world. But what if we told you it’s actually not?

A Lot More to Consider

Don’t misunderstand. It’s not that keyword rankings don’t matter and that something is wrong if you rank high in this battle. However, if you’re using these stats as the key measuring stick for your website’s overall success, then you’ve got it all wrong. You see, ranking high in each search phrase doesn’t really tell you that much, because people use search in so many different ways. Furthermore, Google now shows search results much differently than it used to. Results are based on several factors, including location, search history and the device being used to search, as well as other factors. Thus, simply ranking high in terms of keywords is not enough to tell you whether or not your SEO is working.

The Real Measurements to Consider

So, with that in mind, what factors should you be focused on in order to measure your website’s success? Here are a few key things to keep in mind:

• Check your organic growth and if the number of new visitors arriving via organic search is growing monthly and annually that’s a good sign.
• If you’re seeing an increase in new visitors from your target market you are headed in the right direction.
• Keep tabs on the number of contact forms submitted and the amount of unique phone calls you get.
• If you’re doing SEO right you should see more conversions, particularly from visitors who found you through organic search. Conversions matter the most. After all, a million visitors without earning any new customers, doesn’t help your business.

Measuring SEO Success

Measuring the success of your SEO campaign is based on several factors, including keyword rankings. However, there are several other measures that are much better at indicating true success. For example, new leads and conversions are much more important than just high keyword rankings. Organic growth is also a valuable indicator in the effectiveness of your SEO strategy. Please contact NUVEW for more help with your SEO. We’ll create an SEO plan that is focused on organic growth, leads and conversions, and not just keyword rankings. Click here to contact us or give us a call at 219-323-3343.