Don't judge progress by your ranking

Do you spend a significant amount of time watching your ranking on the search engines? If so, stop!

I know, it feels so good to see your site at the top of the search engines, or for many, making their way to the top of the search engines. Unfortunately, that really isn't a sign of your success.

Rankings are constantly fluctuating. You might check rankings one minute, then check again a few minutes later and see different results. I had this happen to me just the other day. I was showing someone my site and how it looked in the search engines and it was about #7 on the front page. We then went back about 5 minutes later and it was #3. Now I know these are good numbers, but that isn't the point. The point is, they had moved for no reason at all.

Why does your ranking move around? Here are some interesting facts I read recently from SiteProNews:

Sometimes the rankings are geotargeted. The search engines know where you're located by your IP address, and if they want they can (and I believe they do) sometimes point you to pages that are closer to where you are searching from, as they assume those results might be more beneficial to you.

Personalized search. If you're logged into your Google or Yahoo account, you may very well be getting search results that are specifically targeted to your own preferences. It's called personalized search, and it is a reality these days. As people use Gmail, Google Analtyics, Google AdWords, or any other free Google toy, Google learns more about you and may make specific recommendations based on this knowledge. Think about how Amazon is always making personalized recommendations for you. It wouldn't be surprising if Google and Yahoo become more Amazon-like with their recommendations in the near future. The end result is that no two people will see the same rankings, making them an even more worthless measurement than they already are.

Rankings don't equal targeted traffic. Rankings don't always even equal un-targeted traffic! If you optimize your pages for keyword phrases that nobody's searching for, your optimization efforts will all be wasted. And if you're measuring success by how you rank for those useless keywords, you may be thinking you're successful when you're really not.

If your hosting company gives you the ability to track your traffic, which they should or you should find another host, then look at the search words people are finding you with. Or better yet, go to a keyword tool such as http://www.wordtracker.com/ (they have a free trial) and find out what people are search for in your product or business category.

Rankings don't equal conversions or sales. All the high rankings in the world won't matter if they don't increase your bottom line somehow. If you receive lots of untargeted traffic, or no traffic at all, your sales will remain static.

What should you be measuring instead?

The things that matter, of course—the targeted traffic, but even more important than that—the conversions and sales. You have to be able to show your clients a positive return on their Search Engine Optimization (SEO) investment, or you're just not doing your job properly.

Start measuring the things that matter.

My next post will cover in more detail, the things that matter.

"Choosing Success Daily!"

Gail Wahl
www.HomeWithMiaBella.com
www.IWantAMiaBella.com

Are your excuses stopping you?

Take a few moments to and change the rest of your life.

Listen to Dani Johnsons' THE MOST IMPORTANT SECRET TO YOUR SUCCESS.

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"Choosing Success Daily!"

Gail Wahl
www.homewithmiabella.com
www.IWantAMiaBella.com