SEO Success: How Important is Page 1 in Google
They key to online success is to identify your goals and objectives. Many clients believe the success of their campaign is measured by how many page 1 number 1 listings they have in the search engine results. There is no denying that rankings are a vital element in SEO success, they should not be your main goal, it may or may not be true that you could be missing out on visitors for not being page 1 number 1, but it is important to realise that rankings will not make sales, and that different rankings will produce different bounce rates.
For example if you look at buyer behavior, it consists of needs or wants (in my case it is usually a want) a period of research, to see what if on offer to fulfill that need or want, and then the act of purchasing. From personal experience I will browse the first, sometimes the second page and then re-visit the site that most suited my requirements. The point I’m making is that although a good ranking might bring more in through the door at position 1, they might not be as ready to buy as those at who come in the door at position 5.
Goal Setting and Monitoring
- Visitors: Again a common misconception, once you start performing for your keywords you will notice a rise in visitors to your site. Without being negative its not quite time to declare victory just yet, and my next point will lead on from this. If the visitors you are receiving are not converting, you are going to have to have a good look at changing the direction of your focus, it could be identifying new keywords, re-assessing your products, updating your website, you will need to identify where the problem lies and work on improving this. Monitoring visitors is very useful, but its not a numbers game and should not be your main goal.
- Conversions: In my opinion this should be your ultimate goal, this is the biggie! SEO is more than just rankings and visitors and I cant stress this enough. It is vital that before progressing forward with your plans for world domination, you define these goals to your web designer and SEO consultant, or if undertaking a solo mission; yourself. A conversion will be personal to your business, for an online shop it will be people making a purchase, if you are a blog it might be how many people leave you a comment, it could be a new follower on facebook or twitter. Without understanding and defining these goals you will have no way of monitoring your success or return on investment.
Can you track your conversions?
Installing analytic tracking on your website is a must for you to be able monitor your goals and objectives. Some of the most basic data you will need to get to grips with are the amount of traffic (visitors) your site receives, where these visitors are coming from (traffic sources) and how they are finding you, how the visitors use your site and bounce rates, and identify the best method for monitoring conversion rates personal to your goals. Rebecca wrote a post last week about how webmaster tools can help you can develop your SEO, and Nick’s video blog is a good place to start for installing analytic tracking to your site.
We all know SEO is evolving, with Google rolling out personalised searches, and anytime search results, meaning not all users will see the same 10 results dependent on their settings. What does this mean for SEO… well, you can no longer quantify a successful SEO campaign based on the highest listings in Google. You will need to identify goals and then the data needed to prove the success of the goals you have chosen.
