WHY YOU MIGHT BE USING KEYWORD RANKINGS IN ALL THE WRONG WAYS

WHY YOU MIGHT BE USING KEYWORD RANKINGS IN ALL THE WRONG WAYS

Keyword rankings are not the be-all and end-all of performance indicators. In fact, rankings can paint a skewed picture of what’s really going on in your online marketing campaign.

The theory is simple – you choose a phrase that represents your product or service, and then work to start ranking for those phrases.

What went wrong?

Your plan failed because you started with the wrong goal.

Rankings are just an indicator, not an end in and of themselves. When you make rankings your primary pursuit, you end up ignoring what your potential customers actually want.

They don’t care what you think they want to see.

They want assistance with their own issues.

So, the question is: how are you going to help them?

Start by looking at what search terms are currently working for your website. A recent analysis of several of our clients showed that much of their existing organic traffic was grouped into three main categories:

1.  Potential customers who already knew about the business and searched for it by name

This is a wonderful thing to see. It means that you have succeeded in establishing a brand that potential customers recognize, remember, and seek out. The question now becomes: how do you get more people to search for you by name?

2.  Potential customers with questions and requests for help

People go online to find solutions to their problems, and you will gain their loyalty and spending dollars when you help them to solve those problems.

Since you can’t predict every question a customer will ask, it’s extremely difficult to build a comprehensive list of keywords to track this sort of traffic.

The solution here is to expand your online footprint. Show yourself as an industry thought leader in the places where people are talking about your industry. Engage with users on social media, and participate in events and promotions that draw attention to your brand name in a general sense, not just in relation to one specific offering (or keyword).

3.  Potential customers looking for product reviews

Since we can now connect to the wealth of human knowledge and experience via a small hunk of plastic and wires in our pockets, it’s very easy to find what other people have to say about a product or service.

When was the last time you made a large purchase without looking at some sort of review? One glance at Amazon.com shows how much people love to share their opinions. You can capitalize on this trend by keeping up to date on the latest products, services, and trends in your industry, and reflecting that information on your website.

Ranking Incompatibility

As you can see, these categories are all quite broad and can’t be contained in a set of search phrases.

Rankings as an end goal will not show you how effective you are at reaching and converting these traffic sources.

So, What Are Rankings Good For?

Keyword rankings serve an important purpose, and a carefully prepared and curated keyword list is essential in any marketing campaign.

Instead of focusing on them, however, use them as a gauge. Build a list of terms that represent your most profitable offerings. This list will be something that you’ll adjust as you go, and it will show you how your overall messaging is being received by the online world, both by users and search engines.

In addition to this list, you need to keep an eye on the changing list of top-performing search terms over a given period, whether that’s a week, a month, a quarter, or a year. What surprises are there on the list? How closely does it match up with your tracked keyword list? What sections of your website are missing in these terms?

This is powerful information that can help steer your entire marketing platform. When you look at the keywords that your customers are choosing, you gain insight into what’s driving traffic RIGHT NOW. (Information that is far more interesting and profitable than just assuming you know which keywords are the most important.)

This will keep you at the forefront of the online conversation, providing your potential customers with what they are currently looking for.

The Bottom Line

Don’t get trapped in the quest to be number one for your chosen keywords.

All too often you’ll spend valuable time and resources on a pursuit that will not benefit your bottom line the way you want it to. After all, is your main goal your placement on a search engine results page, or is it to make money?

If increased sales are your goal, it makes no sense to focus on just a handful of specific keywords. A website-wide approach can help you dominate entire keyword-relevant topics and be far more lucrative and sustainable.

DO put keywords and ranking tools to good use by making them work for you and your business.

If this seems like a monumental undertaking, you’re not wrong. It requires time, effort, attention, and expertise. Fortunately, help is available. The experts at Blasterwebservices.com are ready to help by providing you with a free customized website report and proposal with our ideas on how to help you reach your goals.

We look forward to working with you and your business towards a prosperous 2017!

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