In Part 1 of this article, we shared a fairly lengthy list of why you don’t want to make keyword rankings the sole measure of your online performance. We don’t want you to think that keyword rankings don’t play an important role in measuring the success of your business, though. There are several ways that you can still harness the power of keyword rankings.
Evaluating SEO Performance
Your keywords can still give you a sense of how your search marketing and optimization is doing as well as identifying areas where there’s room to grow.
For example, one of our clients ranks really well for general plastic surgery terms, along with specific procedure terms like breast augmentation, liposuction and facelift. For the terms we tracked in these areas, they’re equal to or better than their competitors. But they’re ranking poorly for some important med spa procedures while their competitors are doing well. With this discovery, we can focus more content on these med spa treatments in order to buildup more of a base of customers who are looking for these services.
Checking the Competition
One way that keyword rankings continue to shine is to gauge how well you stack up against competing businesses in organic searches. We can enter a broad set of terms for each client and then measure their rankings against 3 to 5 other top competitors. Although this won’t give you a highly detailed breakdown of where you stand, it will offer a good estimate of how discoverable your site is for certain products and services when compared with competitors.
Shifting the Focus Away from Keyword Rankings
We’d all love to have that magic bullet that lets us know how good we’re doing. That’s why people continue to look at their rankings—they view them as an indicator for how quickly and easily customers can find them through a search. But in the grand scheme of things, keyword rankings aren’t really the arbiter of success, so you can stop Googling yourself already.
Instead of focusing on keyword rankings, just consider if your website traffic from search engines is increasing or decreasing. If you’re doing a great job of connecting with the right people through Google, they’ll find your site, and you’ll be able to see in Google Analytics if growing numbers of people are discovering you through an organic search.
Get Creative with Your Content
Expand your scope beyond keyword rankings as a means to evaluate your online success. Consider what you do in your day to day business operations as a ranking opportunity.
Maybe something fun or exciting happened in your business. Post it to your social media channels and make that human connection with your customers. Do you or does someone on your staff volunteer or contribute to the community in a meaningful way? Stick that story on your site. If a news team interviews you, link to that video. Also share customer testimonials and positive reviews.
No one has a crystal ball that can tell them exactly where their business stands on Google, but you don’t need to see the future to realize that the time has come to move beyond keyword rankings. You want to create a dynamic, comprehensive web presence by delivering the total package: a vibrant website, strong social media presence, positive reviews, and all the other things that help to make you stand out. SEO and online marketing are among the most important ways you have to reach new customers and remain connected with them. Your business success will come from the sum total of everything you do both on and offline to earn top rankings.