Do keyword rankings even matter anymore?
Some SEOs and brands think that rankings are a very important metric to track for SEO success. But is this really the case? Some sites rank well for high-volume keywords but don’t get any benefit from it because the keywords do not meet user intent, and the user ends up leaving the site because they could not find what they are looking for. This leads to a bad user experience.
High search engine rankings can be great — but only if the keywords drive traffic, deliver conversions and improve your ROI.
Sometimes, a brand owner or client has specific keywords for which they want to rank because they think those keywords are valuable. You plead your case on why these keywords will not be good targets (e.g., because they have low search volume, the content does not meet the intent, etc.), but you’re a team player so you go ahead and target the keywords to make your client happy.
Once you get your client into the top three positions in Google, they come to you and say, “Great job, but I did not get any traffic or sales from the keywords that you have optimized for.” This is a perfect time to re-educate your client on how ranking high for keywords does not equal success. Rankings only matter when they are delivering performance and business value.
[Read the full article on Search Engine Land.]
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