Comments on: Search Analytics: Life After Ranking

By: Mark

Mark — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 11:27:44 +0000

I compeletely agree with you, Searchwiki is going to affect SERPs a lot. Everybody can see his own set of results, according to his taste, mood and likelyness. But lots of people don't know much about it. Localization is another important factor from SEO point of view. Good old tactics like directory submission and article submission has little value now. And I think their value is going to decrease more in near future. One needs to relay mostly on good and unique content to attact visitors.

By: Jaan Kanellis

Jaan Kanellis — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 22:23:58 +0000

Completely agree Dr. Pete!

By: Dr. Pete

Dr. Pete — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 21:21:42 +0000

@Jaan – Sorry, this wasn't really an experiment, just a post-hoc observation. My point was just that, by focusing narrowly on a few keywords, we might have missed the bigger picture of traffic growth. Of course, we dug deeper to see that, and I know many people track beyond just a handful of keywords, but even if you're tracking 100+ keyphrases, there's a lot that could slip through the cracks.

I don't mean to villify people who track rankings. Tracking keyword rankings is still a valid part of the SEO toolbox – this is just a warning that, especially as rankings change, we need to think more broadly about and dig more deeply into our data.

By: Jaan Kanellis

Jaan Kanellis — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 19:43:32 +0000

Dr. Pete I am not the one saying the that rankings are staying the same and traffic is going up. You are

Sure it is impossible to track rankings for all keywords that is why this type of experiment doesn't make much sense to me.

By: Dr. Pete

Dr. Pete — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 17:58:39 +0000

@Mohammed – I think that's a great general point. Our industry is still really in it's infancy, and we have to accept that it's going to change radically over our careers.

@Jaan – I think it goes a lot deeper than that: It's not just about tracking the "right" or "wrong" keywords. Solid long-tail traffic could mean hundreds or thousands of different keyphrases, and with Google suggesting that 20-25% of all the queries they see are completely new, how do you track what's being created every day? Of course, if you're going to track rankings, there's a right and wrong way to do it, and I know some people do it well, but it's still only a part of the big picture.

By: Jaan Kanellis

Jaan Kanellis — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 16:01:39 +0000

All this tells you is that you are probably not measuring the keywords that are driving your traffic higher. I am betting that most of the traffic that long tail or brand new keywords that you have not though of yet that you pages may be ranking for.

By: Funny Things

Funny Things — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 19:17:47 +0000

The long tail really helps a lot with traffic. I feel like most of the traffic I'm getting aren't from the keywords I'm tracking but from keywords I don't really know about.

By: Sylt Ferienwohnung

Sylt Ferienwohnung — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 09:19:51 +0000

Thumbs up. Your explanation is really good and very catchy. I now have my answer to my "boss'"' query. He was so puzzled why his ranking was fluctuating. You help me answer the puzzlement. thanks.

By: Jonathan Meager

Jonathan Meager — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 18:35:06 +0000

Thanks for the post. My company have just embarked on a push for rankings etc… but we're now turning more towards conversions. We are putting a new feed up on the site, but are being careful to tailor it to converting traffic rather than just to drag in traffic.

By: Mohammed k

Mohammed k — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 18:23:20 +0000

Well, just like techniques that worked 5 years ago are not effective today, techniques that are effective today will surely not be effective in 5 years time (not all per say, but in general). Therefor, SEO experts and internet marketers need to evolve along with the net. One thing about internet type work is that it is not a learn once approach, you must constantly be reading and changing your techniques as time goes on.