Web Analytics
Don’t Sweat the Rankings So Much. Metrics is the Answer
It is a common practice of SEO companies to report on a client’s search engine rankings. For the most part, this has been an effective way to measure success. But what does a #1 ranking really guarantee? It doesn’t always guarantee traffic or sales. If you rank well for a keyword that no one is searching for – or even clicking on – then it’s just a waste of time to work to get that ranking.
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Searchers are getting more specific it seems…
Google’s Analytics Evangelist, Avinash Kaushik recently discussed some interesting updates related to trends in Google’s user stats. Avinash said, “the average number of keywords per query has gone from 3 to 4 words per query on average for the first time ever!”
So, what does that mean for optimization and are you freaking out because you think we’re going to tell you next that your site needs a complete overhaul? Relax, this is a good thing and here’s why…
Let’s say you’re searching for a site that sells chocolate chip cookies. You type in the keyword term cookies and 9 of the top 10 sites are about internet cookies. What do you do? Most likely, you would type in a more specific keyword phrase until you find the results you’re looking for. Well, Avinash says that the length of these more specific phrases has gone up to 4 words on average. This behavior was explained in a study by iProspect of search engine user behavior over the last few years, when they said “In the case where an initial search is unsuccessful, 82% of search engine users will re-launch their search using the same search engine as they used for their initial search, but add more keywords to refine their subsequent search.