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As the world of search has grown to include behavioural and geo-graphic signals, many optimizers began to wonder about the value of ranking reports. The conventional thinking being that if we cannot definitively know the ranking of a given page, how do we valuate it? This is of great importance for those of us providing SEO services Those in the world of ‘Local SEO’ are keenly aware of the issues related to targeting specific markets and Google data centers. If you are targeting more than one market then it becomes extensively harder to attain and measure related rankings. If we now look at personalization elements relating to geo-graphic locations and behavioural data, rankings become even more of a moving target. Are rankings relevant? (download The Google Re-ranking Study ) We decided to look at some isolated (informational) queries with a group of volunteers from around the ol USofA to see what may or may not be happening. Considering the weight that rankings have always played in the SEO industry, this was an area well worth investigating. The main goal of this particular exercise was to see if there was enough to warrant further investigation into other query types/spaces. While there are certainly a variety of potential factors that do cause re-ranking across individual queries, it is not as much chaos as you may think. If anything there was a degree of stability among top rankings, simply more of re-ranking of top document than wholesale change. This does mean there is still some inherent value to be had for top search rankings in Google – although more adaptation is prudent. This though, is nothing new in modern search optimization. Get the report today!! For more… please feel free to download the report; The Google Re-ranking Study NOTE; if you volunteer for future studies, we will send raw data from those studies for your own analysis – it’s optional though.
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For a while now, I have been intending to give my perspective on Keyword/Phrase ( KW/P ) research and targeting. Why? Because I think it is an essential if not mandatory part of any SEO campaign. Each and every term you target will have a cost associate with it. This is where the rubber meets the road. In simplest terms, if I spend $500 on link building, $200 on content creation, $100 on site adjustments then I am looking at $800 invested. Once we reach the desired ranking, how long will it take to recoup that cash (including ongoing maintenance). In short, where is the ROI and what is the ‘break even’ point? That is a very simplistic example, but hopefully you get the idea.
