Are ranking reports dead?  Are they slipping into measurement obscurity? Do they still have a place in the ‘monthly report’?

I recently had a conversation with a client regarding target setting, I paraphrase but it went along these lines ‘these rankings are great, we should be setting targets for where we want to be in 6 months time’ me ‘mmm well if I’m honest then I’d prefer not to.  Rankings are more indicative of actual website performance and the work that we’re doing right now. Yes, ranking improvements will improve website footfall, but we should be optimising against traffic uplift, sales and the monthly revenue that search creates against our overall targets’  client ‘yes, but we still want to be top (1st in Google) for these terms’

Since my first footsteps into search marketing the ‘Rank’ factor has always been synonymous with performance monitoring. This is logical, for it’s the easiest to monitor, the easiest to grasp the concept of and the easiest to view. I can’t even try to count the times that a client has asked those mortal words ‘where are we ranking for...’

Yet, for some funny reason, and against my better judgments, I just can’t resist checking my rankings reports every week (i would do it every day if i could) yes i know that rankings fluctuate daily, yes i know that rankings are a mere conduit for traffic, but despite all this, i just cannot help it! It’s an ego thing isn’t it? That first place ranking is the icing the icing on the cake, the final piece of the puzzle, the last battle won, the medal ceremony – take your 1st place on the podium.

I can only assume that for clients that it’s the same thing too, a form of bragging rights by getting that top spot off your nearest competitor.

Don’t read this wrong, I will always measure the true success of any campaigns by 100% advocating the use of statistical metrics. Every search campaign should, as a MINIMUM, be tracking and constantly improving (where appropriate) sales, registrations, traffic, downloads and ultimately ROI.

Take this hypothetical example to put it in to context:

If i was promoting a clothes website that specialised in clothes for tall people then you would imagine that my ultimate goal would be to rank number one for ‘large clothes’ or ‘tall clothes’

But, what if we found that achieving rankings on that one term would absorb 100% of the search team’s resource, and that it had no guarantee of conversions and ultimately could take months, if not years for you to finally get on to the 1st page of results?

Remember I’m selling clothes for tall people, therefore ‘tall clothes’ or ‘large clothes’ may offer large amounts of traffic yet little offer of reward.

The smart thing to do in this case would be to analyse your web traffic, see what keywords drove both traffic and conversions. Then you can benchmark rankings, form a gap analysis on rankings and look to optimise against these keywords. For example these could be ‘tall trousers for men’ ‘tall ladies clothes’ (a small PPC test on these keyword may also help set targets) if there’s room for improved rankings then you would assume that there’s also room for improved traffic and more sales.

By analysing actual data an securing your key battle ground you’re going to benefit on a far greater scale than chasing  ‘dream’ rankings that are frankly going to be a drain on your reserves. Yes, rankings on the ego keywords will, over time, develop, and that will be a great bonus.

However, the first thing that any campaign should do is look to secure the ‘bankers’ the keywords that will drive traffic and ultimately assist you in hitting your targets. Would you rather have 1 amazing ranking and low sales or 10 ok rankings that, by means of traffic and conversions, are setting you up for a nice little bonus?

Statistical benchmarks, growth projections and realistic targets will help ensure that your campaign stays on the right track. But still, we’re all ego maniacs at heart, we all want to be number one and there is no greater thrill for a search analyst that the sight of achieving that adored 1st place ranking – just make sure it’s on the right keywords first.