Are ranking reports the “gold standard” for tracking the progress of an SEO campaign? We think NOT.
There are a TON of outside influences that impact rankings when you (or someone else) searches for your website on Google:

• If you have been to your website before, your website will show higher in the search engine result pages for Google
• If you are signed into your Gmail account and do a Google search for your website using the same browser, your website will show higher in the search engine result pages for Google
• If your friends on Google + have liked your website, it will show up higher in the search engine result pages for Google
• If you search for your website from one city/state, and then search again from another city/state, your website will show up differently because Google geo-targets your IP address
• Your search results will also be impacted by the location you have set in your Google search

SEO companies (including Sachs Marketing Group) have always used ranking reports to show progress to their clients. The software used to find ranking positions strips away all of the factors above and gives a “default” ranking position. The point we are trying to make is this:

“Who cares about your default ranking position?”

We respectfully submit that SEO companies have been placing way too much emphasis on ranking reports as a barometer of SEO success. The outside influences listed above are real – so real in fact that to dismiss them with a ranking report that strips them away doesn’t make a lot of sense.

A much better indicator is analytics. By monitoring your analytics (site visits) we can hone in on your market and find your audience.

We are continually researching and monitoring our client’s markets. We are actively involved in the process of finding your audience:

• Who are they?
• How are they finding your site?
• Where are they coming from?
• What are they looking at?
• What are they paying attention to?
• What topics interest them?
• What are the topics that indicate a stronger buying interest than others?

Once we know the above, it’s our job to leverage this information. We need to separate you and your company from the “noise” – The lack of differentiation in a saturated market. We need to stand out above the rest. This will lead to increased traffic and conversions – regardless of where you are ranking!

Here’s the bottom line:

The one indicator that trumps all the rest for determining the success or failure of any SEO / Internet Marketing efforts is: CONVERSIONS (sales, leads, phone calls, etc…). If our client’s sales have increased as a result of our efforts than it doesn’t really matter where their site ranks once we strip away all of the influencers listed above right? ROI is what we strive to produce for our clients – much more than so than rankings.

Eric Sachs
CEO – Sachs Marketing Group

If you are reading this on any other blog than Sachs Marketing Group or via my RSS Feed, it is stolen content without credit.
You can find me on Twitter via @SMGguy 
Come and visit our blog at https://sachsmarketinggroup.com/blog/

The first step in any comprehensive SEO campaign is good, thorough keyword research.  You need to identify specific keywords for your industry.  At Sachs Marketing Group we evaluate keywords using several different metrics:

How many times is that keyword searched locally and globally?

Of the number of times that keyword was searched, how many people searching did so with a credit card in their hand and actually bought something when they found what they were searching for?

How much competition exists for each keyword (this will help determine the amount of time it will take us to rank on Google’s page-1 for a specific keyword)

Are the keywords good in terms of conversions?

Ex:  If you are selling tickets to a Dodger game, the keyword “Dodgers Tickets” would be MUCH better for conversions than “Dodgers” or “Dodgers Schedule.”

Once the keywords are chosen, we do all the on-site and off-site SEO necessary to rank your website for those same specific keywords in the top pages of Google, Yahoo and Bing.

Contact us today for a free, SEO analytic review of your website and web presence!

If you are reading this on any other blog than Sachs Marketing Group or via my RSS Feed, it is stolen content without credit.
You can find me on Twitter via @SMGguy
Come and visit our blog at https://sachsmarketinggroup.com/blog/

Recently, Google has been on a HUGE push to “level the playing field” in terms of SEO and organic search rankings.  Google wants to rank each webpage/website on it’s merit exclusively.  In keeping with this mission, they have penalized websites that have paid backlinks pointing to them.  The thinking was (is) that they do not want “site A” to rank higher than “site B” simply because the owners of “site A” might have a ton of money to spend on high PR backlinks!

This has rocked the SEO world again!  Tons of website that usually enjoy page 1 Google rankings simply because they were spending obscene amounts of money on very high PR backlinks, are now being demoted in the rankings and/or de-indexed all together!  Basically, until very recently, one could “buy their way” to Google’s page 1 by paying for high PR backlinks (either individual links on high PR websites OR by paying for inclusion in high PR link networks).  This tactic is no longer kosher according to Google and if they find paid links, they will demote the website that the links point to.

In an effort to prove their point and show how serious they are, Google even penalized themselves!  Google recently demoted it’s own website (www.google.com/chrome) because the people on the Chrome team had paid for videos about Chrome (sponsored posts).  Today, if you search for “browser” in Google, you will no longer find Google Chrome.  Here is a statement from Google:

We’ve investigated and are taking manual action to demote www.google.com/chrome and lower the site’s PageRank for a period of at least 60 days. We strive to enforce Google’s webmaster guidelines consistently in order to provide better search results for users. While Google did not authorize this campaign, and we can find no remaining violations of our webmaster guidelines, we believe Google should be held to a higher standard, so we have taken stricter action than we would against a typical site.

Google uses a number of methods to detect paid links, including a bunch of very advanced algorithmic techniques.  If you have ANY paid links, we are suggesting that you remove them all, going back as far as you have paid for links ASAP.  If you have any questions about paid links that you may have, please don’t hesitate to contact us so we can evaluate the links for you.

Google said that if you have been paying for links for two years, go back two years and remove those paid links. If it is five years, go back five years. Google wants to see a serious attempt to remove all the paid links you acquired over the years.

This was taken directly from Google Webmaster Tools:

Paid links

Google and most other search engines use links to determine reputation. A site’s ranking in Google search results is partly based on analysis of those sites that link to it. Link-based analysis is an extremely useful way of measuring a site’s value, and has greatly improved the quality of web search. Both the quantity and, more importantly, the quality of links count towards this rating.

However, some SEOs and webmasters engage in the practice of buying and selling links that pass PageRank, disregarding the quality of the links, the sources, and the long-term impact it will have on their sites. Buying or selling links that pass PageRank is in violation of Google’s Webmaster Guidelines and can negatively impact a site’s ranking in search results.

Not all paid links violate our guidelines. Buying and selling links is a normal part of the economy of the web when done for advertising purposes, and not for manipulation of search results. Links purchased for advertising should be designated as such. This can be done in several ways, such as:

• Adding a rel=”nofollow” attribute to the <a> tag
• Redirecting the links to an intermediate page that is blocked from search engines with a robots.txt file

Google works hard to ensure that it fully discounts links intended to manipulate search engine results, such as excessive link exchanges and purchased links that pass PageRank. If you see a site that is buying or selling links that pass PageRank, let us know. We’ll use your information to improve our algorithmic detection of such links.