Search Engine Rankings: Worthless or Worthwhile

A never ending romance…….

Not long ago, Google announced that it has banned a prominent rankings checker tool WebPosition. This move by Google, as always, created a ripple effect in our industry. Soon the topic of discussion shifted from what instigated Google’s action to the worthiness of search engine rankings - a subject that has been widely debated and discussed. Still out interest or rather curiosity in this topic refuses to die.

This move by Google may set precedence for other search engines to follow suit. The reason behind Google’s action may be the fact that queries arising from automated tools put extra burden on the computing resources. With a major like Google, the reason seems to flimsy. Automated queries skew the search data sounds like a credible justification and many of you would nod your heads in agreement.

I read several articles and blog entries, both for and against the importance of search engine rankings, which provided compelling argument to support their claim. Here’s my take on this topic. Rankings are important, no doubt about it. But should ranking be the only parameter to judge the success of a SEO campaign? Search engine rankings are crucial but (there is always a ‘but’) it is not the only defining factor. Measuring the success of a search engine optimization campaign solely on rankings prevents you from having a holistic view.

The end goal of any website is to achieve maximum conversion. Let’s take two situations to depict a clearer picture (every thing else being constant):

1. The website does not rank #1 for its targeted keyword but still achieves 50% conversion.
2. The website ranks #1 for its targeted keyword but only manages a meager 10% conversion.

Even with primitive computational skills, you would be able to figure out that the first situation is nearer to your end goal. Ranking also render itself useless in situations wherein the keywords being targeted are obscure or driving irrelevant traffic. Getting less but qualified traffic would be sufficient to suffice the end goal. It however does not imply that ranking is worthless especially in the case of niche market.

Ranking on the second page for a niche market would mean that you will find your listing surrounded by a heap of irrelevant results. Searchers would not go that far looking for your website and with traffic being next to nothing; even 100% conversion would miserably fail to put a smile on your face.

Rankings are not the be all and end all for any online business. There are many more factors that command due consideration and are instrumental in providing you a complete picture.