{"id":2118,"date":"2015-09-30T13:58:42","date_gmt":"2015-09-30T13:58:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aseohosting.com\/blog\/?p=2118"},"modified":"2025-05-03T09:09:14","modified_gmt":"2025-05-03T09:09:14","slug":"in-an-seo-campaign-what-metrics-really-matter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aseohosting.com\/blog\/2015\/09\/in-an-seo-campaign-what-metrics-really-matter\/","title":{"rendered":"In An SEO Campaign, What Metrics Really Matter?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Last week<\/a>, we wrote about how Google is taking legal action against SEO firm Local Lighthouse. Amidst the claims leveled against the company is that it guaranteed customers placement on the first page of the Search Engine Results Page – something Google staunchly maintains is impossible. That last piece concluded with the message that SEO is an intensely strategic practice which requires hard work and a strategic mind.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s continue with that line of thought. Today, I\u2019d like to talk about metrics. Specifically, I\u2019d like to take a look at which ones you should ACTUALLY be focusing on if you want to maximize results. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because believe it or not, the most-hyped metrics aren\u2019t always the best for your business. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDigital marketers love to geek out on a good SEO metric, be it \u201cDomain Authority\u201d, \u201cPageRank\u201d \u2013 there are many,\u201d <\/span>writes Built Visible\u2019s Richard Baxter<\/span><\/a>. \u201cEvery metric can be useful for its own purpose, it\u2019s just that those metrics don\u2019t always represent a measurable impact on the marketing outcome.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So which ones are important, then? What should you measure and analyze if you want to determine whether or not your SEO campaign\u2019s going down the right path? Which metrics really, actually, TRULY matter to your business? <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Frustratingly enough, the answer is \u201cit depends.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Red Herring of Search Engine Rank<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s start with the one metric everybody likes to slam down on the table right out the: ranking. Literally, how high your website appears on the SERP. This one seems to excite most people. After all, saying “you’re ranked #1 on Google” sounds pretty authoritative, right?
<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, it also matters the least. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSearch engine rank is the metric focused on more widely than any other, and yet only in rare cases is it the metric that matters most,\u201d <\/span>explains Josh Steimle of Forbes.<\/span><\/a> \u201cThere is certainly something emotionally appealing about ranking #1 for your most desired keyword, but a #1 ranking by itself doesn\u2019t pay employees or contribute to your retirement fund. Rankings are worthless unless they lead directly to other metrics that truly matter.\u201d  <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Want to use your website\u2019s rank as a measure of success? Want to determine how well you understand ranking factors and ranking signals? Go for it.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just don\u2019t expect your website to succeed solely because it ranks high – the web doesn\u2019t actually work that way. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Seo
Seo Metrics Hierarchy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Quality over Quantity<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Next, let\u2019s examine a few other SEO favorites: keyword density, number of social followers, traffic and backlinks. When taken in context, each of these metrics can form a complete, valuable picture of how far your SEO efforts have gotten you. On their own, however, they\u2019re pretty much useless.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the past several years, Google has not-so-subtly pushed search in a new direction. It no longer focuses on quantity. Instead of the number of backlinks or keywords a site has, it focuses on the site’s actual offerings. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plus, <\/span>with Semantic Search on the rise, keyword density isn\u2019t really as important as it once was<\/span><\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similarly, number of followers is right up there with like\/favorite counts in terms of viability. Sure, it\u2019s great to have a page that organically gets a thousand likes, but in order to do that, there are other things you need to focus on. Other factors that are important. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead of keyword density, focus on keyword placement. <\/span>Focus on knowledge graphs and semantic connections<\/span><\/a>. Focus on how your content reads instead of how effectively it bellows at Google.   <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead of traffic, focus on what your audience DOES when they visit your site.<\/span><\/a> What\u2019s their bounce rate, conversion rate, and clickthrough rate? On average, how much time do they spend on each page? <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead of follower counts, focus on follower engagement. How often do they share your content? How often does your audience engage with or respond to your messages? <\/span>Stuff like reach engagement conversions, impressions audience growth and funnels<\/span> is what really matters. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Above All, Contextualize<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

None of the metrics we\u2019ve talked about today are inherently useless, mind you. The problem is that many people individually ascribe far more value and importance to them than they deserve. It\u2019s that many SEOs focus entirely on statistics, without considering the most important factor of all: context.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt the end of the day, a metric is only valuable if it’s looked at through the right lens,\u201d <\/span>says Samuel Edwards of Inc.<\/span><\/a> \u201cOut of context, even the most informative statistics and measuring points are useless. Whenever you hear your SEO tell you about a certain metric (or you run across one in your own analytics), inquire about the context. How does it relate to your current situation and why is it relevant? By keeping everything in context and choosing the right metrics, you can learn a lot about your website.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week, we wrote about how Google is taking legal action against SEO firm Local Lighthouse. Amidst the claims leveled against the company is that it guaranteed customers placement on the first page of the Search Engine Results Page – something Google staunchly maintains is impossible. That last piece concluded with the message that SEO is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4261,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-seo"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aseohosting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aseohosting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aseohosting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aseohosting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aseohosting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2118"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.aseohosting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4371,"href":"https:\/\/www.aseohosting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2118\/revisions\/4371"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aseohosting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aseohosting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aseohosting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aseohosting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}