SEO Goals - Part One

I had a client recently who told me his goal was to be number one on the search engines.  While this lofty goal makes sense, I shared with this client that such a goal is not enough.

Typically, when a client first approaches me, we sit down and have a discussion about the SEO goals - beyond ranking number one.  Typically, I ask questions that are designed to find out if the client is interested in increasing the number of unique visitors to a site, whether they want to increase the number of page views that a visitor has, whether they are interested in decreasing the bounce rate, if they are interested in increasing the number of pages viewed per visit, whether they have any interest in increasing the number of visits to a landing page, if they are interested in converting more visitors to customers, if they are interested in creating long term customer lists, and how concerned they are with increasing sales or leads from their site.

It is not enough to just say that you want to be number one.  This is a great place to start, but you also have to understand what you are trying to do, why you are trying to do it, and then work to develop a quality plan to get you where you want to be.

An example may help clarify what I am speaking of.  Let's say that your keyword phrase is "chicken pot pie" and that on Google, Bing, and Yahoo you are currently in the first position for your keyword phrase.  However, despite this number one ranking, you are facing several problems, such as visitors showing up at your site and then leaving without visiting the various pages, or worse, visiting a few pages but never buying your famous chicken pot pies.  Despite being ranked number one, business is terrible, and after reading this article you understand why.

It is not enough to have a goal to be number one.  It is merely a starting point to effective search engine optimization and business planning.  Think smart, think long term, and being number one may actually mean something to you and your business in terms of success.  Rank number one and have a page that generates no business, and you will quickly see how meaningless ranking number one can be.