The Myth Of Permanent Search Engine Positions

Reader question: I've just redesigned a Web site - theoriginal was poorly designed and broke all the rules on meta tags etc.- but has great ranking on Yahoo, Google and AltaVista. How do I ensurethat the new site retains the original's ranking?

Answer: One of the biggest search engine marketing(SEM) search engine myths that won't die is the myth of permanentsearch engine positions. This article will address this myth and othersabout search engine optimization.

Permanent top positions

No matter how badly you want to believe, and no matter whatyour personal experience is, there is no such thing as "permanent"search engine positions.

New pages and sites with unique content are added to the Weball of the time. Old pages are deleted or updated. How Web sites linkto each other changes. How pages within a site cross-link to each otherchanges. URL structure also changes. The result? Search engine indicesare always evolving. Search engine algorithms are always evolving.Therefore, positioning will always fluctuate.

So, to the reader, the answer to part of your question is oneyou probably do not want to hear. You will not be able to ensure thatthe new site retains the original site's rankings. And no search enginemarketer can guarantee it, either.

Do not hire an SEM firm that guarantees permanent positions.I understand that many search engine marketers are very confident intheir abilities to gain top search engine visibility. Nothing wrongwith that. But search engine marketers are similar stockbrokers. Theycan demonstrate past results but cannot guarantee future successes.

What you can look for in a search engine marketer is how wellthey follow all of the search engines' guidelines, both the human-basedsearch engines (Yahoo, Open Directory, Business.com, etc.) and thecrawler-based search engines (Google, Inktomi, etc.) In fact, I am surethat if you follow all of the guidelines, your site will perform betterthan it is now.

The effects of poor site design

What I find very interesting about this reader question is thatonly part of search engine marketing was addressed. Sure, the poorlydesigned site ranks. What else is good about the poor site design? Didit deliver qualified leads? Did people enroll in a course or sign upfor a newsletter? Did the site get a lot of traffic and not a lot ofsales?

Or maybe people liked the poor site design. Believe me, I havedesigned many sites that do not meet my personal, aesthetic standards.But the target audience loved them.

Poor site design has plenty of impact. One impact it has isbranding impact. For a Web site, a cool-looking logo has nowhere nearthe impact that a user-friendly Web site has. A top search engineposition does not have as much branding impact as a user-friendly Website. In fact, if people assume that pages with top positions providethe most relevant information, then going to a poorly designed sitewill disappoint them.

Visitors will remember your site as the one with the topposition with a poor user experience. So when they see your URLs againin top positions, do you believe they are likely to click again?

I would focus your efforts on building a user-friendly,search-friendly and persuasive Web site that converts. This type of Website usually has little problems achieving regular search enginetraffic.

Rankings vs. qualified leads

I know that I am one of the more unusual search enginemarketers because I do not provide ranking reports for my clients. Ibelieve ranking reports are a waste of a client's time and money. Ifeel I can give better value to my clients by providing them withthorough Web analytics reporting.

In my opinion, Web analytics tools (WebTrends, ClickTracks,HitBox, Urchin) are far more important. I can immediately see theresults of a search engine marketing campaign using these tools.

The first indication that a "natural" or "organic" searchengine optimization campaign is working well is that I see aconsiderable increase in traffic. I always see a jump in traffic aftera link development campaign, which usually begins with directorysubmissions.

I also like to put tracking URLs on many of my campaigns. Ilike to know if the traffic comes from different advertising campaigns,such as Overture and Google AdWords. I also like to compare "natural"optimization traffic and paid inclusion traffic.

Checking different conversion points on a site is alsoimportant. How many minutes did people spend reading a page's content?Longer than two minutes is a strong indication that people aregenuinely interested in the content. Did visitors read the content butnot take desired call to action? Maybe you should make the call toaction more bold or obvious on a Web page.

Do ranking reports give you all of that information? Theynever have, and I do not believe they ever will. Also, when thesoftware engineers at Google and Inktomi tell me the software theyrecommend, then I will buy it and use it. Until then, I will take Webanalytics software over positioning reports any day.

Focus your efforts on conversion tracking and Web analytics. SEM is a part of that whole process.

Top 10 SEO Myths
The internet is constantly full information that will supposedly help you in search engine optimization. This means that there is also a lot of myths out there floating around that can really lead you on a wild goose chase if you are not ca....
Simple Step For Choosing Great Domain
This article could be Called URL Mythbusters. Simple Steps For Choosing a Great Domain is the actual title to this very helpful article.
Top 7 SEO Myths
Search engine optimization like in everything is not spared of having their own myths. Listed below are the top 7 myths (out of 20) of SEO.
Search Engine Optimization Myths - You Have Always Been Taught Wrong Lessons!
It is sad to see that most web contents tell people wrongly about search engine optimization. Most webmasters preach what is heard from other websites. You have been always taught mythology than the real lessons of search engine optimization for your websites.
Domain Name Registration - Changing Your Website URL
Domain name registration is the most important step to take when setting up a website, although not actually the first step. The first step to take is to choose a good domain name!
Search Engine Marketing Ethics: Don't Believe The Hype
Getting to the top of the search engines, and staying there, is an ongoing process. This does not mean it is expensive to stay at the top. In fact, in most cases, its rather affordable. But beware, there are pitfalls along the way to search engine Zen.
What is SEO: Myth or Reality? Some Thoughts on Search Engine Optimization
What is SEO? Have you ever though about what you are trying to achieve with search engine optimization, and what you were doing with your website to achieve it? Have you never wondered if there were better ways to get to where you want to be as a result of SEO?
Monitoring Search Engine Positions
This very fine article explains the necessity for Monitoring Search Engine Positions. The author then tells you how to monitor, anticipate and react to Search Engine changes that could drop your websites position disastrously.
Free Traffic Course - Day 6
We will start with one Internet Marketing myth - the pop-ups do not work today. They give no effect to the web site, they do not bring any traffic, just distract the attention. This myth is partially true: old-fashioned pop-ups do not work. Modern pop-ups have advanced much further...
SEO Success - SEO Maintenance for Your Website
SEO is not an advertising campaign. It is an ongoing process for websites if they wish to maintain their high organic rankings on major search engines like Google and Yahoo....