Looking Beyond the Google SERPs
I'll admit it. I'm a SERP junkie. I check my rankings more often than I should. Some might even say I have an unhealthy obsession with rank checking. I know I'm not alone with this either. Pretty much every online marketing professional I know has a similar obsession, especially when it comes to high traffic keywords. Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on how you see it) for all of us, Google is planning to pull the needle from our collective arms whether we like it or not.
Based on a recent interview with Google's Matt Cutts, 2009 is going to be all about integrating personalized search results. That means that my SERPs are going to be different than your SERPs, so in the long run rank checking isn't going to matter. When I first hear the news, I was pretty bummed. Not quite as bummed as Pookie felt when Scotty Appleton took away his crack pipe, but it was still painful.
Then I started to see the upside. Less focus on SERPs means more focus on other key metrics like conversion, cart abandonment and user experience. After all, we're not in this business to make Google happy. We're here to create the best overall experience for our customers.
This post is filed under By Merchants, For Merchants and has the following keyword tags: SEO, Search Engine Optimization, SERPs, Google, Matt Cutts.
1 Comment
Web_Man says:
I agree Mike.
I don't get how Google could do that. I guess for most people it is a good thing, but for webmasters, internet marketers, and anyone with obsessive google rank syndrome, it would be better to have an opt out option.
The only problem with that is that most people would still be on specialized results based on their search history, which would mean it is not accurate.
It's true! Investing more time in looking at the growth of the bottom line is going to be the best focus!
