Ranking well for target keywords is the main focus of content marketing strategies of most companies. To check how well company websites or blogs rank in Google search results for desired keywords, companies usually conduct searches for those keywords and see if their websites or blogs show up in the results. This process can not only be time consuming but is also the wrong way of checking for keyword ranking.
According to Matt Cutts – famed head of the Google Webspam team, conducting searches for specific keywords and then looking for the placement of your blog or website in the search results is the wrong way to check your online presence. In fact, Matt also adds that content creators and companies should stop this practice all together and to stop creating content around specific keywords. In this video, Matt explains the right SEO tactics and how companies should focus more on phrases users are looking for.
The correct approach to SEO
Although Matt admits that the best way to see if your website has the desired rankings for certain keywords is to conduct searches and to scroll through the results, he emphasizes that this method is not correct for proper search engine optimization. Matt suggests that companies stop focusing on “trophy” keywords and worry about longer phrases that people use to get to your website or blog. Instead of checking rankings for trophy keywords, you need to perform server log analysis to find the phrases that people are already using to find your website and company blogs. Optimizing your content for these phrases will bring more success than chasing after elusive target keywords.
Ajax APIs display the rankings of your website for different key-phrases, so you can also look at your server logs and find out the keywords and phrases that you need to be optimizing for in the future. As Matt adds, another way to improve rankings and a better SEO method is by looking at conversions and ROI metrics. This will tell you the phrases that people find enticing and the type and style of content that is providing the best conversions for you. Your online content on company websites and blogs should have such content to improve conversion rates even further.
What Matt advocates
Matt wants companies to change their entire philosophy about SEO and rankings. He says that companies should stop selecting specific keywords and optimizing content in the hopes of ranking well for these keywords. Instead, companies and content creators should find the keywords and phrases that the website is already ranking well for and keywords that they could potentially rank well for by looking at server logs and using Google Analytics. Companies should optimize their content and websites for these keywords and phrases. Watch this video to know what else Matt has to say about proper SEO and search engine rankings.