Understanding ranking vs. conversions is critical, yet conversion factors are often ignored. Do not ignore conversions. It sounds simple, but it’s easy to get swept up in only focusing on ranking factors. However, ranking and conversions have different factors that impact each metric. You must give the time and attention to both.
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
Welcome back to another episode of Local Search Tuesdays. This week, I’m talking about ranking factors and conversion factors, and why both are important.
Far too often, people lose sight of what matters because they’re concentrating so heavily on ranking. It’s all about finding that next silver bullet. That one page element that you can optimize or that one GBP hack that will get you to rank higher.
But people lose focus when they’re only concentrating on ranking factors. Sure, it’s important to understand the algorithm so you’re able to create a better website experience that will rank better, since that hopefully leads to more sales…
But if you ignore all of the conversion factors, it won’t matter that you’re ranking better, because the phone still won’t be ringing.
I’m in the final stages of publishing our massive 2-year research project on Google Business Profiles, and the whole ranking vs. conversion factor thing is a big part of our study. There are a ton of factors that have zero influence on whether or not you’ll rank as a search result – but those factors have massive influence on how your site or your GBP will convert.
You need to understand the importance of each type. Ranking factors are elements that will influence the visibility of your site in search results. Conversion factors are elements that will influence how well your site converts.
You have to optimize both. If you optimize ranking factors only, you may get more visibility, but you won’t get more leads or sales. If you optimize your conversion factors only, you’ll get more conversions or sales, but you won’t gain any additional visibility in search results.
Sometimes, it’s easier to get more conversions out of the traffic you’re already getting than it is to get more traffic. That’s why we like to help our clients with both types. As we’re building the SEO foundation and working on gaining visibility, we can optimize conversion elements on and off the site to help get more conversions out of current traffic… Instead of waiting for a few months for the positive gain in search visibility.
So as we move through the back half of the year, make sure you’re paying attention to both ranking factors and conversion factors. Optimizing both will give you infinitely better results in the long run.
That’s all the time we have left for this week’s episode, so you know what that means.
Put your hand on the screen right here:
We totally just high-fived ‘cause you learned something awesome.
Thanks for watching, and we’ll see you again next week for another episode of Local Search Tuesdays.
