If you could hear grumbling sweeping over the landscape this week, it was likely the voices of professional and self made SEO types reacting to Google's most recent maneuver to put an end to automated tools hitting their servers. For those of you not in the know, there are a handful of tools (WebPosition being among the most prominent) that allow users to type in a list of keywords and check them against search results for Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask, AOL, etc. Historically, this has been a tool used by SEO firms and others with online marketing responsibility to gauge the effectiveness of their organic optimization (and on occasion paid search management) efforts.
With Google being the primary search player (accounting for roughly 60 percent of all searches in the United States and even greater numbers overseas), this would seem to greatly decrease the value of these automated tools. How are the world's SEO practitioners to impress their clients now? The neatly automated monthly report that shows the fruits of our labor are now devoid of what the clients want to see most - Google rankings! Alas, these reports are no more. From Google's standpoint, they have two arguments. First, Google claims that automated traffic are a burden on their systems and slow things down for Joe Searcher. Fair enough. Secondly, by making it more difficult to track and test results, those of us "manipulating" the search engines with our efforts will likely have a slightly more difficult time figuring out Google's secret recipe.
I have used these tools in the past, and I will admit I was a little miffed at Google's seeming power play, though they've been threatening this for years. But more importantly, as I sifted through blogs and forums gauging the reaction of the general SEO populace, I found myself agreeing with a few voices in the minority. Several individuals spoke out loudly and defiantly that these reports are, for the most part, a waste of time. The truth is, there are far more important things to worry about than your reported rankings.
For example, as Google has gotten more sophisticated, they've added additional variables to the mix. Call your friend across the country and have them search for the same term as you. The results may be the same, or they may simply be similar. I have ran this experiment several times when I'm on the road by using remote desktop on my home computers. Google will continue to find ways to increase relevancy of searches, and this will most likely have a continued move towards localized results. As such, what's the point of a report you run for a client when they will run it on their own and see different results? Likewise, if you're selling a product nationally, but your report is not all that reflective of your positioning nationally?
Yes, increasing rankings will bring you in more traffic. I'm not dumb enough to say otherwise. However, it's been our focus at Netvantage to improve our company's bottom line. Period. So when we engage in paid search management, search engine optimization or web analytics with clients, we make it clear that the goals are business oriented, not rankings oriented. And, let's be honest, SEO practitioners are a resourceful lot, so those obsessed with mulling over rankings will likely have another way to do it soon. In the meantime, you are at the mercy of manual reporting and/or Google Webmaster Tools. Rather than dig through those reports, I think I will choose to spend my time on more value added activities. The author is a Managing Partner of Netvantage Marketing, a Michigan SEO, ppc management and web analytics consulting company.
