The End of the SEO Rankings Era, aka The Rise of the Universal-Social-Mobile Search Trinity
The SEO industry and their clients used to live and die by their rankings. But this ranking race is changing drastically as each day goes by. What is killing the ranking mania that has ruled search engine marketing for so long? Who is the rankings dragon slayer?
Answer: The Trinity of Universal Search, Social Media, and Web-Enabled Phones.
Universal Search
This is something amazing that has happened right in front of our eyes (for those of us awake and watching). From nowhere, the Google “Golden Triangle” got covered with Map Listings, You Tube Videos and Shopping RSS Feeds, completely pushing down the traditional SEO rankings way below the fold. Result? Even your #1 ranking for a competitive keyword is not going to help you get many clicks. Now users can choose from a smorgasbord of information that Google has laid out for them. Their Map Listings provide a website URL, phone number, directions, and reviews in one neat package.
Social Media
All of us have friends, and our friends are usually full of information on at least one topic that they are passionate about (no matter how dull they are). With the gargantuan increase in the use of social media, your friends and their friends are now connected and forming a pool of collective information. A great vacation, a crappy airline, a great deal on socks…everything is being discussed online between friends, acquaintances, and near strangers. Web searchers have more sources of information than ever, and many of these sources now are people they know and trust.
Example: You see a great review of a hotel/restaurant on tripadvisor.com or zagat.com. But then your close friend “tweets” about the terrible time he had at that establishment. Who are you more likely to trust? This is your big vacation, and the word of your buddy is always going to have more influence than “independent” review websites or even Google, who is just aggregating reviews from different websites into its SERPs (search engine results pages). Therefore, the great reviews about your business on review websites, even your top rankings and detailed map listings are no match for the guy who talks to his friends online about you.
Mobile Phones
For those of you following my writing on this topic, you know I have been very bullish about mobile phones. The growth in mobile phone internet usage has been tremendous. 2012 will usher in over 1.2 billion 3G phones on the planet…wow.
Mobile phone searches have one thing in common: a small screen. This translates into a very slim chance of getting clicks for #1 SEO rankings. Google is in the middle of a massive push to sell AdWords ads. That’s what brings them money, and they have a lot less real estate to sell on the tiny mobile screens.
Guess what else is on the phone? Your friends! They can answer questions through SMS, MMS, Email, Messenger Chat, and even a phone conversation. All this open communication further dilutes the ranking power that is still on the minds of so many owners and marketers.
And the winner is…
Conversions!
I have always considered conversions to be the true metric of online success. I have seen clients and SEO agencies lose their heads over every change in their Google rankings. This obsession with rankings is a waste of time and money, and becoming more so every day.
When it comes to the e-commerce and travel sectors, the conversion factor is huge. Their volumes are big, and even a minor tweak in conversions translates into increased revenue. Yet the search engine marketing industry is still very heavy on selling rankings: Castles in the air, without doors or windows. This is where I draw the line with our agency. The ranking-obsessed are given a cup of tea and shown the door.
Unfortunately, many SEOs have figured out that it is relatively easy to convince prospective clients to follow the simple formula “higher rankings = more traffic = more sales.” If making a sale is your goal, this is the easiest strategy to lay down. But it’s not a good one. Successful web marketing today demands a much more sophisticated approach.
Here is what I found in a fortune cookie once: “Beware what you wish for. Pick conversions over rankings and you will always be a winner!”
