What Google Wants You to Care About

May 10th, 2010

Google now has a new feature that gives some interesting insight into what they care about. More accurately, it shows what they want YOU to care about.

To see it, login to your Google Webmaster Tools account. (Don’t have one? Go signup now.) Then, choose the website you have decent rankings and traffic for, and choose YOUR SITE ON THE WEB > SEARCH QUERIES. See screenshot below.

Google Webmaster Tools

The resulting screen should look like this.

SIDE NOTE: The screen shot is for this blog (www.TheJungleMap.com). Please understand that search engine rankings are not what I’m trying for with this blog. (In other words, I rank for a lot of strange things that I never meant to. I also don’t rank for things I would like to – because I’ve never tried.) Your results will hopefully look a lot different. (My other sites do, I assure you.)

GWT - Search Queries3

Important points to note

1. Google shows your AVERAGE position
In other words, ranking reports are not that valuable. Just because Web Position Gold (or some other ranking checker) reports that you are ranked #2 does not mean you always do. Rankings vary by time, geo-location, and many other factors that fluctuate.

2. Google shows your CTR (Click Thru Rate) before position
Honestly, we all need to stop caring about our rankings. Good SEOs know this. Ranking #1 does not mean you get the click, let alone the conversion. A lower ranking can get good clicks. Other times, a top ranking will get no clicks.

What Google wants you to care about…

Google’s clear message here is that you should focus less on specific rankings and start focusing on getting the click. This has been the message of Google’s advertising program (AdWords) and now the message is migrating to natural search.

By the way, Google has always wanted users to click on Ads in Google. (No surprise. AdWords is how they make 97% of their income.) They encourage us to write ads that people will click on by emphasizing CTR as the goal.

But now the message is being extended to your natural listings. They want you to care more about getting the click. How? Mostly, by writing better title tags and description tags which will encourage users to click on your listings over your competitors.

NOTE: Good SEOs have known for years now that title tag writing is not just about rankings.

What you should care about…

As interesting (and yet not surprising) as this new development is, don’t be too fooled.

Google is trying to make their search engine the best it can be. They want users to love the results they get on Google. Clearly, if users are happy with Google, they keep coming. If the users keep coming, you keep advertising. Simple as that.

But as online marketers and website owners, your emphasis should not just move from trying to get a top ranking to trying to get more clicks. Rather, your goal should be to get the conversion (sale, signup, etc).

The ranking is important. The click is important. But the sale is most important.

Remember, search engines don’t have wallets. People do.

What’s next…

If you want to know exactly which keywords convert into sales, and then how to get the RIGHT rankings and clicks, the best tool you could have is a good Google AdWords campaign. It’s the starting point for successful search rankings that bring profits. Done right, AdWords can teach you exactly which phrases bring in the money.

I know. I do it for my e-commerce sites all the time.

(Pardon the shameless promotion, but our Google AdWords class is this Thursday and Friday if you want to learn exactly how.)

http://socialfresh.com Jason Keath

Great thoughts here Corey. Always good to be reminded of targeting the right SEO goals. It cannot hurt to go in and audit your click throughs and conversions to see how those Google rankings are REALLY doing.
http://www.weaversites.com Fiona Dudley

Talk about valuable SEO metrics tool! I was thrilled when this came out. It is always a struggle to get “clients” away from the whole ranking thing. Yes, it’s part of the picture – but having a new Google reporting tool that actually provides more important info, that I can use to good purpose with clients and get them thinking about what’s really important, is a relief. I especially want to see what comes up on a couple of international sites.
Fiona
http://www.HippoIM.com Corey Creed

So true. Of course, your analytics would be even more informative. But it’s good to have an extra tool to keep focused on what matters.
http://arizonamarketingalliance.com Todd

So what are you doing to create interest and intrigue? I’ve been adding the allure of a special report, a phone number and several other hooks in my META title and description tags. The trick has been, to write these tags in a way as to not lose relative keyword connectors within the search query – yet write an “ad” that draws attention away from the other search results AND maintain a position above the fold. Which is tough with sponsored ads, the local box and the competition.
It’s a fine line to walk with a newer site. I find that Google is much more prone to list highly optimized (specific kw title, desc., H1) than a result that has a specific niche hot button or benefit rich title/description. You can get away with this when you pay for your ad space. What’s your thoughts?

Todd
Phoenix, AZ
http://www.HippoIM.com Corey Creed

That’s true, Todd. How to write a tag will vary depending on the search term. “Give them what they want.” If it does not rank well enough, get more links with good anchor text. Don’t give in and put keywords where they don’t make sense. It’s not worth it, right? Sounds like we’re on the same page.
http://www.weaversites.com Fiona Dudley

Hi Todd,
When I write metatags I consider a lot of different factors, and you’re right – it’s tricky. I think of it as half metrics, half art, half psychology I find it sometimes helpful to include ‘who, what, when, where, why’ as attractants. How I choose to write the tag does vary on the search term and audience desires I’m targeting “for a particular page.” I also agree with you, well-SEO’d pages DO rank better!

It helps when the site is large enough to support aiming at both broader terms as well as niche terms. Unfortunately we’re not always that lucky.

Getting anchor text links from other sites is the hardest of all!

Fiona
http://arizonamarketingalliance.com Todd

Thanks Corey and Fiona for the SEO insights as it relates to META tags. I received another piece of advice outside this comment section correspondence that suggested that the key to writing “seductive META tag ads” is to secure your position within the search term and then write these searcher ads. I know on-page factors only pull 30% of the ranking weight, but I have plenty of local, keyword rich sites that make it to the the first page solely because of their KW specific tags and a few brief posts. I guess the next step is to inundate the site with anchor rich contextual backlinks and then rewrite the META tags to draw the attention of those targeted searchers.

Maybe a blog post would be a better format for this discussion.

Thanks Corey for the online meetup space.

Todd
Phoenix, AZ