Destroy Your Keyword Trophy Mentality - SEO & Internet Marketing

Destroy Your Keyword Trophy Mindset

By Matthew Kettlewell Thursday December 4, 2008

Ever get in the middle of conversation about whose is bigger, better, or strongest?

Now I don’t want to get caught up in the semantics of what they’re talking about… that would likely lead us off topic - but ever think about what it’s really accomplishing?

Well search engine keywords aren’t too much different… think about it… “My keyword ranks number 1 on Google, and number 3 on MSN and Yahoo… Beat that!”

This is what I call a “Keyword Trophy”. Where you get some mythical prize if you rank number one for some set of keywords. But is a keyword trophy really worth anything? Sometimes, but usually not.

Let me explain. If you had no competition, then what is the real value of a keyword ranking? There isn’t one. For instance, I bet I could create a site today and rank number one on most search engines for the keyword phrase “itchy witchy seems kinda funky but might pay me more money in the long run” - some random made up phrase that I’ll now rank for, but how many people are going to be searching for it? And more importantly, what are they going to do with it?

That’s kinda my point here… the “what are they going to do with it” part - Your goal is conversions, and new customers right? So if all your keyword trophies aren’t converting, then what is there value? Do you see where I’m going with this? Conversions and customers are the real goal of Internet marketing and search engine optimizations… not top rankings. Does this mean that you should stop trying to rank high? nope. Not at all. But focus on the important keywords… the ones that convert traffic into customers. Otherwise all those SEO consultant fees aren’t paying for themselves… just your ego and the size of your… whatever it was that was being measured.

About the Author

Matthew Kettlewell is the President and CEO of Kettlewell Enterprises, Inc. In a past life, Matt was a very successful software engineer, working out the complexities of satellites orbiting the earth. Now he can be found breaking down the complexities of Internet marketing, and sharing his findings with others. For more, visit: http://www.kettlewell.net