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Tags – Misleading Data – Meaningless Stats

I recently read an article on BBC Sport, pointing at stats in football that don’t really mean much. The biggest example in the article was Jorginho’s most completed passes without an assist in the premier league, breaking the record held previously by Leon Britton.

This made us think – there is useless stats in digital marketing too. In this article, we will talk about meaningless stats in SEO.

To draw a more wholesome picture, we will go through 3 different kinds of meaningless stats in SEO for face value. 

1. Ranking for Keywords with no Search Volume

This is the oldest trick in the digital marketing book – ranking businesses for keywords with no search volume or competition.

For a digital marketer, it does the trick of convincing the clients that something positive is happening. But, the truth is, there is no point in ranking for terms that no one is searching for, unless you are going to advertise the content.

In its purest form, ranking for keywords with no volume is the worst form of data accumulation in digital marketing and business in general. You need to ask your digital marketers more questions about what are they ranking you for.

2. Ranking for Low Sale Value Keywords

We have heard this again and again. “I am number 1 for this keyword, I have not made a sale through my website”.

There are two angles you can take around this point. Someone may have misinformed you about how search volumes help – implying that traffic equals sales. Or, you should not be looking at everything on your website as a quick win.

The two points are interconnected. Simply, you should not be looking at everything in your business to be making direct sales. The concept of value goes beyond monetary gains.

For instance, we are not making any money through this blog directly. But, this gives us a chance to showcase our understanding of marketing and business, while also providing value to potential future clients.

3. On Paper High Quantity Sales Keywords

This is the most complicated situation – as in, there is no way to breakdown the search volume into actual clicks and sales.

Sometimes, a keyword might have search volume in the 1000s, but the actual clicks could be counted on fingers.

In our case, “digital marketing agency London” is a good example with 1,900 searches per month. 1,900 searches does not mean that we are getting 1,900 enquiries a month from this page. It does not even mean 1,900 clicks per month.

You need to understand that this 1,900 does not just include businesses looking for digital marketing agencies in London. This number also includes current competitors, potential competitors, people browsing around or simply collecting information, job hunters, and so on.

On average, this page brings us about 150 visitors per month, out of which 3 or 4 will pick up the phone or send us an email. (This 3 or 4 is still better than the industry average, given the cost of digital marketing).

Why I declared this situation complicated is because even if we specify this form of traffic for digital marketing, the numbers are different for each industry.

For example, people looking for a restaurant are more likely to pick a restaurant. And, the number of competitors or job hunters will be a lower percentage of the whole volume.

In our case, the time it takes to complete a sale can sometimes take a couple of months. (People don’t just throw 1000s around). In most cases, people click around multiple other pages, even join our Facebook page, and then make a decision down the line after meeting us a couple of times.

And, we are completely fine with that. In fact, we prefer it when our partners understand what we do. In the long run, it makes our life easier.

To learn more about digital marketing and SEO for your business, get in touch today.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]