DOES SEARCH ENGINE TRAFFIC MATTER?

The short answer is, "Sure." And it likely always will.
But the amount of free traffic search engines now deliver to
many small online businesses doesn't amount to much. And what
there is of it continues to decline in importance. Pay-for-
submission models are rapidly eliminating free options.

These trends will continue. And many have been aware of
this for years. My own site provides a good example of the
results.

A Question Overlooked

A fellow called a while back asking about the services I
offer. When he asked how my web pages ranked on the search
engines, I said I didn't know, that I had never checked. I
guess that wasn't what he wanted to hear, for he hung up.

But it is fact. Why would I care what positions I have?
My log files show I'm getting less than 20% of hits from the
search engines. Given the competition for keyword phrases
such as "site promotion," it is no surprise I don't get more.

Answering The Question

Still, the call triggered action of sorts. I ran Web
Position on my major keywords. The results were startling.

I asked the program to go 99 listings deep. It found only
4 pages of over 700 on my site listed for the keywords entered,
and none at all above the 50th position. So how am I'm getting
hits?

The Mystery Of Search Engines Unanswered

All the above report means is that I am not getting many
hits on keywords I felt were appropriated for a particular page.
For example, site promotion brought up my Tips page as #86 at
AltaVista. And this in itself is startling, for the page
changes every week! (It's also entirely in size 1, something
some experts believe AltaVista considers spam.)

Web Editorial Service was #73 at Lyris, but the page is not
an article I wrote. Web Site Promotion Services was #52 at
Google. Site Promotion Services was #6 at Overture.com, but
I paid for this position.

In opening STAT, I followed advice that proved to be bad
info. I developed a massive set of targeted keywords for the
site. Most of the terms I began with have disappeared since
exploring with them. And with but few exceptions, I now have
only clues as to the keywords on a given page that actually
bring a visitor.

Still, the site initially brought pretty good free traffic
from search engines. It peaked about the end of 1998 at about
40% of total traffic, and has steadily been declining since.

More Non-Answers From The Horse's Mouth

Given such "spectacular" results as noted above, I was still
puzzled, for I was getting hits. Where were they coming from?
So I checked out a couple of search engines and, off the top of
my head, did some searches.

Things like "site services," "website performance," "site
improvement," and so forth. Oddly enough, a few of my pages
came up in the first 30. And since I know the content of most
pages at the end of the links offered, I could see there was at
least some degree of relevancy.

My Conclusion

The search engines algorithms are smarter than we generally
acknowledge. They do a pretty good job of sorting out page
content. And they're getting better every day.

So I will continue as I have been doing. That is, submit
new pages as they are completed. And I'll continue to try to
include keywords as possible. But essentially I'm content to
let the search engines do whatever.

For one thing, my page views continue to increase. Slowly,
that's true. But the key lies in the increase. Thus I'm not
drawing too much off-target traffic.

The Best Strategy For You

For some sites, position on the search engines is critical
to success. In such a case, my forget-it approach would be
totally inadequate. In fact if your site is seriously dependant
upon traffic generated by search engines, it may be best to hire
a professional service and make sure this task is done right.

This aside, the power of search engines to draw free
targeted traffic is weakening. Which means that in setting
priorities, most should spend less time in obtaining good
positions.

As with my site, the better plan may be to focus promotional
efforts on other strategies to generate the targeted traffic you
need.

Sure. Submit new pages as completed. Possibly take the
time to create search engine friendly content pages. But look
elsewhere for traffic.

The ability of search engines to deliver free targeted
traffic to your site is diminishing. Some may find the emerging
pay-for-submission models profitable. But most will find other
avenues more rewarding. And soon enough, you won't be able to
count on free search engine traffic to any significant degree.

About the Author

Bob McElwain, author of "Your Path To Success" and
"Secrets To A Really Successful Website." For
info, see <http://sitetipsandtricks.com/webways/>
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