Ryan Shelley says, “Keyword ranking is one of the most overrated and misused metrics in SEO. Yes, tracking your positions is important, but placing too much emphasis on this metric is problematic. When it comes to SEO, what you measure gets managed. That means that focusing on the right metrics will help you generate results that have a business impact, rather than an ego boost.

So, let’s talk about the problem with obsessing over rank — and what metrics you’d be better off focusing on.

The problem with rank tracking

Measuring keyword ranking is easy to get sucked into because it’s so visible. When you type in the all-powerful keyword and see your listing there at the top, it feels good. The problem with putting too much emphasis on this metric is that the search results aren’t always consistent. Google’s results will vary based on a number of different criteria. Let’s look at the two most common.

  • Location. Your search results are tailored to the location from which you are searching. This plays a big role in local search, of course, but it impacts organic rankings as well. Let’s say you are in a new city, and you are looking for a coffee shop; if you search for “coffee shops,” it will display results near you. If you were to do the same search in your hometown, the results would be very different”.

The problem with obsessive rank tracking

Search Engine Land

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