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Excellent rankings... crap clicks

by ar_mussa
10 replies
  • SEO
    • |
I'm stuck!

I finally get over the SEO ranking hurdle and I expect thousands of clicks and instead, I end up getting about 30 a day. TOTALLY FLABBERGASTED.

I've got 13 keywords/domains ranking in the top ten of google and the minimum keyword I've got ranking is due to get 1,300 searches a day. The top is meant to get 20,000 searches a day. (Market Samurai data)

Now I understand that top position gets between 20 - 30% of the estimated value etc... and that would be great. But I'm getting about... ehh... let's see now:

0.3% of the estimated searches.

I'm also ranking on yahoo between numbers 1 and 5 for these keywords so I'd expect more than the 20% estimate...

I just can't figure out what I'm doing wrong!

At first I thought, the description tags must have been rubbish cos I hadn't really made them 'click through' friendly... then I changed that and waited. 2 weeks later, google updates them... but still... getting about 30 clicks a day - in total! as opposed to 40,000.

Some details:

I'm using market samurai... broad for one keyword is: 1366, phrase is: 266
I'm ranked number 1 for that phrase in the US and yesterday I got 0 visitors

Another keyword, broad: 1989, phrase: 891
I'm ranked number 2 for that phrase in the US and yesterday I got 13 unique visitors... that's 1.4% of what's mentioned

Any ideas guys?
#clicks #crap #excellent #rankings
  • Profile picture of the author usearchme2
    Dont rely on market samuri data, simple as that, your site clicks dont lie!

    Clearly those keywords dont get as many clicks as you were led to belive.

    In fact just about all the keyword tools are not that accurate, the experiance I have had with them is similar, you target a word and get about 10 percent of what you expected !

    So take it as a harsh lesson, you can either keep working on them or target some more popular keywords.

    Woc
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  • Profile picture of the author gabibeowulf
    You probably made a rookie mistake

    When you do keyword research you have to set up exact match
    (both in adwords keyword tool or market samurai). There is a huge
    difference in traffic between the broad match (that is by default selected)
    and the exact match that you are ranking for.

    Also, the traffic is available for the first 3 positions usually .. sometimes only
    the #1 gets all the traffic, so if you are not there .. it doesn't matter that much
    where you rank in the first page.

    Gabriel
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  • Profile picture of the author HarryCharles
    If you are going to spend a huge amount of time ranking for a few keywords ALWAYS test it out with a PPC campaign. Internet marketing 101 right there.
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    • Profile picture of the author usearchme2
      Originally Posted by HarryCharles View Post

      If you are going to spend a huge amount of time ranking for a few keywords ALWAYS test it out with a PPC campaign. Internet marketing 101 right there.
      Thats probably not a bad tip, can be somewhat expensive though using PPC at first !

      Woc
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  • Profile picture of the author sloanjim
    i agree with the person above.....the reality is about 10% of what your keyword tools tell you. So if it says 5,000 work on 500 really....then you might get 20% of that clicking on your site = 100 then you might get 20% of those opting in = 20... Reality 101

    All these posts about geting rich if you can rank top of google for a 10,000 keyword search term is a pipe dream.
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  • Profile picture of the author GregGarrison
    Always use the exact match when searching for keywords and phrases. It is dramatically less, except for one or two word phrases. Anyway, I have found that the longer phrases pull in the high targeted traffic. Best of luck to you.
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  • Profile picture of the author ar_mussa
    Hi guys,

    Firstly, thank you all for posting and giving me information.

    I'm finding what you guys are saying a bit difficult to stomach. If going for a 10,000 search keyword isn't worth jack... then what is? It suggests the whole idea of SEO to be bollocks!

    The other thing is, that I AM ranking at number 1 and I'm ranking at number 2 and 3 and every other number on the 1st page - and none of that makes a difference to how many searches I get. (all of my keywords are 1300 broad search and up)

    I went into market samurai and I re-assessed the keywords.
    OK... so one of them gets 12000 broad, which goes down to 3500 phrase, but get this... it's still at 600 for exact match....

    SIX HUNDRED... now lets be pessimistic: 10% of 600 is 60...
    Lets be really pessimistic: 5% of 600 is 30...

    And how much am I getting?
    7... that's 1.6% - come on? there must be something going on here!

    So you see?
    I don't quite know what to make of all of this.

    And these are HUGE brand names... so I know for a fact that they're popular... I also checked the whole PPC advertising competition... and they're **** hot. The background work was water tight.

    I didn't test with PPC, cos I didn't have the money but that's more for conversion... I'm not at that stage yet... I just want the traffic. I'll think about conversion when I get there.

    The other thing is, I ranked for a few other search terms a while back and was getting about 70 clicks a day... which is about 60% of the estimated 'broad' search. That was a couple of years ago (I stopped internet marketing for a year to recoup finances)

    Also, the whole PPC thing... I've done PPC and in my experience, when the keyword tools say you'll be getting 500 searches a day, then you get about 250 if you're doing PPC (position 4 to 6)... in my experience - and I acknowledge that all markets are different.

    I'm just really having a hard time stomaching what you guys have said. Any other ideas?

    So, again... it seems that everyone is saying to me that SEO sucks... and that the traffic just doesn't work... is that the experience that everyone has had? or has anyone ever made any money from SEO?
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    • Profile picture of the author John Hixson
      Originally Posted by ar_mussa View Post

      The other thing is, I ranked for a few other search terms a while back and was getting about 70 clicks a day... which is about 60% of the estimated 'broad' search. That was a couple of years ago (I stopped internet marketing for a year to recoup finances)
      Broad is simply no good. Sorry but I have been doing a lot of niche site SEO and the broad search has been of zero use in estimating traffic. By contrast the 'exact' match search whilst still not 100% accurate is far closer to the amount experienced.

      It makes it very difficult to find worthwhile keywords - but no one said this would be easy!
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      • Profile picture of the author ar_mussa
        "It makes it very difficult to find worthwhile keywords - but no one said this would be easy!"


        You're right... and thankfully, the exact match is still excellent.

        I'll always use exact match from now on.

        I'm still worried though that there's something I'm not getting.
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    • Profile picture of the author dburk
      Hi ar_mussa,

      Gabriel was spot on when he said: "You probably made a rookie mistake ".

      Broad match data is the WRONG data. Broad match data not only includes search volume from your targeted keyword, it also includes search volume for many other keywords for which you likely do not rank. It is completely useless for your intended purpose. Instead, you should be using Exact match data.

      Secondly, not all searches result in a click through, approximately half of all searches are abandoned without a click through. Searchers often refine their search term if they aren't seeing results they expected.

      On average the top position gets only 23% CTR and 3rd position and below get single digit CTR percentages or even lower. Some terms also show sponsored listings which lowers the CTR even more due to the additional choices. While these are average numbers, some keywords fall well outside the average.

      You need to assess how well targeted the keyword term is. If it is a term that typically results in the searcher refining the term, rather than clicking through, it may not be worth pursing.

      If you take this revelation in stride you will have learned a valuable lesson and can profit from the experience. There is so much more to SEO than just just the basics. Just like PPC it requires testing and adaption to succeed.

      Personally, I prefer to use PPC to get quick verification, not only of the search volume and CTRs, but also which ad text headlines and descriptions generates the highest CTR so that I can use that same text in my organic text snippet description. Time is money and the use of PPC saves both time and money on my organic SEO marketing.

      The bottom line - test and adapt!
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