I'd like to refer back to Google Webmaster Tools again and take a close look at the average position of the keywords listed on the Search Query report and compare them to the importance for your business. Keyword ranking will has a direct impact on your sales, which is why everyone is always clamoring to achieve first place ranking on Google.But what does it take to move a keyword's ranking from down in the mud to one that's top ranked? The keyword ranking scale is from 1 to 1000 with the highest rank at 1 and the lowest rank at 1000.
Inside Google Webmaster Tools, in the left navigation, click the link for Traffic and then the sublink for Search Queries. This report will show you the number of impressions your website earned for keywords that people search over the last 30 days.
This is the same report I frequently refer to when reviewing keywords for SEO analysis. Today I'm sharing with you how I judge these keywords and the actions that I need to take to boost their ranking.
Ranking 100 - 1000:
I usually find that there are 3 types of keywords ranking in this range: 1. obscure single words, 2. multi-word phrases that are somewhat unique, 3. very competitive phrases. You probably don't need to specifically target these obscure or multi-word phrases, but rather, keep track of them so they can be included in blog posts or on other content pages of your website. On the other hand, if your most important money-making phrase is in this category then your website probably needs more overall help that this Daily Nugget can recommend. So, hire a professional SEO, or read my previous 721 Daily Nuggets to learn how to do-it-yourself.
Ranking 60 - 99:
I find that this ranking level of keywords has a different value for each jeweler, and it depends on how high their overall impressions are monthly. For a jeweler with 19,000 impressions, this level tends to have many multi-word phrases like "vintage diamond ring settings" that are helping to boost their overall website impressions that high. For jewelers with 4500 impressions per month this ranking level tends to include designer names variations. For everyone else, the keywords in this group probably include various traffic building phrases and sales related phrases.
If your goal is to build a more broad range of traffic, then you need many random blog posts on your website that will build up the number of multi-word phrases you see in this range. The best way to do this is through storytelling through your blog. This range of keyword ranking will bulk up as fast as you are willing to tell your stories. You can start at 2 per month for the first 2 months, then every week, then twice per week. By the end of your 5th month you can have yourself worked up to daily storytelling.
Ranking 30 - 59:
Hopefully the keywords you see ranked in this group already mean something to your business. If not, then figure out where the non-relevant keyword is on your website and remove it by rewording. For those keywords that are important for you, it should be easy to elevate their ranking with a few blog posts over a few months. Don't flood your website with blog posts in a single month, but rather space them out every 4 or 5 weeks. Assuming you are targeting a keyword that people search for regularly, this should result in an easy push from that low ranking position to something higher than 30.
Ranking 21 - 29:
Keywords in this range are on page 3 of Google's SERP. This is where it starts becoming difficult to increase the ranking for a single keyword. Your initial step should be to evaluate how hard it will be to increase the ranking, so add a blog post relating to that keyword to your website and share that out to your social networks. Then evaluate Google Webmaster Tools over the following 4 weeks for any change in the ranking. Rankings that slip lower than 29 could mean you used too much keyword stuffing in your post, or some other SERP change took place. You can write and share more blogs once every 4 or 5 weeks and keep monitoring your results.
Ranking 11 - 20
Keywords in this range are on page 2 of Google's SERP. You might find a few locally relevant keyword phrases in this group, and a few multi-word phrases that appear randomly around your website. A single, well written, 600 or more blog post should be enough to boost those multi-word phrases up higher in the ranking. Phrases with 2 words will be a little more difficult to boost, requiring a combination of targeted landing pages and blog posts that you socially share. It might take 3 months or more of careful content editing/bulking on your website before you manage to break through that 11th position. Fair warning though; target keyword that trigger results with Google+ Local, YouTube videos, images, or product results are far more difficult to rank above 11.
Ranking 5 - 10:
Keywords that rank in this range are at the bottom of Google's page 1 search results. This is not a bad position to be in, but elevating your ranking to the top 5 should increase your sales. Achieving that higher ranking will require the right combination of website SEO tuning, HTML code scrutiny, correct website content, sharing to social networks, and attracting links from other blog writers. You will need a long term plan and patience. You can choose to learn how to elevate ranking on your own or you can hire a professional SEO to work on this for you. If you don't have the patience or the long term option, then you need to consider pay-per-click advertising. I've had better success rates with Google AdWords campaigns for website keywords that ranked anywhere on page 1 than those without ranking.
Hopefully this helps you understand your ranking positions and how to improve them. I'd love to hear feedback about your results.
