In this article, we have featured Tracking Traffic vs. Rankings Which is More Important? In the world of SEO, there are a lot of metrics that you can track in order to gauge the success of your efforts. However, two of the most commonly tracked metrics are traffic and rankings. So, which one should you be focusing on? Keep reading to find out.
Traffic vs. Rankings: What’s the Difference?
Traffic refers to the number of visitors who come to your website. Rankings, on the other hand, refer to your position in the search engine results pages (SERPs).
In other words, traffic measures how many people are coming to your site while rankings measure how easy it is for people to find your site. Both traffic and rankings are important for your website because they give you insights into how well your site is performing.
When it comes to SEO, traffic and rankings are two of the most commonly tracked metrics. But which one is more important? The answer may surprise you. While both traffic and rankings are important, traffic is actually more important than rankings. Here’s why:
1. Traffic is an indication of actual engagement.
Rankings are great because they show you where you rank for certain keywords. However, they don’t necessarily indicate actual engagement. Just because you rank #1 for a keyword doesn’t mean that people are actually clicking on your listing when they see it in the search results. Traffic, on the other hand, is a direct indicator of engagement. If people are coming to your site, it means they’re actually interested in what you have to offer.
2. You can’t convert rankings into sales or leads.
Rankings may be good for an ego boost, but at the end of the day, they don’t do anything to help you increase sales or generate leads. Traffic, on the other hand, can be directly converted into sales or leads through effective call-to-actions and conversion rate optimization techniques.
3. Rankings can be volatile; traffic is more stable.
Your rankings can fluctuate up and down for any number of reasons beyond your control (algorithm updates, changes in competitor strategy, etc.). This can make it difficult to get a true picture of your SEO progress over time. Traffic, on the other hand, is more stable— making it a better metric for tracking SEO progress over time.
4. Rankings don’t always tell the whole story.
Just because you’re ranking for a certain keyword doesn’t mean that you’re getting any traffic from it—or that the traffic you are getting is high quality. Traffic gives you a more complete picture by showing you not only how much traffic you’re getting from a certain keyword but also how engaged that traffic is (bounce rate, time on site, etc.).
5. You can influence traffic; rankings not so much.
While there’s only so much influence you can have over your rankings (especially in the short term), there are a number of things you can do to increase traffic to your site including optimizing your site for conversion, running ads, and creating compelling content that encourages people to link to it. In short, while both traffic and rankings are important, if you had to choose one, traffic should be your focus. Not only is it a more accurate indicator of actual engagement, but it’s also something that you can directly influence. So, if you’re looking to increase the success of your SEO efforts, start by tracking traffic — not rankings .
Why Tracking Traffic is Important?
Tracking traffic is important because it allows you to see how many people are actually visiting your site. This number can give you insights into the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns, the popularity of your content, and even the time of day when people are most likely to visit your site.
Traffic can also help you determine whether or not people are actually taking the actions that you want them to do on your site (such as signing up for a newsletter or making a purchase).
A good ranking can mean more traffic for your site while a poor ranking can mean less traffic. Rankings can also give you insights into which keywords people are using to find your site and which keywords you need to be targeting in order to improve your visibility.
Also, Read:
- 7 Ways to Boost Your Website Traffic in 3 Months
- How to Increase Blog Traffic with 7 Simple Methods
- How to Effectively Use Long Tail Keywords To Get Traffic on Your Blog
- How To Increase Your Traffic Using Updated Google Search Console
Conclusion: Tracking Traffic vs. Rankings
When it comes down to it, tracking traffic is more important than tracking rankings. Here’s why: first, traffic is an indication of actual engagement while rankings are’ t necessarily; second, you can’t convert rankings into sales or leads as you can with traffic;
third, rankings can be volatile while traffic is more stable; fourth, rankings don’t always tell the whole story but traffic does, and fifth, you can influence traffic but not so much with rankings.
If you want to increase the success of your SEO efforts, start by tracking traffic — not rankings. Thanks for reading!
