SnaptechSEO - 6:37 pm on Aug 8, 2008 (gmt 0)

I'm a long-time reader, but have never felt compelled to actually sign-up and post until today. I don't know where some of the regulars I see here find the time to post so often!

Firstly, pageoneresults has pretty much summed up my thoughts on this topic. Thanks Page1, you've saved me a lot of typing!

Secondly, Whitenight: nothing in this thread is related to Adwords. The tools being discussed are for queering Google for organic search rankings. I'm sure when people have stated that "rankings are not important" they are only referring to organic results. Of course ranking paid ads is important, but Google provides tools to clearly show you that information.

Finally, our company has already shifted our focus from selling what I consider "basic SEO" to selling a complete marketing service of which SEO is simply one component. Our progress and success is measured, not in terms of rankings, but in terms of how our efforts translate into quality traffic, conversions and revenue/leads for the client. End of story.

Really, how useful is it to rank a site #1 for a term seldom searched for, or to rank a site with poor content, or a weak "call to action"? These are practices of the past and unfortunately practices which has given SEO such a negative reputation with many businesses who have be "taken" in the past.

Conversions are what clients want, and executive will understand. It means more to their bottom line than where they rank for a keyword a surfer may, or may not, search for.

Cheers!