While it's exciting for SEO consultants to show you which keywords they rank well, they fail to show which keywords convert. They also fail to recognize that a profitable site may have more than 80% of their traffic coming from direct requests.
Often hidden from view is that a really profitable site will have 20 to 30% of their traffic coming from inbound links (including paid marketing campaigns.) When you do the numbers, sites that make money in the business-to-business world push more than 100% direct traffic.
If 80% of traffic comes from direct referrals, and 20% can come from inbound links, then why is so much emphasis put on SEO? Very often, this excitement and focus is only because SEO is thought to be a form of free advertising.
Where does that really leave search engine referrals? You'll often find, for a business website, organic search engine referrals accounting for no more than 20% of your traffic. But for first time visitors, search engine referrals can equal 50% or more of your traffic.
Note: For a consumer oriented or shopping site, you may find the majority of traffic will come from search engines. What I'm talking about here is your technology services business website, not some consumer media site.
Organic search traffic is often coveted because (a) it seems to cost very little, and (b) most search engine visitors are interested in something specific. However, noticed I didn't say they were buyers, that depends on the terms you target.
Your volume of search traffic is dependent on the number of search queries, your customers usage of search engines, and how your website is optimized for search. This means the value of search weights differently for every market or target customer.
Another thing to consider is that your top ranking keywords may not be your top referring keywords, or even the keywords that lead to sales. This is where long tail concepts come into place. Properly targeted you can generate more traffic (and sales) from less popular keywords.
But all this keyword targeting means nothing if it doesn't generate leads, create sales, and attract buying customers. Instead of focusing on ranking well, you'll bank more results focusing on your visitors desires and which keywords convert best for your site.
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Justin Hitt helps eliminate common myths about profitable business websites. For a complete site audit that increases sales from your website, contract https://www.jwhco.com/