How do you measure SEM Success?

Search Engine Rankings or Website Traffic? Remember those days when you found companies giving “SEO Guarantees”? Top 5 rankings across top 10 keywords for $$$… you may just find a few now as well. If you have ever come across a guarantee that promised xxx figure for search engine traffic through rankings, please send me the link!

While search engine rankings may seem important, and I am not saying they are not, what matters more is how much traffic you are getting. Of course, you’re not going to see traffic if you’re not ranking well.

But, its not necessary that you see good traffic on your website if you are ranking well for a few keywords.

Keyword popularity is the key factor here. The end objective of an online marketing plan should not be to rank well on Google or Yahoo or MSN. The objective should be to bring as many qualified visitors to the website as possible. Good search engine rankings should be one of the means of bringing the traffic, not the end objective.