Search engine optimisation is all about getting traffic from the search engines. Many search engine optimisation professionals lose sight of this in their quest for rankings. It is important to remember that rankings are simply a means to an end.

Targeted search terms

The classic example would be a site that is targeting five or six key phrases and focuses on these to the detriment of all else. In reality, very few sites can boil their business down to such a small number of phrases. A well optimised site will gain traffic through a wide range of related search terms and focusing on just a handful so intently can be counterproductive.

Search terms offer little traffic

The other common error is to focus efforts on particular keywords or phrases, seeing their position in the search results as being the end result. If no-one searches using a particular term, it doesn’t matter whether you are first or 91st on Google’s results page, you aren’t going to receive any visitors. Not all search terms are equal.