Measuring Success: Dependent on Web Site Statistics?

Question of the day: Do you measure your success of a new website by the statistics you can find online?

I was in a meeting with a client of ours that was concerned about their web site statistics on a site that was only three weeks old. We talked about their Google PageRank, their fluctuation in placement on terms, what could be hurting them and what could potentially make their presence on the web known. After three hours of discussion, we left with a list of action items, but I think time is all we need.

After launching a website, you need to give the search engines and the browsers of the Internet time to locate and find your site naturally. A few resources online says it may take up to 3 to 6 months before landing a top page placement with Google and other search engines. One thing that could have been discussed during the redesign and launching of this site, was how could we bring the engine spiders back to the site more quickly? I found the answer to this, but I don’t know if it’s outdated or not. In my readings it says when launching a new site the only things that should be optimized before the launch is the titles, meta data, and the alt tags. During the initial launch the SEO team should be looking for external links and then after a couple of weeks relaunch the site fully optimized. This will give the spiders a chance to initially look at the site and then have a reason to come back quicker.

In conclusion, I think that initial success doesn’t come from the statistics. I want to reiterate what I said in the meeting-let your site have a chance to grow. Its only three weeks old. A redesign was crucial and we can optimistically say your traffic and conversions rates will increase, but a new website can be like a new cashier at Target. They need a training/familiarizing period before the trainee is ready to go full force on the cash register.

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