Lately we’ve seen several articles decrying call tracking. Most articles point out that there are specific and important ways to use call tracking correctly that DO NOT HARM SEO. These articles advocate call tracking, even after raising concerns.
They treat a nuanced subject with an appropriately nuanced response.
Other articles aren’t quite as nuanced. They condemn call tracking because there are some call tracking providers (I won’t name names) and some clients that use call tracking incorrectly and thus, hurt their SEO.
These articles WRONGLY advocate that call tracking shouldn’t be used at all. These articles claim that marketers shouldn’t use call tracking even when it is totally safe.
They are throwing the baby out with the bath water.
Why Marketers Shouldn’t Do This
We’ve written several articles about call tracking and SEO. Here’s a list of them:
Another good article was written by the Minnesota Marketing Association. They discuss how call tracking can be used effectively. We’ll also link to that article here:
If marketers just reject call tracking out-of-hand because they fear that it will hurt their SEO, they are making a huge mistake. The question of call tracking and SEO is somewhat nuanced. It therefore deserves a nuanced answer. Not a blanket, YES or NO statement.
That’s why some of the recent articles are so frustrating.
And when I say it is nuanced, I’m not saying that it is complicated. I’m simply saying that marketers just have to use call tracking with a little common sense. For example, should you change every directory listing phone number to a different phone number? No. That would be dumb. But, should you use Dynamic Number Insertion on your website to insert a temporary phone number even as the hard-coded number remains constant? Yes.
These aren’t difficult questions, they just take a little bit of thought and a little bit of effort to figure out.
Some marketers aren’t dedicated enough to find the truth about call tracking and thus about their ROI. They aren’t dedicated enough to learn when call tracking works and when it doesn’t. They don’t care enough to read a few articles and figure it out. We’re not talking about reading a giant book on call tracking. We’re talking about reading a few blogs and figuring out how to implement call tracking.
The bottom line is simple: call tracking doesn’t hurt SEO if it is used correctly.
Don’t Go Government Style
During campaign season you will hear incredibly nuanced questions about immigration, budgets, debt, guns, etc. answered with general statements that are far too simplistic. Candidates are speaking, frankly, to the lowest common denominator and are giving very basic answers to very difficult questions.
So it is with call tracking.
Some bloggers make blanket statements about call tracking and SEO without exploring the nuances of the subject. They wrongly throw the baby out with the bathwater.
There are substantial benefits to using call tracking. Marketers that use call tracking make more money than those that don’t. SMBs that use call tracking save money. Local marketing companies that provide call tracking to their clients get more clients.
Call tracking can help you.
