The number one lie impossibility in the Internet Marketing (SEO) business is predicting traffic by keyword.

The idea that you can predict traffic volume by keyword is so prevalent that it has taken-hold as a given. I’m here to tell you – you cannot know in advance – you can’t even get a decent estimate – anywhere. If you want to just jump right into the proof, here is our research.

To be clear, the CMO of a corporation buying SEO services would understand this. They have been down this road already. This message is for the majority of SMBs that have not been here before.

There is a reason why people say “all marketing is lying” and this is one of those factors contributing to that axiom. Our first-hand experience, sitting in presentations to SMB owners is a surprising experience in – obfuscation – misleading is more accurate. And to be fair, most SEO vendors probably don’t even know they are mislead themselves, making an article about this “matrix” necessary.

Fact: There is no way to predict how much traffic your website will get in advance of ranking for a keyword. You will only know once you get there.

Predict = Estimate

An estimate is fine if that is clearly understood. Every vendor offering any sort of predictive ability should be interrogated accordingly. Ask them. Really! Ask them how they know your website will get X visitors after it ranks for keyword Z.

We have done the research here and 99% of the numbers in the industry are derivatives of non-sense. Read more about inaccurate search rank data at HARTENSTINE.

SearchStation and this post is a Red Pill for your delusion – get SearchStation.