My average visit duration is UP by 110% from 2 minutes to 4 minutes... and my visits (rankings) are down by 6 %.... I would have thought to see more positive ranking affects from that..
-
Latttteee last night I asked this question
Just like the question says, I would have thought that Google would reward a site with more traffic that clearly has a growing level of user engagement.
I can't imagine that there are other sites in my niche that are having a longer rate of user engagement...
Well, since I can't guarentee that, let's not debate what we don't know..
But shouldn't SOME benefits be seen for a 110% increase?
I mean shit, if I could replicate those results with sales, I would really be able to afford higher rankings...
Maybe that's how they feel?
If I get longer duration, I should get more sales, which means I should be able to afford to pay a professional more to get me to rank higher....?
A nice guy Marcus Miller(http://www.seomoz.org/users/profile/78416) answered by saying
Hey Tyler
Google analytics data is not used in anyway in the search ranking algorithm. It's a great thing that your user engagement is up, but it will not benefit you with a better rank on the back of that.
That said, if people are enjoying your site more, it should be easier to generate more links and sharing to get more traffic and hopefully boost your standing in search.
This is worth a watch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cg...
Hope this helps.
Marcus
I was still a little unsure though, so I said
Solid answer man, I really appriciate the youtube link too, gotta love when an answer is chizzled in stone.
I was thinking though..
Google does track data for bouncing back to search for similar queries, and some types of time on site, etc, right?
Do you, or does anyone else know the specifics about the data that Google tracks, in relation to how a user interacts with your site?
-
It did actually. My pages that had the word specifications on them were getting a lot of niche specific traffic for
"(make / model) specifications"
even though we sell
"(make / model) parts."
That little traffic cloud is dwindling, I have considered doing something to at least help those searchers find what they need, since they are likely having an issue finding it.
Well, regardless, it certainly seems like some sort of brand introduction opportunity could be in order, considering we sell parts for those (make / model)s
EGOL you hit the nail on the head there. Those numbers were affecting my site average pretty significantly.
The "specifications" related traffic has dropped -24.7.% average over the last 2 months
While "part(s)" related keywords risen +19.6% over that same two months.
Looks like Google might be paying even more attention to time on site than I thought after all... o_0... ?
-
Right... or... did your traffic change? Traffic quality is strongly related to time-on-site.
-
Unfortunately no one but a Google Engineer does.
Did your site receive a makeover? Often times, after a site change you would see a fluctuation (outside the norm) in time on site (a higher time on site could also indicate a user could not find what they are looking for).
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Why is this page ranking #2?
Hello, I am hoping someone can shed a bit of light on why this page http://www.leveragerx.com/physician-mortgages is ranking #2 for "physician loans"? It isn't optimized for that keyword and PA is only 1, DA is 9. Any insight would be greatly appreciated!
Competitive Research | | myriad_ricardo0 -
At a bit of a loss as to poor rankings
I have a site in the UK, with these metrics: 15 years old 500 pages in sitemap, but Majestic says 186,000 indexed URLs ? DA of 45, PR of 3 1000 links from 200 linking root domains, across from 150 IP's (from OSE) 33,000 links in OSE when I use the compare tool and look at the "links to this root domain" section 24,000 external links according to Majestic 350 shares, 2,000 tweets, 60 +1's Median PA of linking root domains (from OSE export) = 20 no Moz on-page errors, or webmaster tools issues The above metrics are better than 2 competitors who have only just launched, have fewer links, lower DA, etc, and are ranking for keywords like "wedding entertainment", "corporate entertainers" Our site is www.superted.com Why doesn't OSE show 33,000 links when I select "links to this root domain". Why will those links only be shown when I do a domain comparison in OSE? I'm thinking our anchor text distribution is the problem. We have very few links containing the keywords want. Also maybe our sitemap is an issue as it only lists 500 of our pages? But given our domain age, DA, etc... surely anchor text / site map isn't the only issue here? Any hints would be awesome.
Competitive Research | | eatyourveggies0 -
Can deceptive ads help sites to rank? Pogosticking effect involved...
Hello,
Competitive Research | | fablau
I have a question for you. I have noticed that many music sites that appear in the first top results for keywords our users search for, include all the same ads that deceive people by inviting them to "Download" or get the "Full Album" of what people may be search for. Look at the following websites that are often displayed at the first spots for keywords like "Christmas Sheet Music" (just an example): [....] They all have, most of the times, the same ads. Look at the following screenshots taken from the sites above (the ads are at the top of the page): http://www.virtualsheetmusic.com/storage/google/Shot1.jpg
http://www.virtualsheetmusic.com/storage/google/Shot2.jpg Those deceptive ads could engage users more than legitimate websites not showing those ads or not showing ads at all, making Google think that people are more engaged on those website showing those deceptive ads. If it is quality that Google is looking for, shouldn't they do something to avoid having sites ranking well just because of some deceptive ads that take users into action, but without any useful result? I am eager to know your ideas on this issue. Thanks! Fab.0 -
Will changing my domain name from a .co.uk to a .com affect my SEO?
Hi all, The .com for my domain name has become available (I am currently a .co.uk) so I am looking to move over my website to this but first would like double check if this would have any affect on my SEO at all? As a company we mainly target the middle east (Although based in the UK) but at the time of registering years ago the .com was not available. Do I have a 'history' logged with the current .co.uk domain or is my website solely dominated by the content? Also, if I do transfer what would be the easiest way of doing this just changing the DNS to a different location (will there be a duplicate content issue on both domain names?). Thanks in advance!!
Competitive Research | | starydynamo0 -
Is it possible to see how many visitors a competitor has received for any given keyword over a set time period?
Is it possible to see how many visitors a competitor has received for any given keyword over a set time period via either Organic / Paid means? Thanks
Competitive Research | | jaycfc1230070 -
Trying to rank against keyword in domain
I am trying to rank for let's say the keyword "their site" , my competitor has theirsite.com, with next to no seo but are ranking #1 , my site lets say is mysite.com/their-site my site is about the same age and has a PR of 4,their site has a PR of 0 and 2 backlinks, how difficult will it be to get to number 1, am at spot # 5 in google now. Thanks David
Competitive Research | | David750 -
Any chance to out rank Google flight data for company name?
If you search any number with "co" after it you get Continental Airlines flight information of the corresponding number. So you if you search "4co" you get the current flight details for Continental flight 4. Is there any chance if you have a company called 4CO and you own 4co.com that you could get the number one spot for that term or will google flight results always trump the "organic" results? Thanks!
Competitive Research | | 2comarketing0 -
Whats the best way to see why your competitor is out ranking you?
I am trying to rank in the number on position for Part Time CFO. Currently we are in 2nd and 3rd. We have way more quality inbound links then the site in first position, more content etc. How would you go about investigating why they are ahead of us?
Competitive Research | | b2bcfo0