Is it true that site traffic plays a role in SEO Rankings Now?

[Brad Spencer]

Hey Warriors,

Subject line is the question...

"Does Site Traffic Improve or Change SERP rankings?"

Also, if this is true, how does Google know how much traffic you're getting
if you don't use their Google Analytics program?

Thanks for your time in replying!

Much appreciated.

Cheers,

Brad

[KristofferIM]

What makes you believe that this might be the case in the first place?

[mattlaclear]

New sites would never rank if that were true.

[smwordsmith]

Yes, it is true. The "People's Choice" does count in your sites SERP ranking. Google tracks how many visitors go to your site and how long they stay- with or without Google Analytics because it is done with the Google search tool- if your visitor gets there via a Google search.

Alexa does something similar, doesn't it, in ranking websites?

[iphonesupport]

yes its true traffic increase your ranking

[Marco Lee]

Hmmm well there maybe a correlation. Of course more traffic could mean more people who "may" want to linkback. More linkbacks may mean more google juice and much better in the eyes of the search engines

[webhostingrvw]

yes i am also noticing it is a factor. Further google also track location of visitors. if visitors come from a particular country, google will think your site is related to that country and as a result your site will rank higher in that country.

[faysal969]

Like other I also tell you, traffic is a very important fact for ranking your site. Google knows about your traffic because they send you traffic. For a particular key word they monitor peoples test.

[jonnyhardbaked]

I think it's true (in a way). Because if your visitor liked your site, there is a chance that he/she might link to your site.

[Brad Spencer]

Originally Posted by KristofferIM

What makes you believe that this might be the case in the first place?

I've read it in multiple places from people I know that's why...just confirming and trying to get expert SEO opinions ya know...

Thanks buddy!

Brad

[simonbuzz]

Recently I studied about this matter cause I was asked the same question from my students...and now I got this:

This is true that google now check how many visitor a site is getting and what kind of visitor and how many countries are the visitor coming from...

But it is not a big issue...cause I have sites that are only 6 days old are ranking...for some low comp keywords...

So the answer is that it's true that Google tracks this information to rank sites...And there is nothing to worry about it cause already there are new sites that are ranking well...I hope you find you answer...cheers

[webhostingrvw]

Originally Posted by mattlaclear

New sites would never rank if that were true.

it is 1 of the factors. we are not claiming it is the only factor.

[zerofill]

Originally Posted by Brad Spencer

Hey Warriors,

Also, if this is true, how does Google know how much traffic you're getting
if you don't use their Google Analytics program?

Have any idea how many toolbars etc the average user's browser has installed? lol... How many people do you know actually look when they are installing something to take the checkbox off for the ask toolbar, google toolbar, install chrome browser, alexa toolbar, etc?

What people do, how they surf, what they look for, trends...

That data is big money...

And yes... popularity of a site based on information they can obtain about the volume of visitors and popularity can very much make a difference in where you rank.

We've manipulated our way up the serps via traffic when we were stuck in a spot multiple times in the past.

[dadamson]

Yes, traffic plays a huge part in rankings. Make sure you optimize your meta tags, this is your advertising box guys!!

Appealing meta tags = more visitors = better rankings

Of course, backlinks play the largest part in ranking but don't underestimate the traffic, if people choose to go to your site Google will want to rank you higher.

For those people who are saying "well if this is the case, how are new sites supposed to rank". My thoughts would be that the G's algorithms would have something in place to measure the ratio between site age:site visits.

Everything is relative.

[Stuart william]

Originally Posted by [LEFT

jabx[/LEFT]123;3709730]Ranking depends on the links.So, as much as you have links from the other site, it helps in increasing the rank.So that, if more people will come to your site,then, Google increases its priority and helps in increasing the rank.

Through generating backlinks you can get good serp and if you are getting good serp then you will get visitors.

[StoneWilson]

Lol~ you've wrote the answer there, "how does Google know how much traffic you're getting if you don't use their Google Analytics program?" Apparently they can't, so it's not true.

[alcymart]

I tend to believe it does play a role after some observation

[businesswarrior121]

of course Site Traffic Improve or Change SERP rankings.

when your contents and site are very much attractive, then many fans of your site could link it to their sites. Google can also find it when any person search your site through Google search Engine.

from my personal opinion i also think when you do SEO works for your site, then Google can also track visitors. like from backlinking, article submission, directory submission etc.

i think it is better to use oogle Analytics program

thanks

[tskailey]

Definitely, yes. Traffic helps you get the rank for your site. The more traffic you have, the more visitors are viewing your website. This will help your website to be on top of Google or other major search engines as Google can detect if people are viewing your site.

[caseyscreen]

Yes of course it is playing nice role but it should be organic traffic.

[JuanBangkok]

Originally Posted by webhostingrvw

yes i am also noticing it is a factor. Further google also track location of visitors. if visitors come from a particular country, google will think your site is related to that country and as a result your site will rank higher in that country.

I fully agree with this. I've a site in Spanish in Spain and for some reason more than 80% of traffic comes from that country. All South America is almost completely ignored - and there are 10x more people there! It's frustrating.

[William King]

I think it is one of the factor among the 200 factors of rankings of Google. But it is an organic process as soon as your site will start getting high ranks it will also getting more traffic although you do not need a huge amount of traffic. I have noticed some sites which have only 500 visitors per month ranking on the 1st and 2nd page of the highly competitive keyword.