G Algorithm/Ranking Question

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Does G use the same data we see in G-analytics (or any similar program) of how people react when they visit your site as a factor in determining serps?

I'm in the process of consistently building back links to my site to help with ranking, but I also spend a ton of time adding quality content to it. My bounce rate is 20%, users spend an average of 4 minutes on my site, and the pageviews are about 10 times the number of visitors.

I know as far as content goes, my site far surpasses my competitors on the 1st page. Since building backlinks I've gone from 90 to 30 for my target keyword, and I'm wondering if my site activity will help me pass some of my competitors when I reach the 1st page.
#search engine optimization #algorithm #algorithm or ranking #question #ranking
  • Your stats are good, 20% bounce rate is very low, but you need to specifically look at the stats for Google organic search (select it in your Traffic Sources in Analytics). It is the bounce rate that you find in that segment that matters to Google (not your general bounce rate).

    And the answer is yes, Google officially uses user behavior as a small but not unimportant ranking factor.

    About building backlinks, it is usually very easy (trust me!) to go from 90 to 30, and if the keyword is uncompetitive you can advance beyond that too, but don't count on it being easy to make page 1 or the top 5 results. Everything depends on the quality of the links that you get. Such link bottom-feeding techniques as blog commenting, article submission, free directory submission and forum posting get you a certain distance, but then you hit a glass wall and it is hard to advance beyond it. To rank reliably, you need high quality links.

    But since, as you say, you already have great content, perhaps people are already loving it and linking to it and so you don't need any help with links.
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
    • [2] replies
    • Where can we ge quality links? From the sites in our niche that rank well on Google?
      • [2] replies
    • Philip, I've read a lot of your comments and replies since I joined this forum and you seem to really know what you're talking about when it comes to SEO. Thank you for being so helpful (and I just added to your "thanks" tally). As far as building back links goes, I'm mainly using SEOLV for article submissions. Are you saying that if I don't get any other high-quality back links I wont be able to advance to the first page??

      My website is focused on a niche real estate market in Texas, and as far as I can see my 1st page competitors don't have much going for them, other than the fact that they've been on the web longer than me. They only have about 130 backlinks, they have PRs of 2 - 3 (I still have 0), but their website structure, content, etc is crap. Let's just say that if my site was ranking in the top 5 next to theirs we probably end up getting the majority of the leads - because we are the authority when it comes to product knowledge.

      I don't know if I've posted enough to PM anyone yet, but I'd really like to talk with you 1 on 1 if you have a minute. I have some ideas for getting higher pr backlinks, building link wheels, etc, but I want to run them by someone before wasting a ton of time.
      • [1] reply
  • There is proof that Google is utilizing bounce rate metrics in various points of the algo, infact M.Cutts just admitted to it in a panel at a conference I was just at, What they are saying is that they still wont use your own GA data against you...

    Truthfully this should not be all that surprising as the caff algo update has the ability to process data much more quickly ( like 100 times quicker is the rumor ), a bounce rate would be a very useful metric for user relevance on Googles part, this should also be tied to keyword specific searches which make it even more interesting when you incorporate local search metrics, we are doing some pretty powerful testing on this right now, and I believe Rand Fishkan is aswell.. Will update our finding over the next few months.

    Bottom line keep user relevance in mind with every thing your doing right now, it will be worth the effort.

    Regards

    Marc
  • I hate to sound like a n00b but what do you guys mean by bounce rate?
    • [1] reply
    • Bounce rate shows the % of people who visit your site and leave without clicking on any other links within your site. The lower your bounce rate the better.
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    G Algorithm/Ranking Question

    Does G use the same data we see in G-analytics (or any similar program) of how people react when they visit your site as a factor in determining serps? I'm in the process of consistently building back links to my site to help with ranking, but I also spend a ton of time adding quality content to it. My bounce rate is 20%, users spend an average of 4 minutes on my site, and the pageviews are about 10 times the number of visitors.