Overall site traffic - 3 quick questions
-
3 things :
1. Does Google factor in overall site traffic in rankings? So for 2 sites, all other things being pretty much equal, the one with higher traffic will be listed higher?
2. Does this logically imply that sites with lower traffic overall face an uphill struggle to be ranked highly???
3. As an extension to this, would it be true to say that by increasing site traffic, say with Google Adwords or other online or offiline or whatever advertising, that might help get higher SEO rankings???
Thanks so much for your responses. This forum is great!
-
Well explained. Traffic increasing SEO is definitely an indirect result of the higher activity a site increases - as long as it's quality traffic.
To elaborate on what Ryan said, if you're going to adversite, make sure it's going to be high quality traffic that is going to want to interact with your site. Traffic alone won't help. It has to be suited to your audience so they'll like, share, talk about your site, etc.
That's what is going to help you win the uphill battle.
-
Does Google factor in overall site traffic in rankings?
No. Alexa ranks for traffic. Google ranks are based on over 200 factors including relevance to search, quality of content and community support (i.e. links, social sharing, etc).
Indirectly speaking, sites with higher traffic have their content viewed more. If the content is popular or well presented, then visitors are likely to either link to it or share it in facebook, twitter, etc. Google ranks are affected by those activities.
Does this logically imply that sites with lower traffic overall face an uphill struggle to be ranked highly?
It is always a struggle to rank higher. Good SEO tactics combined with quality web design and great content will help you climb the ranks over time.
By increasing site traffic, say with Google Adwords or other online or offiline or whatever advertising, that might help get higher SEO rankings?
Here is the catch. Let's say you start a new site with great content and a desired product. You use television ads, Adwords, or other means to get a million visitors to your site. What's next?
If those visitors then link to your content, spam their social networks, etc. then those activities will help your rankings. On the other hand, if those visitors don't like what they see and leave your site, then your rankings will remain unchanged.
The summary answer to your questions is: increased activity offers you the OPPORTUNITY to earn better rankings, but does not help you rank higher directly.
-
1. Does Google factor in overall site traffic in rankings? So for 2 sites, all other things being pretty much equal, the one with higher traffic will be listed higher?
I have not heard that google will give you higher positions for having higher traffic. HOWEVER, with personalized search turned on, if a searcher has visited your site before it might receive a higher position in a SERP.
**2. Does this logically imply that sites with lower traffic overall face an uphill struggle to be ranked highly??? **
Holding the high ground is always valuable. If you have a site with a LOT of traffic that is a LOT more people who might link to you, like you, tweet about you, etc. The site with the high traffic has a huge advantage. Some sites receive thousands of likes and tweets, etc every day!
3. As an extension to this, would it be true to say that by increasing site traffic, say with Google Adwords or other online or offiline or whatever advertising, that might help get higher SEO rankings???
I don't think that traffic flowing into your site through these other routes has a direct impact on your rankings. However, as mentioned above it is a higher population of people who might link, like, tweet, etc.
You mention "offline"..... if those people type "yourdomain.com" into the google search box or toolbar then that will signal google that people are "asking for you by name". I think that these domain queries have enormous value. I've never heard anyone from google say that they are kickass or any SEOs saying that they tested, but I would bet that they count for a lot.
-
Hi there,
As far as we can tell traffic doesn't effect the rankings, something to watch for though is the bounce rate- if two sites have the same levels of traffic, but one has a lower bounce rate, generally the site will rank better.
-
I don't think site traffic has a bearing in the algo at all. It would be too easy to spam.
I don't think anyone has found a connection with using Adwords contributing to their SEO in any way.
Of course, if a site has a great backlink profile it's going to rank higher for more terms and GET more traffic...but that's a result of a good quality site and good SEO, not the cause of the good rankings.
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
-
Same spam traffic coming from two different sources
This week we did two big email sends from completely separate sources and separate lists. However, in GA I see spam traffic coming from the same city and the same service provider when I look at the report for each source. Screenshots attached. I'm hoping someone can help me understand what I'm looking at and what I should do in the future to prevent. Thanks! g9NTZ5z X5WhYnf
Reporting & Analytics | | eGInnovations0 -
How to configure multilingual site in google analytic? Currently showing in Referral Traffic why?
Hello All, Currently my Multilingual site is showing in referral traffic is it because I have not added hreflang tag on site? If yes and if I add the hreflang tag on all sites when where it will show in google analytic traffic from international sites? And what type of configuration required in analytic? Thanks!
Reporting & Analytics | | pragnesh96390 -
Google Analytics Question - Impressions & Queries Up, Sessions Down
I'm working with a client who, according to the Google Query report, impressions and sessions are up since we've started work with them about 6 months ago, but Google sessions are down. In moz, we're seeing a gradual, but steady increase in search visibility specifically with Google. Note: this is all organic. From when we started tracking queries, the first month we were tracking there were 43,581 impressions and 690 click throughs for the month. This past month there were 98,293 queries and 1015 clicks throughs for the month (granted not year over year data) - of these 1,015 clicks, 995 of them were from web. However, for those same time periods, sessions from Google are down over 30% - 1,750 vs. 1,189. I'm not sure how to interpret this. I realize that clicks and sessions are not a straightforward comparison, but I would think that if clicks were up according to the query report that sessions would also be up. Is it that some of these clicks are bouncing and therefore not being tracked as a session? Is there a potential issue with how data is being tracked?
Reporting & Analytics | | Corporate_Communications0 -
Getting google impressions for a site not in the index...
Hi all Wondering if i could pick the brains of those wise than myself... my client has an https website with tons of pages indexed and all ranking well, however somehow they managed to also set their server up so that non https versions of the pages were getting indexed and thus we had the same page indexed twice in the engine but on slightly different urls (it uses a cms so all the internal links are relative too). The non https is mainly used as a dev testing environment. Upon seeing this we did a google remove request in WMT, and added noindex in the robots and that saw the index pages drop over night. See image 1. However, the site still appears to getting return for a couple of 100 searches a day! The main site gets about 25,000 impressions so it's way down but i'm puzzled as to how a site which has been blocked can appear for that many searches and if we are still liable for duplicate content issues. Any thoughts are most welcome. Sorry, I am unable to share the site name i'm afraid. Client is very strict on this. Thanks, Carl image1.png
Reporting & Analytics | | carl_daedricdigital0 -
May last year my sites orgainic listings, and therfore visitors, plumeted. Why?
Hello, May last year my site took a major fall. I am unsure why, and it's time I found out why. Recently I have rebuilt the site from scratch, except for the urls and content, and it's starting to turn back. What is the best method to go about understanding just what caused the decline? What are the options I have? See the image for a graph of the all-time traffic. http://i.imgur.com/uL93yPj.png My website in question is: www.ditalia.com.au Thanks. uL93yPj.png
Reporting & Analytics | | infinart0 -
Question about setting up Google Webmaster on Network Solutions?
I'm trying to set myself up as a Webmaster on my company's site. We use Network Solutions. I am following Google's directions on how to do this. However, I am a bit wary. Here are the directions. Underlined is the part I am having trouble with: Log in to your account for howlatthemoon.com at www.networksolutions.com by clicking theManage Account icon. In the left navigation bar, open the nsWebAddress (Domains) menu by clicking the **+ **icon. Click Manage Domain Names. On the Domain Details page for the domain you're using, select the Designated DNS radio button (to the right of Change domain to point to) and click the Apply Changes button. If you've previously modified your advanced DNS settings, click Edit (to the right ofDomain currently points to). Under the Advanced DNS Manager heading, click Manage Advanced DNS Records. Under the Text (TXT Records) heading, click Add/Edit. In the Host field, enter @. Leave the TTL field set to the default value. In the Text field, copy and paste the following unique security token:
Reporting & Analytics | | howlusa
(security token removed for obvious reasons) Click Continue. Review your changes and click Save Changes. When you've done saving the TXT record, click the Verify button below on this page. There is already a host of @ (None). The text for it reads: v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~all I called Network Solutions and the guy I was speaking with told me to delete it and replace it with my Google Webmasters code. However, I think this is setting up our email. Do I just add the Webmasters in and have two hosts of @ (None)? Thanks!0 -
How to find out which URLs are NOT indexed on a site
Is there a way to easily find out which URLs on a store-type site are NOT being indexed in Google? For example, if my sitemap information in Google Webmaster tools shows I have 7342 URLs in my sitemap and 5699 of those indexed, how do I find out what the 1643 non-indexed URLS are? Thanks for any help!
Reporting & Analytics | | GregWalt0 -
How would you measure the SEO success of new site launch?
It has been 12 months, and it is time for some serious SEO reality check up. I think we have done some really nice things (social integration, on page optimization etc) but we honestly could do a million time better on some other elements (anchor, text, link building etc...). Would love to hear from the community what would be the top 10 criteria you would use to judge the quality of the SEO work done for a new site during is first 12 months. PS: we are a very content rich over 1,500 new articles/post in our niche with 12 months - our site is migraine.com Thanks
Reporting & Analytics | | OlivierChateau0