Is a New Visits ratio of 39% a really bad thing?

[SoundinTheory]

I do a lot of work for a large estate agency based almost solely in London. They get a considerable amount of traffc and all other stats, on the whole, are always positive. The only thing that is decreasing regularly is the percentage of new traffic.

My understanding of user behaviour for this market is that no one in their right mind would make an enquiry or arrange a booking without a) looking at the property at least twice themeselves (once to before the enquiry and once before a viewing) and b) more than likely show a partner. Plus the site is well laid out and useful so I believe users are favouring our site over the comparison sites.

So  questions:

1. Should I be panicing

2. What is the most efficent way of increasing new visits?

Things to note:

The HTML titles throughout the site are a bit of a mess - key word rich but too long and inconsistent. Could this be a contributing factor to the CTR?

Also in the past month we appeared in over 4k different queries but our non branded impressions are down 22%. Could more concise, less keyword stuffed HTML titles help this? Do I need to look at the page titles to ensure that they contain the exact phrases that are in decline?

Any help will be greatly appreciated!

[SoundinTheory]

Many thanks! I have tried with custom segments in the past but got confused and gave up. In doing this it has helped me clarify how I evaluate the data.

My keyword ranking have dropped and it is the perfect incentive to give them a kick up the behind to right some new content! I will also talk to them about a link building budget as currently their investment is far too low for a site of this size.

Thanks again for your help very much appreciated.

[TomRayner]

I don't think a decreasing new visits ratio is a bad thing.  One might be able to spin it as a good thing.

Are you viewing this traffic as a whole?  Because if so, it may not be an accurate representation.  From the sounds of it, this is a big brand that you're working for.  As such, a lot of your traffic is likely to come through branded terms.  A decreasing new visits ratio for branded terms is not a bad thing - if anything, an increase in traffic and returning visitors would show that the brand is being trusted.  In the real estate industry, this could mean that people are liking the listings on your site and are revisiting on a regular basis.

First thing I would do would be to set up some custom segments in Analytics (if this is what you're using, apologies if not).  They're quite simple to do.  I would set up 3 segments for organic search: brand, non-brand and not provided.

In your dashboard, click advanced segments and then the new custom segment button. Starting with brand, start with a "Include: Keyword" variable and type in your brand name.  I'd add a couple of "OR" variables too, such as mispellings of the brand or nicknames/short names it has.  Then insert an "AND" statement and select "medium", typing in organic in the field.  You now have a segment of organic traffic purely for brand keywords.

For non-brand, do exactly the same, except for instead of "including" the brand keywords, you "exclude" them.  I'd also exclude [not provided], add that as an "OR" variable.

For not provided itself, it's very simple - you just need one "Include:keyword" variable, at which point you type in [not provided].

With these 3 segments, you'll be able to see the new visitor rate of each one.  I think this would give a more accurate representation of things.  As mentioned earlier, I don't think a decreasing new visitor rate for brand traffic is a bad thing at all.  For your non-brand keywords, a decreasing rate may suggest a decrease in your SEO visbility for some keywords.  Sounds like you might be suspecting this to be the case.  However, again, if traffic was still increasing I wouldn't be too worried.  But a decreasing new visitor rate for non-brand search is perhaps more of a worry than brand search, so it's important to segment the traffic (in my opinion).

I think title tags do have a decent part in contributing click through rate, as does the meta description.  I think it would be wise to clean these up and optimise them if you think they could be improved.  Having said that, if impressions are down by 22%, it's probably your visibility that's affected, not the CTR.

Have you been monitoring your keyword rankings.  Watching rankings every day can make you go a bit crazy, but it's a great indication of what your SEO visibility would be, which in turn is one of the best ways of getting new visits to your site.  You're always going to rank #1 for your brand, so capturing new visits for people searching for london estate agents and similar search terms is what you can influence most.  Optimising titles and meta descriptions is a good start, as well as increasing the rankings for some of the terms that offer the most impressions and are related to the business.  Off-page factors are equally a big part in increasing this visibility.  Not sure what your marketing/link-building strategy is at the moment, but I'd look to do more of that to increase your rankings in tandem with the on-page factors.

Hope this helps!

[trickshotric]

I don't think 39% is a big issue especially in an industry where repeat views are necessary.

One of our websites sells cheap portable ramps and has a high percentage of new visitors, due to the fact that there is no reason to come back (they either buy or don't buy).

Another of our sites sells expensive vintage furniture and has a very low percentage of new visitors. There is far more time spent on the buying process, there are also many visits from interior designers who always come back.

I always think that it is dangerous to look at percentages (especially on low traffic figures). For example if you increase the amount of your new visitors the amount of repeat viewers should also increase therefore your 39% may well stay the same (despite the obvious traffic improvement). Look to increase traffic not percentages.

PPC is a good way to get people to your site. You can advertise on words that people don't currently type in to get to your site, this could cut down on repeat viewers clicking on your adverts.

As to why your rankings have dropped can't comment until you post the site!