Content and Customer Engagement Are the Core of Internet Marketing
While only the people who work at places like Google and Bing know the algorithms (the weights given to all of the factors about your site), one thing is certain: those algorithms change considerably and often (hundreds of ranking factors get updated 500 to 600 times a year!), so don’t just follow trends. Do things that will be good for your site and visitors long-term. Add unique value to the web. That is what will make your marketing safer and less susceptible to the whims of search sites like Google.
Google is said to track how many people click your links from the results pages and how long people stay on your site. Throw in all of the other weighting factors and you can see why engaging and then converting people on your site has become so valuable.
So if people leave quickly once they get to your site (known as a high bounce rate) because you’re not offering them anything of value, it may affect how Google values you, and ultimately affect your organic rankings. Why? Because it is the job of a search engine to send searchers to the most relevant web page.
Some people call it pogo-sticking when a user clicks to a site from the Google search results page and then hits the “back” button. Google likely looks at this behavior when deciding whether or not to rank you well. Ideally, users should not only stay a long time on your site and not hit the “back” button, but they should also take some form of conversion action like filling out a form or buying from your shopping cart. The smartest website owners have come to the conclusion that keeping new visitors on their pages is incredibly valuable, possibly even for rankings. That’s why you see so many videos, polls, and even engaging games on home pages these days. These are potentially strong signals to Google that you are worth ranking highly to give their users a good experience. Long-term, you need a site that looks great, engages visitors, and has valuable content that people will naturally want to share with others. Whether you get traffic from pay per click or the free results, repeat visitors who are satisfied visitors can make a big difference. The best way to build a bigger and better site is to start by knowing your current situation and developing an integrated strategy around your objectives.
How does your strategy give Google what it wants?
Leave a Comment!