SEO Tycoon

**SEOvB** · 10-05-2008, 06:22 PM

Does your site bounce rate effect your search engine rankings? It seems our bounce rate is going lower and lower, and our serps and positioning are going higher and higher?

**chrishirst** · 10-05-2008, 09:27 PM

Nope.

**lightningfast** · 10-06-2008, 07:49 AM

The bounce rate doesn't effect your rankings. It might be some other factors which are really affecting the rankings.

**hirewriters** · 10-07-2008, 09:20 AM

Somehow I belv that it does effect rankings (google SERPS). Though google doesnot clearly document this, but they say they evaluate more than 200 points to rank a website. If I were to make ranking algorithm I would have surely checked this point. It makes sense. If a person searched for "freelance writers" and found a site at number one position and clicked it, but found it not quite relevant to what he was looking, he will go away. If this is a frequent behaviour then the alarm bells shud ring.

**chrishirst** · 10-07-2008, 03:34 PM

so what you are saying then is;

if you don't want the site currently there to remain there, (because it's not yours) you should be able to click in and out of it a few hundred times and get it pushed down the page.

**juliensimon** · 10-07-2008, 03:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrishirst

so what you are saying then is;

if you don't want the site currently there to remain there, (because it's not yours) you should be able to click in and out of it a few hundred times and get it pushed down the page.

Yes, because the alarm bell shud ring.

**princess06** · 10-08-2008, 02:37 AM

i don't think so.. Bounce rate has no connection with rankings.

**TheRazor** · 01:58 PM

YES. IT DOES.

People that say it doesn't should really get in a SEO expert course or something.

The Fact is: Google I know for sure, the other SE I'm not sure. But Google will analyse how the users (on google search) interact with the results.

Shh don't tell anyone this ok... But Google will increase the SERPS of sites with higher CTR.
And if the visitors click to get in the site and stay less than 3 - 5 seconds google will penalyse the SERP of that page and expecially for that keyword or set of keywords.

I am 100% backed up with some test I ran some time ago.

Regards,
TheRazor
< self promo removed >

**chrishirst** · 10-10-2008, 02:04 PM

Sometimes I wonder who it is that makes these things up!! maybe we just found out!

Quote:

Shh don't tell anyone this ok... But Google will increase the SERPS of sites with higher CTR.

A very very simple application of common sense and logic will tell you this is blatantly incorrect.

IF this were the case then any site currently on page 2 or page 3 of any given results page could NEVER EVER go beyond that position because it will never get enough clicks.

Now if you were talking about the CTR of adwords adverts that would be a whole different ball game, because the CTR does affect the ad position.

**TheRazor** · 10-10-2008, 02:19 PM

Man I really don't like to offend people but are you OK?

Because I'm not sure what is your knowledge on SEO but the Google's algorithm has lot's of variants. And the CTR and Bounce Rate are in those variables. I can assure you that.

And one more thing that google sees is the last time a page was updated, AND YES, the updated pages will have a better ranking than the ones that don't update overtime. And NO I'm not saying that all the pages that are never updated are less ranked than all the updated ones. Because Like I said... "There are lot's of variables google takes in consideration".

Regards,
TheRazor

**Learning Newbie** · 10-10-2008, 03:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SEOvB

Does your site bounce rate effect your search engine rankings? It seems our bounce rate is going lower and lower, and our serps and positioning are going higher and higher?

It's getting colder outside, and my search rankings are improving. Ergo, winter improves your SERPs. As we've learned from science, when two things close to the same time, one of them has to have caused the other. Correlation == causation.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheRazor

People that say it doesn't should really get in a SEO expert course or something.

Taught by a shaved gorilla, no doubt. Anyone who calls themselves an SEO Expert should never be listened to.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheRazor

Because I'm not sure what is your knowledge on SEO but the Google's algorithm has lot's of variants. And the CTR and Bounce Rate are in those variables. I can assure you that.

How can you assure us of this? What are you basing this guess on? I'm pretty certain you're not breaking a nondisclosure agreement from your employment at Google, so without access to the ranking algorithm, what data are you basing your conclusions on?

**wayfarer07** · 10-10-2008, 03:27 PM

http://www.webmaster-talk.com/seo-ta...n-contest.html

**juliensimon** · 10-10-2008, 05:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheRazor

YES. IT DOES.

People that say it doesn't should really get in a SEO expert course or something.

The Fact is: Google I know for sure, the other SE I'm not sure. But Google will analyse how the users (on google search) interact with the results.

Shh don't tell anyone this ok... But Google will increase the SERPS of sites with higher CTR.
And if the visitors click to get in the site and stay less than 3 - 5 seconds google will penalyse the SERP of that page and expecially for that keyword or set of keywords.

I am 100% backed up with some test I ran some time ago.

Regards,
TheRazor
< self promo removed >

Please share, SEO expert. I believe all of us are all ears as none of us apparently know what we are talking about.

**chrishirst** · 10-10-2008, 06:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheRazor

Because I'm not sure what is your knowledge on SEO but the Google's algorithm has lot's of variants. And the CTR and Bounce Rate are in those variables. I can assure you that.

Lets put you right on a few REAL facts NOT half baked supposition.
"Bounce rate" absolutely CANNOT be part of any algorithm at all. There is ABSOLUTELY no mechanism in the HTTP protocol where a search engine can tell if a visitor left ANY page immediately after clicking through. Even the Google toolbar doesn't report such activity.
They CANNOT tell if someone clicked the back button and returned to the results page. The "back" button pulls a page from the browser cache it DOES NOT requery the SERP.
They CANNOT tell if the browser was closed immediately after clicking through.
Once a User Agent has left the Google page any tracking that was in place is ended.

CTR Click Through Rate is too easily manipulated to be a viable ranking system, sure directories do it in a bid to wangle more money out the the unsuspecting ~~marks~~ webmasters and I wonder who does most of the clicking?

But why should Google go down the Alexa route and have something that makes their results vunerable to anybody who can write a software agent that can fake clicks?
Just because they own a patent to something doesn't mean they must be using it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheRazor

And one more thing that google sees is the last time a page was updated, AND YES, the updated pages will have a better ranking than the ones that don't update overtime. And NO I'm not saying that all the pages that are never updated are less ranked than all the updated ones. Because Like I said... "There are lot's of variables google takes in consideration".

Please, give it up with this dross.

http://www.google.com/search?q=hyper...+search+engine
Most of those pages have not been "updated" in over 10 yes that's TEN years they are still there.

**TheRazor** · 10-10-2008, 07:30 PM

1º: I don't say I'm a SEO Expert.

2º hypertextual search engine. Well I think that's pretty much self explanatory, being only little over 55k results for it obviously its a dead term, and obviously google will not deindex those pages. And no new pages are being created focusing on that Term.
And even if they where, like I said there are lot's of variables to it.

3º NOPE, you got that right, I don't work at google. And how do you learn this stuff, here's the magical answer. By TESTING.

Testing is the only thing you can do to find out what works and what doesn't.

**juliensimon** · 10-10-2008, 07:51 PM

AGAIN. please share the results of your test that shows the correlation between bounce rate and rankings.

As Chris already said:

"if you don't want the site currently there to remain there, (because it's not yours) you should be able to click in and out of it a few hundred times and get it pushed down the page."

How would that be allowed by search engines?

**theguru** · 10-10-2008, 11:23 PM

Not directly but if your content sucks and you have a bounce rate of 99% then nobody will be spreading the word about your website, and therefore it will only be a representation of your personal efforts.

**TheRazor** · 10-11-2008, 05:31 AM

Have you never been stoped by google and asked to input a Catcha before?

That's because Google do gather the IP's of the users and they know how many people are searching for what. So obviously, if there are 100 diferent persons a day searching for a Term, and you are just one more doing so, and you are the one making all the boucing, obviously google will not give you any credit.

**chrishirst** · 10-11-2008, 08:08 AM

Ok you have officially lost any credibility you might have had with that one.

I have to say I have never been stopped by a "CAPTCHA" with any Google query. It exists (apparently) to stop repeated or automatic querying of the Google index. It will NOT detect the back button being used.
So that's another of your theories blown out of the water using common sense.

**thedigger** · 10-11-2008, 08:11 AM

Bounce rate and ranking are not related to each other.