SEO Tycoon

**bigcat1967** · 03-11-2010, 12:54 PM

I have one of my own sites that I believe is being messed with.

This particular site is in a competitive niche and I am on the first page (#3). My bounce rate is around 30% and people stay on my site for an average of 4 - 5 minutes. However, the last week, I've noticed on my GA (Google Analytics) that my traffic has gone through the roof and my bounce rate has risen to about 80%. I then dropped in the SERPs by two posiltions.

What I'm afraid is that someone has targeted me and going to my index page and leaving very quickly. However, I wouldn't mind that, but if seems like it has effected my ranking in the SERPs. Is this possible???

Also - other questions...
1) My first question is - how can I find out if these are bots (though bots can't read javascript (the GA code snippit) so I'm thinking it can't be them (unless someone has made a bot to read JS)).

2) Also - on GA, do they have a log-file analytics where I can see the IP addresses coming through? - possibly to see if they are the same IP addresses that's staying on one page and leaving (that way I believe I can get Google Analytics not to count them).

3) If GA does have a log-file analytics - is there a way to find out if someone is using proxies to do this in order to mask their real IP?

4) Anyway in the world that there is a possibility of suing whoever these scumbags are if I find out (I know - the chances are probably none).

**chrishirst** · 03-11-2010, 01:06 PM

"bounce" rate makes absolutely no difference to positions. and moving "two positions" isn't "dropping", that's just normal fluctuations.

**ThailandForum** · 03-11-2010, 01:18 PM

Could be someone pinging you with host-tracker to make it look like your getting loads of bounces, you can check here to see if a ip maybe used as a proxy whatismyipaddress.com/staticpages/index.php/lookup-ip

**VirtuosiMedia** · 03-11-2010, 03:16 PM

More likely than not, Google began testing putting you at a high ranking for a good keyword, making your traffic spike. People coming from that keyword either didn't find what they were looking for or they found it quickly. Another option is that you got linked to from a social media site which typically has high bounce rates.

I doubt someone is messing with your website. If they were, it wouldn't be by giving you a high bounce rate. Google doesn't provide IP information through Analytics, you would need to get that info from your hosting provider. Rather than looking for someone to sue, however, I'd suggest trying to make use of the extra traffic. Figure out what page they're landing on and what the keywords are that they're reaching that page from. Try to figure out their mindset and how they would view your page. React accordingly.

**bigcat1967** · 03-11-2010, 04:39 PM

Thanks guys for the info. I do appreciate it.

Will be taking your advice.

**oneims** · 03-13-2010, 09:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrishirst

"bounce" rate makes absolutely no difference to positions. and moving "two positions" isn't "dropping", that's just normal fluctuations.

What is bounce rate and how does it affect a website?

Maybe the moving in the position is just cause by Google dance.

**Social-Media** · 03-13-2010, 10:12 PM

As ChrisHirst said, bounce rate doesn't affect your rankings. However, Google has begun doing a LOT of personlization even for people not logged in.

This means that if you search for the same phrase over and over but don't click thru to site X in the SERPs, Google will eventually replace site X with a different site... trying to show you something that you might be interested in clicking on.

Personalization is going to start making it very difficult to know exactly how you rank, unless you're using tools to pull ranks that cannot be "personalized" because they cannot be cookied, etc.

**webservices4in** · 03-15-2010, 07:49 AM

verify that your website ip is not in black list.............if it is then remove it................this may be the reason.........

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigcat1967

I have one of my own sites that I believe is being messed with.

This particular site is in a competitive niche and I am on the first page (#3). My bounce rate is around 30% and people stay on my site for an average of 4 - 5 minutes. However, the last week, I've noticed on my GA (Google Analytics) that my traffic has gone through the roof and my bounce rate has risen to about 80%. I then dropped in the SERPs by two posiltions.

What I'm afraid is that someone has targeted me and going to my index page and leaving very quickly. However, I wouldn't mind that, but if seems like it has effected my ranking in the SERPs. Is this possible???

Also - other questions...
1) My first question is - how can I find out if these are bots (though bots can't read javascript (the GA code snippit) so I'm thinking it can't be them (unless someone has made a bot to read JS)).

2) Also - on GA, do they have a log-file analytics where I can see the IP addresses coming through? - possibly to see if they are the same IP addresses that's staying on one page and leaving (that way I believe I can get Google Analytics not to count them).

3) If GA does have a log-file analytics - is there a way to find out if someone is using proxies to do this in order to mask their real IP?

4) Anyway in the world that there is a possibility of suing whoever these scumbags are if I find out (I know - the chances are probably none).

**francis84** · 03-16-2010, 12:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigcat1967

I have one of my own sites that I believe is being messed with.

This particular site is in a competitive niche and I am on the first page (#3). My bounce rate is around 30% and people stay on my site for an average of 4 - 5 minutes. However, the last week, I've noticed on my GA (Google Analytics) that my traffic has gone through the roof and my bounce rate has risen to about 80%. I then dropped in the SERPs by two posiltions.

What I'm afraid is that someone has targeted me and going to my index page and leaving very quickly. However, I wouldn't mind that, but if seems like it has effected my ranking in the SERPs. Is this possible???

Also - other questions...
1) My first question is - how can I find out if these are bots (though bots can't read javascript (the GA code snippit) so I'm thinking it can't be them (unless someone has made a bot to read JS)).

2) Also - on GA, do they have a log-file analytics where I can see the IP addresses coming through? - possibly to see if they are the same IP addresses that's staying on one page and leaving (that way I believe I can get Google Analytics not to count them).

3) If GA does have a log-file analytics - is there a way to find out if someone is using proxies to do this in order to mask their real IP?

4) Anyway in the world that there is a possibility of suing whoever these scumbags are if I find out (I know - the chances are probably none).

I think you are just panicking so much. If it last for 1 - 2 weeks, that is the time you must be alerted.