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12.23.08 The Nine Common Misgivings Of Bounce Rates  By David Leonhardt Of late there has been a lot of discussion about bounce rates and whether or not the search engines count these in their algorithms. A few days ago I posted some pros and cons on this issue. Today I would like to share with you 9 common objections I have seen to using bounce rates as part of the search engine algorithms, and refute 8 of those. As far back as late 2007, there were reports that webmasters were seeing a difference in their rankings for major keywords within a few weeks of drastically changing their bounce rates. However, none of the tests and reports seem to be complete enough or repeatable enough to constitute "proof". As a result, there are plenty of naysayers who believe that such things as bounce rates are not now and probably never will be part of the search engine algorithms. I am of the opposite view; bounce rates will certainly be a major part of search engine algorithms and probably already are to some degree. That is in large part - but not completely - the premise behind Sticky SEO. Let us not forget that Microsoft has been spending a fair amount of energy on what has been called BrowseRank, which is in part based on bounce rates. Objection 1, there is no definition of "bounce rate". Response. This is the flimsiest of arguments. A bounce is when someone leaves a website, going back where they came from. Objection 2, I don't like how Google Analytics defines a bounce. Response. Sadly, Google doesn't ask me for advice, either. But cheer up, the bounce rate in Google Analytics might not be the same as they use in their algorithm, just as the little green bar is not necessarily the PageRank they use in their algorithm.
Objection 3, many sites don't have Google Analytics turned on, so Google would have very incomplete data. Response (scratching my head in confusion). What does Google Analytics have to do with anything? This is about Google (or Yahoo, or MSN, or Ask, or some other) tracking their own traffic and how their own users move about and - most importantly - how their users return to their website. Objection 4, what is the threshold for a bounce? After 5 seconds? After 10 second? After 15 seconds? This is a mess! (This is often part of the how-do-we-define-a-bounce debate.) Response. A bounce is a bounce, whether it takes a person one second or one hour to bounce back, it is a bounce. How the search engines choose to treat bounces with varying lag times is another matter. Let's be clear; they won't tell you, just as they won't tell you how many links on a page they index, how many they follow and how many they count in their ranking algorithms. Furthermore, it is a moving target. Just like every other algorithm input, bounce rates and bounce lag times will not be treated in the exact same way one day to the next. Objection 5, what if people quickly click on an external link and leave my site? They found the site useful because they found a useful link on it, but they bounced. Response. That is not a bounce, that's a referral. A bounce is when someone hits the back button. Continue reading this article. About the Author: David Leonhardt is a Canada-based SEO and viral marketing consultant. He operates in English, French and Spanish, providing custom SEO programs for clients aiming to be top players in their niches. http://www.seo-writer.com/blog/ |
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