16/09/2022 
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Інтернет-маркетинг
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Content of the article
Behavioral factors of website ranking: what are they and how to improve them?
Behavioral factors (PF) are metrics whose value is formed based on the experience of site visitors and influence the ranking of the site and its pages by search engines when generating results for search queries.
The weight and priorities of various behavioral factors are not reliably known, but their influence on the operation of web resource ranking algorithms is undeniable. This is confirmed by their collection and analysis in web analytics systems such as Google Analytics, Microsoft Clarity. In addition, statistics on user actions are collected using browsers and other services, such as Web Masters of search engines.
Types of behavioral website ranking factors
User interaction with a website can be divided into two types: internal and external. Internal factors are related to the visitor’s actions on the resource itself: bounce rate, return to repeat search, average visit time, page viewing depth, indicator of traffic sources and regular visitors. External factors are related to the visitor’s actions not on the site: CTR – click-through rate in search results, traffic to a web resource, social signals and evidence.
Bounce rate
Bounce is an interaction during which the user leaves the site after viewing no more than one page. The ratio of the number of refusals to the total number of visitors for the period determines the percentage value of the indicator. A high bounce rate is a negative factor, but the meaning is different for different resource topics.
Return to search again
If a site visitor does not find an answer and goes back to the search engine for his query, the web resource receives a negative rating. If the return to repeat search from the site is high, the site will rank worse in search and its visibility for queries will decrease.
Time spent on the site
The more useful a resource is for a visitor who spends a lot of time there, the higher the indicator value, which is positive for ranking in search engines.
Site page viewing depth
The viewing depth factor takes into account the quality of the site as a whole, not individual pages. Average session depth indicates how interesting and informative a resource is, so a higher value indicates better quality. The theme of the site is important for this factor.
Traffic sources and permanent audience
The presence of a regular audience for a web resource indicates its quality; visitors will return again only to a useful, interesting and high-quality site. Therefore, the presence of a large number of users visiting the site through direct transitions (Direct: direct links, bookmarks in the browser) is a positive signal for search engines.
Click-through rate (CTR) in search results
Click-through rate in the search results is an external factor that shows the ratio of the number of transitions to the site for a search query to the total number of page impressions in the search engine results for this query. The higher this indicator, the greater the number of clicks on a specific key query in the search.
Attendance
High site traffic helps search engines obtain more complete information on user behavior, which allows, provided the behavioral factors have good values, the web resource to obtain better positions and visibility in the search results. Low attendance does not allow obtaining such information in sufficient quantities.
Social cues or evidence
This behavioral metric is determined by the level of citation of the site in social networks: Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and other communities. Social activity networks help to increase the number of visiting sources and resource users, which is directly related to the value of the content in the opinion of visitors.
Recommendations for improving behavioral factors
Improving the behavioral metrics of a web resource indicates improved quality and value for visitors, which leads to an increase in rankings in search networks and leads to an increase in search traffic. Improving behavioral factors is a necessity when working with a website.
Improved design and navigation
The level of usability directly depends on the design and convenient navigation of the site. High-quality navigation and thoughtful design help the visitor find and obtain the necessary information as quickly as possible, which makes the resource truly convenient.
The site must be adapted for use on mobile gadgets; its pages must have buttons (forms) for integration with social networks, such as sharing, like subscribe.
Page loading speed
Today and in the future, the convenience of a website is associated with the speed of loading pages. If loading takes more than 1.5 – 2 seconds, such a page will be considered low-quality by both the search engine and the visitor, who in this case will most likely try to go to another, faster resource.
To successfully promote a website in search engines, it is necessary to minimize page loading time; for checking, you can use, for example, the service PageSpeed Insights.
High-quality structured content
Having text relevant to the search query on a page is not enough. A quality page should contain well-structured text with headings, lists, relevant images and videos.
Using cheating website behavioral factors is the path to sanctions
Search engine algorithms are developing every day in order to generate high-quality results for search queries and also take into account the importance of behavioral metrics of pages. Therefore, artificial cheating of site behavioral metrics is quite well recognized, is considered a fallacy for manipulating search results and is punishable by sanctions. The introduction of sanctions leads to a significant deterioration in the position and visibility of a web resource in search engines and a reduction in search traffic to a minimum. Cheating behavioral factors of a site does not give anything except a temporary improvement in these metrics and the risk of receiving sanctions.
The best way to promote a website in search networks remains constant work to improve the web resource: filling its pages with high-quality content, thoughtful design, easy navigation, improving the technical component, and loading speed. In the context of reducing the weight of the external link profile of a site when ranking web resources by search engines, ensuring high quality of the site and its convenience for visitors is one of the main areas of work for promotion in search.
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