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We’ve talked about some click-through and bounce rate signals Google may be analyzing to get an idea of how well a web page serves a user.
It’s only logical to assume that these signals may be used in Google Panda algorithm as well:
Pogosticking
Not every bounce is bad…
When a user clicks on a search result and then clicks back button to got back to the search results page – that’s a very bad signal to Google
Note: Of course, this signal is not taken in isolation. Google looks at it in comparison with other search results for this given phrase and how users behave there.
If a user clicks on search result and then clicks on an external link to go somewhere else, that must be a good bounce, because a user was able to find what he/she was looking for.
So one of the usability signals to look at (especially if you suspect you were hit by Panda) is:
How well your pages serve a user…
Every single site ranks for weird phrases. So if there are any weird (unrelated) phrases your pages are getting search traffic for, make sure you optimize those pages to serve the user.
One of the options is to de-optimize those pages for them not to rank for those weird phrases.
A possibly better option is to add some useful external links to give those users what they were looking for.
Watch more about these signals in our previous show: Bounce Rate, Long Click, Pogo-Sticking, Dwell Time, Click-Through: Jim & Ann Show
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Watch the whole video here: Google Panda & Usability: Jim and Ann Show
