This week members discuss dwell time and page speed and how much of a role exactly they may play in ranking.
Also, Snapchat unveils a new publisher tool and Google opens up Google Job Search to the dev community.
Is Dwell Time A Ranking Factor?
Member KernelPanic, references a 2011 blog post from bing about how they use dwell time as a ranking factor.
Ann Smarty brings up that Google is likely using dwell time but more as a method along side other attributes. Ann cites the following example,
“For example, when they were working on the authorship projects, they would use dwell time to show more articles by the author when you spent enough time on the author’s article and them clicked back to search results.”
That was a signal to Google that you wanted to see more by the author… It’s definitely dwell time in working and since we saw it clearly work, we must assume they use it in other parts of their algorithm too!”
Page Speed For Doing Rank Battle In Google
Cre8pc notes a recent presentation from Googles’ Gary Illyes that HTTP and page speed act as a tie breaker for Google. Members discuss the costs associated with making a site secure as well as performance improvements and if its really worth it for a ‘tie breaker’.
Member iamlost mentions that even sans the potential ranking improvement, performance improvements can help with time on time and interactions.
June Google updates discussion
In recent months, there has been a great deal of shifts in rankings, across a number of niches. Webmaster World members report various levels of impact in search engine results.
Snapchat Now Offers Self-Serve Advertising With Snap Publisher Tool
Oh, Snap! (Pun intended) Snapchat is now releasing a self publishing ad tool, as it plays catchup with Facebook who’s been busy stealing its features and after a lackluster first earnings report. The whole idea of the tool is to make it easier to take your TV and Youtube ads and make them snap ads. Can Snapchat stay ‘cool’ while catching up with more mature platforms?
Google for Job Search Is Open For Developers
Google has opened Job Search to developer with several key partners includingLinkedIn, Monster, DirectEmployers, CareerBuilder, Glassdoor, and Facebook who “may” already be in the mix. Webmasterworld members take a slightly cynical view as to the level of impact job search sites brands, since users will be in Googles product.
My sites are showing wrong ccTLD in Google Cache
A new member has two different domains a, .de and .at targeting two different countries, and yes, ahreflang is applied. However, they’re seeing their .at presence showing up in both places. Member Keypler makes the following recommendations on adjustments to get Google to surface the correct site for the appropriate geo-location,
There’s no absolute fix, but you can start experimenting by making changes by:
• using different meta page titles
• change meta descriptions
• change H1 & H2 tags
• change content (the wording)
• use unique images
Join the discussions to contribute your thoughts and read what forum members share!