When discussing Search Engine Optimization (SEO), there are three main aspects that need to be considered: website optimization, work on Domain Authority (DA) at large, and behavioral factors. At the dawn of SEO, having a website was the most important factor in being searchable by potential clients. Later, DA or backlinks from other authoritative websites became more crucial. Now, behavioral factors are growing more and more important when it comes to SEO because these behaviors directly impact search results.
What are behavioral factors?
People often understand metrics to assume that if a user spends more time on a website, then it is a good site and vice versa. This is far from the truth. Google, arguably the leader in this field, receives and interprets data at astronomical rates. They collect data from Google Analytics, Chrome, and Android, as well as exchange this information with other market players. If a user visits your website to find your company’s phone number, Google understands this. As a result, the user will spend about 10 seconds on your website, but they will achieve the intended goal; this will not harm your behavioral metrics, but possibly improve them. Good behavioral metrics are when users achieve their desired results. It should be noted that if users visit a page with a long article, read its header, start perusing the first paragraph, then close the website window, it will definitely harm the page’s behavioral metrics. Let’s look at another example. Imagine an online e-commerce shop with hundreds of items for sale; users usually spend hours on such websites. If a visitor views dozens of pages with items for sale, then suddenly decides not to make a purchase and leaves the site, this will worsen behavioral metrics (regardless of the amount of time spent on the website).
Google’s understanding of behavioral metrics.
Google constantly compares the results of different websites. If you have a website for your small, local dental office, Google compares your site to that of others in the same category. In other words, behavioral metrics are always relative. Your site must be better than your competitor’s to gain first place in search results. Your bounce rate could be terrible and users on average view 1.5 pages on your website. However, if these results are better than websites of the same topic, size, location, you will get a higher rank on SERP.
Links first, then behavioral factors.
Using SEO, a company may work for 3-6 months on building backlinks to a website. The site may then reach the top 10 in search results, stay there for a few weeks and get good traffic, then suddenly drop on search engine results pages (SERP). Unfortunately, this is the case for many websites. There’s only one possible explanation for this phenomenon: Google. The search engine giant gave the website a chance based on the perspective of the rapid growth of its authority. However, as soon as it became clear that users didn’t find what they needed, Google immediately dropped the site from SERP. This may be a hard pill to swallow, but always keep in mind that Google’s main goal is to provide complete, direct answers to its users. Therefore, focusing the website’s promotion on link building is really a waste of time. In actuality, the most important thing you must think about is the quality of your content and ensure that you are prepared to use it when given a chance.
Getting clicks on SERP.
The best way to make sure users click on your website on SERP is to stand out from your competitors. Using brighter colors is a surefire way to increase your chances of receiving more traffic. You can also consider adding stars, crumbles, emojis, and engaging titles and descriptions. Remember, visitors will first see content before they read it. If your content is not visually appealing, it will not capture a user’s attention long enough to get them to read the text.
Here’s an example that best demonstrates what I just said. Which site do you think will get a click? Keep in mind: if you get more clicks than your competitors on SERP, your website will be ranked higher.
The site highlighted in the box will get the most clicks because it stands out more. Almost immediately, the user’s eyes are drawn to the orange stars underneath the URL. Then, there’s the graphic in the title that is also colorful. The other websites on the page look very boring compared to this one, so it will most likely be the one to capture the user’s click.
How to improve behavioral metrics?
It’s simple: a good website will keep a user on a page for an extended period of time. You can create better pages by improving the quality of the content, adding videos, quizzes, optimizing text, and making attention-grabbing headers. Users love photos, especially with descriptions, so add them as much as possible. If you know celebrities, big or small, consider getting an endorsement from them to add to your page; users trust statements and testimonials from famous people. Your entire goal is to make your site so attractive that visitors spend a good amount of time there.
Worst case scenario.
Under no circumstances do you want visitors to leave your site and return to SERP. Let’s say a user does a search, clicks on your website, then quickly goes to SERP in less than 30 seconds. This is a bad situation. Google will understand this to mean that the user didn’t find what they wanted on your site. If users do this regularly, your website’s SERP position will promptly drop. Of course, the inverse is true as well. If users find what they want on your website, your SERP position will go up.
Technical factors.
Hunting: Keep in mind that behavioral metrics can worsen if your website has a bad structure. What do I mean? Well, if visitors have to click on several pages to find the information they need, this is a negative outcome. Remember what I said earlier: a search engine’s primary focus is giving users complete, direct information. When a person has to hunt through content on your website, your SERP ranking can decrease.
Speed: If your website, especially the mobile version, is slow and users close the tab before it loads, it will critically impact your ranking. Take a few seconds to check your website’s speed with Google’s free test. If your site isn’t performing at optimal levels, make an appointment with developers who will help you achieve at least 90/100. This is crucial for your site because, if it’s not responsive, Google will exclude it from SERP.
If you’re trying to grow your business, but use a free or low-cost platform like WordPress or WIX, don’t expect good SEO results. These sites may be suitable for low-competitive industries, but they are not equipped to perform the functions necessary to get you to the top of SERP.
What’s the goal?
The number one thing your website should do is give users the information they request on Google. If the content is comprehensive, they won’t go back to SERP to keep searching. Google, in turn, will appreciate this. Your website must operate at a fast speed and have user-friendly navigation to allow visitors to quickly find what they seek. If you apply these tips to your website, you can expect good behavioral metrics; consequently, you’ll receive better rankings on SERP.