Behavioral factors? We heard, we know!
behavioral factors. Who needs them besides zoologists, search engines and Internet marketers? Why are they so worn and cherish every figure and indicator? Everything in this world is interconnected. Specialists from Webakula will talk about the practical significance of measuring user actions on the Internet and ways to improve behavioral factors.
A bit of theory
The list of components of behavioral factors has probably been an eyesore to you more than once, but we still have to mention it.
- Sources of referrals to the site.
- Click-through rate, also known as CTR = the ratio of site impressions in search results and clicks.
- The number of transitions to other pages of the site in one session.
- Length of stay on the site.
- Bounces - The percentage of users who stay on only one page for a short time per session.
- The rate of repeat visits to the site.
All of these metrics are also part of the complex and incomprehensibly mysterious world of search engine tinkering. Simply put, behavioral factors have been influencing site rankings for quite some time now. If these indicators are important for the search, then they cannot be ignored, it is necessary to constantly and comprehensively improve, improve and once again improve behavioral factors.
From numbers to practice
You can list the sources of transition to the site for a long time and discuss their validity, but we will not dwell on them in detail. For search engines, it is important that the traffic is natural, which means that it is diverse and plentiful.
Gradually and organically increase website traffic and its position in search results, attention to detail will help. Let's look at the site from all the angles known to our measurement and, first of all, turn our attention to the title and description meta tags, then gradually get closer to the snippets. All this goodness should encourage the user to go to the site and be reflected in a positive CTR percentage.
Search engines especially like it when users not only modestly trample on the landing page, but also look at other sections of the site with pleasure, move from one article (product, news) to another.
A cozy stay of a visitor on the site (we will not tire of repeating this) can only be done by:
- pleasant, competent, modern and relevant to the theme of the site design;
- logical and simple navigation;
- clear, interesting content of the site that meets the needs (interests) of the user.
The above three whales will fit a crowd of grateful users who will not only want to return to the site, but also add it to their bookmarks.
The hackneyed, especially in the web industry, phrase that a site is greeted by clothes is undoubtedly true and undeniable. They talk less about the "mind", the very one that they see off. In our case, “mind” is content. The task of any site is to capture the visitor's attention and keep it on its pages for as long as possible. This is the task that content should be able to handle. There is a long stay on a particular page and a dark side. It is possible that the user does not enthusiastically look at pictures and read articles, but simply feels discomfort from the incomprehensible content of the page. Confirmation of this is the high percentage of exits. In this case, it is necessary to eliminate navigation difficulties and correct the content.
Usability is in charge of bounces, it is a competent, comfortable design and site structure that should attract users and encourage their inquisitive minds not only to spend more than half a minute on the landing page, but also to rummage through other sections of the site.
The bounce rate is significantly reduced if:
- the site loads in less than 4 seconds;
- the landing page matches the search query;
- clearly built site navigation is understandable at the level of the subconscious;
- content is unique, interesting and in demand.
A signal for a serious rethinking of the existence of the site can be a terrible figure - more than 50% of failures. We will have to think carefully and analyze not only the requests by which users went to the site, the quality of the content and its placement, but also the design of the site. Often, users are not as intimidated, for example, by the same links to external resources in the first screen, as an outdated design.
The Tiny Secret of Behavioral Factors
Behind dry statistics and boring definitions, there is a risk of losing sight of the main protagonist of behavioral factors - the site visitor. It is not enough to know how to interpret numbers, it is necessary to focus on the user, on his interests and needs - this is the key to successful improvement of behavioral factors focused on long-term results.