4) Competitive Usage Metrics
Google now has a wealth of statistically viable usage metrics for each site that they can use to guess at that site’s quality (we’ll see how they use these stats in the following sections). For now, quality sites aim to have:
+50% higher Average pages per Visit than competitors: |
Users on average visit more pages per session |
+50% Higher Traffic than competitors: |
Users tend to click through SERP pages and/or come back to this site, assumedly because it provides a better experience. |
+50% More Google “Plusses” than competitors: |
More “+” means more people advocate this page, and Google is using their plus system for a direct ranking factor for both logged in and non-logged in users. |
Google now has a wealth of statistically viable usage metrics for each site that they can use to guess at that site’s quality (we’ll see how they use these stats in the following sections). For now, quality sites aim to have:
“Useless” / Aggregate Spam Signals:
The following is the list of all known spam signals that may combine to cause a site to be algorithmically penalized and reduced in SERP pages. Google has over 200 ranking signals, and so this list is possibly incomplete. Site owners want to maximize the former Useful signals, and minimize the following Useless or Spam signals. These signals are broken down into PageRank algorithmic signals and likely Panda signals.
WARNING: In tests, as few as 2 or 3 of the following signals have seen to be enough to reduce sites in Google’s SERP pages
Rated as merely “relevant” to query
A sure way to be rated as non useful is to fail a manual review. As mentioned, Google has no interest in providing merely “relevant” information to queries, but only the most helpful and useful. To avoid this maximize the preceding Useful / Anti-Spam Signals.
Will my site be manually reviewed?
With over a trillion pages in Google’s index, it might seem impossible to think that every page will be manually reviewed. This is true, but misses the point. You don’t buy insurance because you know you will need it, but just in case. Google is serious about only providing quality and their algorithms are getting better every month at finding the sites Google’s raters routinely mark as low quality. The prudent thing to do then is add quality to your site, given that doing so will only make your site convert and retain better anyways, and really doesn’t take much more time and effort than standard best practices of website design. Of course, it is entirely possible you WILL be manually reviewed, especially if you wish to rank for competitive and highly contentious, or trafficked terms. Not to mention the chance your site will be reported as spam by an angry customer, or competitor, or “blocked” by enough users in the SERPs, etc.
Information provided by SellHealth