The importance of behavioral factors in search engine optimization

Tracking behavior on sites gives companies like Google and Yandex insights into the user behavior. However, the evaluation process is not as simple as it might seem. In order to have a successful SEO, you need to understand what evaluation criteria are used by search engines when forming SERPs. Colleagues from ITForce told us about this.

1. What are the behavioral factors?

The map of user behavior on a site varies between sessions. Behavioral factors refer to all actions of the user within a single session of surfing the site.

Bad behavioral factors have a negative impact on rankings. They need to be worked out comprehensively. 

Behavioral factors include:

• search actions (clicks on website snippet components during search);

• actions after the transition to the website (pages visited, session time, clicks on CTA buttons, etc.);

• actions after closing the website (saving to bookmarks, returning to the site, etc.);

• URL clickability (if the URL is frequently clicked it means that the website is interesting, valuable, and deserves a top spot).

 Essentially, a search engine tracks everything a user does. The search engine algorithms determine the value of those actions. We have provided an overview of the actions which are tracked. However, a user can make untracked actions on a webpage.

 The search engine takes into account the following actions:

• session time (how many seconds/minutes a person spent on the site). However, a search engine counts only the average time of all sessions. The site should strive to increase the duration of the sessions. The longer session time is, the better position the website will get in the search engine;

• the number of pages visited during one period of using the site. Search engines will not rank a site with only one page viewed on average very highly. This means that either the information is not interesting or the information might be irrelevant. In any case, it is difficult to be on the first place with a small number of visited pages;

• the number of bounces or inactivity sessions. To put it simply, this refers to users who visit a website and then close it right away. This is a headache for one-page sites;

• the percentage of users returning to a website. It should be noted that if cookies were deleted, then the second visit counts as a new one;

• saving the address in bookmarks is considered by search engines as a positive factor because it shows that the resource is interesting.

The tracking does not stop at the moment when a person returns to the SERPs. If the user continues to look, search, and open other addresses, it means that he/she did not find the answer on the previous site. The system considers such a site as a resource of poor quality, and this is reflected in the ranking. 

2. What indicators are tracked by Google?

In their work, SEO-specialists are guided by Google. Constant updates of the principles according to which results are formed, lead to the specialists trying to understand every fluctuation of the results pages to support clients.

 What is included into behavioral factors?

• The percentage of clicks on a website from all the displayed results.

• How much time is spent on page views.

• Quantitative indicators of unique and repeated visits.

• Number of pages viewed per visit.

• Number of new and returning users (shown as a ratio on the chart).

• The percentage of those who closed the site after the first page out of all website visitors.

• Exit percentage which is the same as the bounce rate plus those people who visited more than one page.

 You do not need to track anything yourself, Google Analytics will do it all for you:

 Analytics collects all data about behavior on the site in the "Behavior" tab or search console:

 Both tools provide information on site performance. However, Google Analytics is more suitable for analyzing users’ behavior. Search console mainly shows how the search engine sees your site, how many pages are indexed, and if there are any issues with indexing.

 3. How does Yandex measure behavioral factors?

Yandex is quite similar to Google when it comes to tracking user behavior.

 It collects data such as:

• Entries from search.

• Exits.

• Bounces. Here there is a slight difference from the main search competitor, namely if there is no activity for 15 seconds and less than one page is visited.

• Clickability of the snippet links. These can be randomly selected additional sections of the site as well as the most visited sections.

• Moves across the website. This way, Yandex determines the popular pages.

Both companies calculate the usefulness of a site using similar metrics. Good behavioral factors can move the site to the top places much faster.

4. What does SEO have to do with it?

User behavior directly affects the website ranking and its final place in the search results. Search engines take into account behavioral factors as a measure that can raise or lower the site`s position in search results. Google has even patented an algorithm for adjusting search results based on behavioral factors.

 One of the goals of SEO is to keep users on the site. Therefore, specialists need to understand how the visitors navigate on the sites. Frequently visited pages should be properly optimized. What pages lead to users quitting the site, it is important to understand why people leave a site after seeing a particular page so it can be adjusted. 

Incorrect usability is one of the frequent reasons why users leave the sites. It means that: 

• A search function should be easily seen so that users have easy access to it.

• Beautiful and stylish but hard to use websites drive users away. Designers should be involved to create a homogenous and clear style for a website. Different pages should not be radically different from each other but should conform to a streamlined style, a readable font and some pictures should be added to break the text wall.

• Content. It's important to select relevant topics for future articles so that readers feel informed. Additionally, concise text with no grammatical or spelling mistakes is vital.

• Do not try to immediately impose a chat to your customer. Make the contact us feature just very easy to access at any time on the site.

• Make it possible to cancel the last action, for example by returning to the previous form. 

• Menu, search, contacts, and other important sections should be easily accessible from anywhere on the site. 

• Make registering and ordering as simple as possible to make it easy and quick for your customers to make a purchase. Let them leave a comment so they can provide feedback, this gives confidence to the next customer and provides you with information even if it is negative.

 All of the above has a direct impact on the behavior of users on your website, whether the visitor will stay on your site or go to a competitor; will save it to bookmarks or immediately close it; will make a conversion on the first visit or will delay it. Therefore, it's important to consider these points in more detail.

 Design

The site should not have elements which distract from the perception of information. It's recommended to carefully choose colors, readable fonts, suitable and not too many pictures. It's advisable to apply minimalist design corresponding to the website`s subject.

 Competently thought-out site design gives confidence to customers. In general, this improves the position of the website.

Content

Text content should be relevant, informative, and logical. Texts need to have a good structure, be readable, to the point, and without grammatical errors.

 Pictures and banners should be chosen in accordance with the design and theme of the site. If you have an online store, the items should have descriptions and if necessary, characteristics. Pictures or videos of a product should be accurate with the final product.

 Informing the user

Registration, add items to cart, add items to favorites, purchase are the actions which successful completion should be reported to the user. This can be done with a “Thank you” page. 

This page gives positive feedback to the visitor for the action performed which evokes customer`s loyalty and confirms that the order has been correctly processed. It is also important to specify the details. For example, it might be the waiting time or the contact information which the user sees when placing an order.

The design of 404 error plays an important role which indicates that a certain page does not exist. The user should understand this and be able to go to the priority pages/categories of the site. Your page should also not contain likes to any removed or death links.

Unobtrusive help and consultations

The chat and callback boxes  should not take too much space on the page and not intrude on the user experience. Additionally they should be easily visible and always in the same place within your site so the user can use the functions when needed.

 Incorrect design of such elements not only turns away users, but also hides some of the functionality. Their design should be both unobtrusive and noticeable. Button to close the windows should be easily noticed, not too small and merging with the background.

 Cancellation of actions

A site visitor should be able to change his/her mind. For example, it should be possible to cancel the order or change information in the order form itself. Most people don’t like calling companies to fix this type of information, such a function makes customers feel valued and makes them come back.

 All the important things in plain view

As a rule, web site users are prone to read in the shape of a letter ‘F’. Thus, all important information should be located from left to right and at the top of the page. This might be different for cultures that read right to left.

 For example, on the top you can place service pages, to the left a menu, in the middle a banner with the latest novelty or a promotion. Such a layout will not only help the visitor to find the necessary data, but also to draw attention to the pages or products you want them to see.

 Forms

Forms of registration, feedback, and checkout should not ask for too much information. Customers don’t like to fill in a long list of their information, try to stick to what you need to deliver the product or service you are selling. Try to work with autocomplete functions wherever possible to make the process smoother.

 It is necessary to save visitors' time so that the users are more satisfied with your site. Forms should have a readable font. The fields for entering information should not have errors. The user should be clearly informed if, for example, he/she missed a digit in the number or did not put "@" in the email. In general try to validate the field right after the user has filled it so that they can immediately correct their mistake.

Search on site

Search functions should be functional and flexible.

Let's look at the requirements for site search function:

1.  Finding an item on the site by serial number or other properties, not just by name.

2.  The search automatically corrects errors in terms, i.e. there is an autocorrection.

3.  Finds products even if their name was entered in a different keyboard layout. For example, on the query "ntktdbpjh" the search will give TV sets.

4.  Search for items by alternative names. For example, a product is called a "waist bag", while users often search for "trash bag".

5.  The option of revising or adding to a search query, visitors will often add information to increase the relevance of queries after an initial search.

6.  Availability of search filters. Often the general queries are followed by a large number of products in the search results. The customer should be able to limit the search to certain filters, such as color or accumulation.

7.  It's possible to set up direct links to frequent queries. After entering a query, the user is taken directly to the category/brand/filter/goods page without a transitory stop in the output results. Unlike internal search results pages, these pages are open for indexing. And as we already know, Google and Yandex search engines take into account the number of users and session quality on such pages when calculating rankings.

5. Conclusions

SEO optimization should be aimed at improving behavioral indicators. Then the performance of the site and its place in the search results will significantly increase.

 Google and Yandex track the main actions of the user in the browser. Search engines determine the relevance of the websites and discourage inflated user statistics as sites should be made for people, not for search robots.