Installing google analytics = drop in SERPs?

[Juicy D. Links]

Anyone here about this? Seems a bit tin foil crazy but I've been reading a few threads in many SEO and BH forums about this.

The thing that comes to mind is that installing Analytics allows Google an inside look at your site and some particular data sets--bounce rate, in particular, that MAY (again, no one knows for sure) influence them to give you a lower ranking. Anyone have any info or experience?

[Exotic Gold]

So is the opposite true - if you have a good site, Google will boost you?

[Agent 488]

analytics info is used yes.

[who]

Now see what happens when you remove it

[96ukssob]

sounds bizarre, but maybe they are looking at it as "content" rather than tracking codes.

remove it and see what happens

[Nubianprince]

hmmm.. interesting

[Mark_E4A]

bounce rate is important, do you have a good or bad bounce rate?

hit me on icq bro, i will take a peek for ya

[trevesty]

Mine always goes up after I install analytics.

[trevesty]

But my bounce rate is sitting at 38% for one site where SERPS improved.

[woj]

analytics info is used yes.

[closer]

What is considered a good bounce rate then?

Most of mine are around 30%

[u-Bob]

I'd never install any of that stuff on my sites...

[Antonio]

hm, catch 22 right there

let me give you a surfer's perspective that some of the US boys might not experience due to (much) faster loading times

When I search Google for say "huge hairy pussy," I usually open five sites (different tabs) and simply close the tabs of the sites that take too long to load. Now, can you guess why some of them take too long to load? Here's a clue - I see a little message saying "connecting to google analytics"....

the moral of the story - google analytics causes sites to take forever to load, then "analyzes" them and gives them less SE love due to the high bounce rate

PS I really have no clue what I'm talking about, just thinking aloud

[Altheon]

I remember reading another theory that they can garner bounce rate in a much more less sophisticated way.

For instance the surfer clicks on one of the links in the SERPs and then in a couple of seconds clicks another link or performs another search signals that your link isn't relevant to the keyword.

[d-null]

I'd never install any of that stuff on my sites...

me either

[JerryF]

Any good alternatives? Used Urchin once don't know if that is any better RE load times.

[mb]

They determine bounce rate from their toolbar. Among many other analytics.

[Trax]

analytics is def. giving them more data. so yes, if your site is good, you should benefit from analytics. if its crap, i wouldnt use it

[Barefootsies]

if your site is good, you should benefit from analytics. if its crap, i wouldnt use it

[d-null]

analytics is def. giving them more data. so yes, if your site is good, you should benefit from analytics. if its crap, i wouldnt use it

not necessarily

[slavdogg]

i dont believe bounce rate matters all that much
repeat surfers carries more weight

[Killswitch - BANNED FOR LIFE]

hm, catch 22 right there

let me give you a surfer's perspective that some of the US boys might not experience due to (much) faster loading times

When I search Google for say "huge hairy pussy," I usually open five sites (different tabs) and simply close the tabs of the sites that take too long to load. Now, can you guess why some of them take too long to load? Here's a clue - I see a little message saying "connecting to google analytics"....

the moral of the story - google analytics causes sites to take forever to load, then "analyzes" them and gives them less SE love due to the high bounce rate

PS I really have no clue what I'm talking about, just thinking aloud

Google has some of the fastest and best servers online, I doubt it's hanging because of Analytics. I have it on all my sites and not one is slow or hanging because of Analytics.

Any good alternatives? Used Urchin once don't know if that is any better RE load times.

Google bought Urchin, so technically Analytics is Urchin.

[TheDoc]

i dont believe bounce rate matters all that much
repeat surfers carries more weight

Google has personalized search that takes care of repeats.

[seeandsee]

Anyone here about this? Seems a bit tin foil crazy but I've been reading a few threads in many SEO and BH forums about this.

The thing that comes to mind is that installing Analytics allows Google an inside look at your site and some particular data sets--bounce rate, in particular, that MAY (again, no one knows for sure) influence them to give you a lower ranking. Anyone have any info or experience?

that is posibile

[slapass]

I might just be paranoid but i would use a different analytics account for every site in cases of cross linking.

[Rankings]

bounce rate is important, so if you have crappy bounce rates, analytics or not, its a matter of time before your positions fall.

[SmokeyTheBear]

Google has some of the fastest and best servers online, I doubt it's hanging because of Analytics. I have it on all my sites and not one is slow or hanging because of Analytics..

i dont use analytics but i have noticed many many sites stalling loading the analytics js, this often affects other aspects of the page due to the fact the page isn't fully loaded yet until it loads the js.

[JerryF]

Anyone heard of Woopra and/or use it?

[Killswitch - BANNED FOR LIFE]

i dont use analytics but i have noticed many many sites stalling loading the analytics js, this often affects other aspects of the page due to the fact the page isn't fully loaded yet until it loads the js.

Then tell the retarded webmasters to put the javascript just before </body> so the site loads before the js does...

[HighEnergy]

i dont use analytics but i have noticed many many sites stalling loading the analytics js, this often affects other aspects of the page due to the fact the page isn't fully loaded yet until it loads the js.

I have watched it carefully for a long time and I'm convinced it affects bounce rate. I don't see how it couldn't. You can add urchin.js to your own server to eliminate much of the problem but it does need to be updated frequently. A simple script + CRON can be used to keep it fresh.

"Then tell the retarded webmasters to put the javascript just before </body> so the site loads before the js does... "
I see a lot of that not being done
Sometimes it's even inside the <HEADER> tags. I've seen several scripts and many WP themes coded to include() a "stats" block/file in the header.

[LeRoy]

Juicy is that you? All these techy webby threads hmmmm.

[Juicy D. Links]

So is the opposite true - if you have a good site, Google will boost you?

In that case, organic traffic will boost you. The best form of seo is good content that people will link to and talk up to their friends/followers.

[Juicy D. Links]

What is considered a good bounce rate then?

Most of mine are around 30%

Probably depends on your niche and whether the bounce rate is focused on your "main" keyword or if it is widely distributed among many "off" keywords. Again, I'm guessing here.

[Jdoughs]

Juicy is that you? All these techy webby threads hmmmm.

I think he hired Gene to inflate his posts. Or its the 2.0 version of the bot that Tranza is running, the sig must be the footer link needed to use it for free.

[aniloscash]

I'm curious as too what a good bounce rate is industry wide. I never thought about that. but it makes a lot of sense.

[Juicy D. Links]

Juicy is that you? All these techy webby threads hmmmm.

I purchased this nickname from him

[~Ray]

if you have backlinks and a good bounce rate = good site = good serps

if you have backlinks and a bad bounce rate = spam site = bitch slapped

so, you need backlinks and good On Page Optimization..just like I tell all of my backlink clients. "I'll handle the backlinking, you handle the OPO."

a good bounce rate is one that is slightly better than your competitors. It varies by niche.

If you are getting outranked, you either need more backlinks or you need to study OPO more.


see sig for backlinks.

~Ray

[Jdoughs]

I have bounce rates ranging from 35-70% on the sites actively ranked well on G for search terms.

I think what AdvertisingSex just posted does make the most sense.

[d-null]

I purchased this nickname from him

that's a shame

[JerryF]

Here's a script that supposedly makes the GA javascript load after the page is loaded (hence no delays in load time).

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2...ogle-analytics

Will give it a try and see.