TRAFFIC
ENGAGEMENT RANK:
THE NEW RANKING FACTOR
With Google now working on what has been dubbed the “truth algorithm”, engagement rank is emerging
as the fourth SEO factor dictating which sites get ranked. Nick Garner of 90Digital unpacks the concept
and sifts the evidence for iGB Affiliate.
IN A PREVIOUS article, I looked at trust
optimisation, the process you go through in
order to become more trusted by Google,
therefore making it easier for your site to
rank well.
Interestingly there’s been a recent update
in this whole area. It turns out Google is
now working on what the SEO community
describe as the ’truth algorithm’1.
Essentially, this is a learning algorithm
that checks facts for correctness. Therefore,
if your website has lots of misleading
information, Google will down-rank your
page in favour of other sites with more
accurate and trustworthy content.
The algorithm is in its infancy, but it
does give you a clear idea of where Google
is going when it comes to ranking sites
based on trustworthiness, authenticity and
engagement, while also down-weighting
links as a ranking signal.
●
trust optimisation, for building trust
in your website from Google, thus
helping rankings
How it works
Based on evidence to date, engagement
rank seems to work in the following ways:
● Click-through rate
Search results have an expected click-through
rate. So, position 5 might have an expected
click through rate of 5.5% on average. But
what happens if position five has a 9% click
through rate on average? It means users are
more actively seeking out that search result
more than others on the page.
As a result, position 5 search result might
go up to position 4, where the click-through
rate for that search result will be evaluated.
Figure 1: Click through rates per Google position in July 2014
(Source: Moz)
The concept
Taken together, these new emphases can
be seen to support the emerging concept of
engagement rank, i.e. what gets clicked on
an