TRAFFIC
“There does also appear to be a further shift towards the
ranking of pages with a higher proportion of content in
the first half of the page.”
Figure 4: Upwards trend of HTTPS sites
Figure 5: Upwards trend of HTML sites
time search3, or, in other words, regain
access to its data fire hose.
As a result, this is an area we’ve been
monitoring very closely over recent weeks,
and the initial data set suggests there has
been definite movement.
It is still very early days, but Facebook
engagement metrics and Google +1s
appear to be leading the charge (measured
at domain level).
Interestingly, there has been little
movement on Twitter yet, but this may be
something that is integrated at a later date
as Google’s engineers finalise how they are
using the data post-deal.
On-page content
There does also appear to be a further shift
towards the ranking of pages with a higher
proportion of content in the first half of the
page. This is not a new development, but
looking at data from another of our tools,
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iGB Affiliate Issue 51 JUNE/JULY 2015
it does suggest that there is now a higher
correlation between sites in positions one
to five with higher scores for functional
content (content that sits on key landing
pages as opposed to blog content) than
there was at the beginning of 2015.
It is too early to suggest whether there
has been a spike since the Quality update
as yet, but the signs are that the trends we
have seen have continued, even accelerating
in more competitive niches and areas where
customers have a lot of questions to ask
around buying decisions.
This is a theme that resonates in the
gaming niche. With complex rules and a
serious thirst for knowledge around the
subject matter, it lends itself perfectly to
this content approach.
Sadly there are few stand-out examples
of this being done well in the iGaming
space (yet!) but if we take a look at a niche
where this content perspective is more
developed, there are some good examples
of how it can be done.
Take the world of tech, an industry where
that similar thirst for information exists. If
we do a search for 4K TVs, Curry’s comes
out top, but not with a product-landing page.
Instead it surfaces via a brilliantly executed
information hub, which succinctly answers
all of the key questions the audience may
have about the product4.
We are increasingly seeing this
approach implemented across many
niches, and gaming is perfectly suited to
this. Add value within this template, and
the rankings will follow.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-05/twitter-said-to-reach-deal-for-tweets-in-google-search-results
4
http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/4k-ultra-hd-1707-commercial.html