7 Dead Simple Ways to Reduce Bounce Rate

Posted by Cyrus-Shepard

Is a high bounce rate bad? The answer is: it depends, but yes, sometimes it can be. Is a high bounce rate bad for SEO? That’s where it gets a little more complicated. In this week’s episode of Whiteboard Friday, Cyrus gives you seven easy SEO tips to address your bounce rate, and increase engagement and satisfaction to make your users happier.

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Video Transcription

Welcome, Moz fans, to a new edition of Whiteboard Friday. My name is Cyrus Shepard. Today we're talking about bounce rate, specifically seven dead simple tips to reduce your bounce rate. 

So most of you already know what bounce rate is. But for those who are uninitiated, bounce rate is an analytics term. It simply means a single page or non-interaction visit. When a visitor comes from Google or another website and they visit one page, they have no interaction, and they leave, that's considered a bounce. That is a high bounce rate.

So is bounce rate bad? That's a common question. The answer is, yeah, it can be bad. For example, if everybody is coming to your homepage and you want to get them to your sales page or your checkout page, you don't want a high bounce rate. In that situation, yes, bounce rate is definitely bad. But is bounce rate bad for SEO? Well, there it gets a little more complicated.

Now, to be clear, Google does not use bounce rate. It is not a ranking signal for Google. That said, we do know that there's a lot of evidence that Google does use some sort of engagement signals for SEO that we don't have access to. So in that way you can think of bounce rate as a proxy signal for engagement and satisfaction, and that's really what we're trying to measure here. We're trying to measure how satisfied our uses are, how engaged they are with a page. In some instances, there is evidence that this could help your SEO in some circumstances. 

Now just lowering your bounce rate is not going to automatically improve your Google rankings. It doesn't work that way. But lowering your bounce rate can have positive effects. In fact, your visitors may be more satisfied.

Now to be clear, before we get into these tips, I want to be very clear the goal is not to reduce your bounce rate number. It's just a number. It doesn't mean anything. The goal is to increase engagement and to increase satisfaction, to make your users happier. Just reducing your bounce rate, that doesn't do anything. But if you make your users happier, give them what they're searching for, that's what we're trying to do, and we're using bounce rate as a proxy to measure that along with other metrics, such as time on site, the number of pages visited, and things like that.

1. Page speed

So we're looking to make users happier. So how do we do this? How are we going to lower our bounce rate? Well, seven quick tips, very basic stuff in SEO. First of all, page speed. It's not very sexy, but I included it here because out of all of these tips improving your page speed is probably the number one way to guarantee a reduced bounce rate.

I've seen it on hundreds of sites. Make your site faster, bounce rate goes down. Why? Well, for one, more people can simply access your content. They're not waiting for it to load. They're in the subway, on their cell phone, it loads faster. Second, it's just a better experience than if they're waiting for images to appear and things like that.

It will almost definitely guarantee to lower your bounce rate. This is the number one reason that, in my opinion, you work to improve the speed on your website. Yes, speed is a Google ranking factor. It is a confirmed Google ranking factor. In most cases, though, it's a pretty small one.

But if you improve engagement and satisfaction with your speed, that has downstream effects that have much broader, wider SEO implications. It's the number one reason to improve speed, not for the ranking benefit, but for this reason alone. Yes, this includes the upcoming Core Web Vitals that are coming out, that are going to be a ranking factor soon. We'll link to some resources on how to improve that:

• Page Speed Optimization: Metrics, Tools, and How to Improve
• 12 Steps to Lightning Page Speed

2. Broaden intent satisfaction

So one, nail your speed. Two, the easiest way to lower bounce rate is two broaden your intent satisfaction. Now what do we mean by this? Are we satisfying the intent that people came to your site for in the first place? 

For example, someone searches for "Nike shoes." Well, we want to rank for "Nike shoes," but we don't really know what the intent is of the person who searched. Do they want to buy Nike shoes? Do they want reviews of different Nike shoes? Are they looking for pictures of Nike shoes? It could be any one of those things. The more broadly we can satisfy that intent on the page or link to other resources, the better we're going to do with engagement and our bounce rate.

Deep competitive analysis

So how do we do this? So one, you want to do deep competitive analysis. You want to see what's already ranking for these terms, for your ideal search term and look at all of the ranking results and what's working and try to satisfy those intents. If you're not offering the same type of content as the top 10 ranking results, you're probably not matching that intent very well.

Answer questions

So you might want to rejigger your content. The second thing you should be doing is answer questions more deeply. Now we talk about long-form content typically performing better in search results. Long-form content isn't a ranking factor. But the more complete you can answer questions, that usually has a better impact. So simply answering questions better can deepen the intent satisfaction.

Link to related content

Finally, and this is my number one trick/tip, link to related intent. An example is on Moz we have literally dozens of articles that we've written about various SEO topics, such as canonical tag. Each has a slightly different intent. When someone lands on any of those pages about a canonical tag, we can link to all the other resources about canonical tags in a prominent position.

Now you often see related articles that are like little widgets at the end of articles. I generally like to place those much higher in the content, where people can see them and engage and click on those articles because we may not have captured the intent perfectly on this page, but we can link to all those related resources and capture the intent that way.

As soon as they click and go explore the other page, they're getting their intent satisfied, and we have lowered our bounce rate. So find those related articles on your site and link to them prominently. You're going to do well. 

3. Smart CTAs

Number three, smart CTAs. Oftentimes that's what you're trying to get people to do. You're trying to get them to click your CTA to go buy your product or check out your download or whatever it is.

The smartest way to improve your CTAs is include the ranking keyword in the CTA itself. So this means go to Google Search Console, go to Moz Keyword Explorer, find what your pages are actually ranking for, and take those top keywords and insert them into the CTA itself. For example, if my page is about credit reports or getting a credit report score, I could have a CTA that says "Add to Cart," or I could have a CTA that says, "Get my credit report."

This is psychologically 100 times more powerful than saying "Add to Cart" because I just typed "credit report" into Google, and aha, here it is. I want to get my credit report. So including your keywords in the CTAs is a very smart way and simple way of improving engagement and lowering your bounce rate.

4. Use inverted pyramid writing

Number four, I got this from Dr. Pete Meyers. Thank you, sir. Use the inverted pyramid style of writing. So we want to engage people in our writing, when they come looking for answers, and that means we want to hook them early and draw them into your content. The inverted pyramid style of writing, borrowed from journalism and I'm going to link to Dr. Pete's post on this, is start with a lead. Start with a quick answer, go into the details and then your content. So you want to grab them. Show them what you're going to promise them and pull them into the details. That's all about creating more engaging content, drawing people in, and having good, clean content that looks great and works all well. 

5. Make site search simple

Moving on, make site search simple and obvious. Here's why. If you can provide an easier search solution than Google, that gives the user a reason to search your site instead of going back to Google, which counts as a bounce. If they search on your site, you have engaged them. They're looking at more content on your site, and you've reduced your bounce rate and improved engagement.

So I like making site search very obvious, very simple. Especially if you're a resource heavy site and people think that they can find what they want on your site, it's going to improve it. Don't make them search Google. Let them search your site instead. 

6. Add media

Adding video, images, and different media. Some of our highest engagement pages here at Moz are these Whiteboard Fridays.

Why? They have a video. One thing I would suggest though, something we've learned over and over again, is mix your formats. The average person watching one of these videos stays on the page and the site for 9 or 10 minutes, which is huge for us. But one thing we did several years ago is we started adding transcripts and images to these posts.

So mixing the media usually does much better than just adding a video or images by itself. So pages with images, video, and text generally do better than pages with just those things by themselves.

7. Reduce rage and dead clicks

Finally, something I've been getting into recently is reducing what's known as rage clicks and dead clicks.

Rage clicks are when people are hitting something that they think is supposed to be a button or a link and it doesn't work. Same with dead clicks. They're hitting something, an element on your site, maybe it's an image, maybe it's a special color text that they think is supposed to be a link or they think is supposed to be a call to action, and it doesn't work. Maybe JavaScript is not loading correctly or something like that.

Or maybe an image looks like a button. Every site has these. You can generally find these with heat tracking software. Microsoft just came out with a new product that's free -- Microsoft Clarity. There's Hotjar. Any sort of heat tracking or heat mapping software can generally show you these rage clicks and dead clicks.

If you fix these, people are going to click the elements that are actually workable, and it will give you insight on how to reduce these. These are definitely going to reduce your bounce rate. All right. So if you have any tips on reducing your bounce rate, please leave them in the comments below. If you like this video, please share. Let your friends know about it.

Thanks, everybody. Bye-bye.

Video transcription by Speechpad.com

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Announcing: The MozCon Virtual 2021 Initial Agenda

Posted by cheryldraper

Come one, come all to the hottest ticket in virtual! We’re packing up the MozCon big top and bringing all the MozCon magic straight to your front door.

Last year we took MozCon to the virtual stage for the first time, and we loved it so much, we’re doing it again! Only this time, we’re taking it to the next level with exclusive performances by world-renowned local SEO jugglers, automation acrobats, link building magicians, and so much more!

We know SEO doesn't stop — searchers keep on searching, and marketers need to stay on their toes to meet their needs. (Cue the tightrope walkers!)

Join Ringmaster Roger and marketing experts from around the world for three days packed with presentations on SEO, search marketing, mobile, conversion optimization, local search, and more — all from the comfort of home.

Not your typical marketing conference

Get connected

Meet fellow attendees and don't miss a minute of MozCon fun — follow #mozcon and join the MozCon Facebook Group!

Birds of a Feather networking groups

Who doesn’t love making new friends and engaging in lively discussion? After all, a big part of the conference experience is meeting new connections and reconnecting with older ones. Birds of a Feather at MozCon are purposeful yet unstructured peer discussion groups organized around topics that matter to today’s digital marketers. Grab yourself a snack or beverage and come network with some new friends! Topics vary each day at the conference and offer something for everyone.

Tickets start at $129 for Moz customers

Going virtual means affordability! You can snag your ticket for as low as $129 if you’re a Moz customer, and tickets include access to the virtual video bundle after MozCon wraps up.

Save my spot at MozCon Virtual!

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Initial agenda

Time to pull back the curtain and reveal the exciting acts we've got planned. Let’s bring out our MozCon Virtual stars!

Amanda Milligan

Marketing Director | Fractl
A Live Guide to Finding & Filling the Gaps in Your Link Strategy

Is your link portfolio strong enough to withstand everything Google and your competitors throw at you? If you’re hyper-focused on acquisition and you ignore strategy, you can end up with a pile of weak backlinks that aren't relevant — and won't move the needle. Competitive analysis is your key to finding and filling the gaps in your link building strategy. I'll walk you through the process start-to-finish.

Areej AbuAli

SEO Consultant
Taking Charge of Your Indexability: How to Optimize and Prioritize Your Technical Work

Take charge over the indexability of your website! With a focus on aggregators and classifieds, Areej will share advice on how to best reduce index bloat for large websites. Diving into parameter handling, sitemap logic, robots directives, and more, we'll also assess how to analyze the most impactful changes, how to get sign-off from senior stakeholders, and how to prioritize work with product teams.

Brie E Anderson

Owner, Founder | BEAST Analytics
The Value of Perspective: A Use-Case for External Audits

Remember that phone call from your client? The one where they wanted to talk to you about a "free audit" another agency did for them? Let's talk about it. In this session, we'll uncover the value of audits and how they can (and should) be conducted with integrity. It's time to take back the value of perspective!

Britney Muller

Serial Entrepreneur + Data Science Student | Data Sci 101
The Cold Hard Truth about CTR

Reporting on website performance is an integral part of SEO, but not all metrics are created equal. If you think your CTR metrics are telling the full story, think again. Start building more insightful reporting methods with data science. In this session, Britney will show you how to quash your reporting woes and make easy work of identifying exactly why your website’s performance changed.

Casie Gillette

Senior Director, Digital Marketing | KoMarketing
Counterintuitive Content: How New Trends Have Disrupted Years of Bad Advice

Along with the always-shifting landscape, one of the biggest things we as marketers struggle with is the sheer volume of information. For years we were told we had to produce as much content as possible. Then we were told to focus on quality but we still had to have a consistent schedule. What about YouTube or voice search or TikTok? The fact of the matter is, there's no one way to do content marketing. In this session, we’ll look at content from an entirely different perspective and talk about how you can start creating content on your own terms.

Cyrus Shepard

SEO Consultant | Moz
Mastering 3 Click + Engagement Signals for Higher Rankings/Traffic

Successful websites are all different, yet nearly all Google-ranked websites succeed in the exact same fundamental ways. In our quest to optimize for Core Web Vitals, mobile-first indexing, and JavaScript rendering, have we lost sight of the content and user experiences that dominate the very top of Google search results? In this presentation, Cyrus explores the three Google click and engagement signals that top-ranking web pages master: clicks, long clicks, and last clicks. Using examples and experiment results, he demonstrates how any website — and SEOs of all skill levels — can leverage these signals for improved Google traffic.

Dana DiTomaso

President & Partner | Kick Point
Build for Search: Modern Web Dev That Puts SEO First

With the debut of Core Web Vitals, modern SEO is more relevant to website development than ever before. Sure, we’ve always been thinking about title tags and making sure our pages convert — but the actual underpinnings of a website might have been left to your web development team and maybe that one technical SEO. They're likely very skilled people, but the chances of them thinking about how development decisions impact SEO are typically slim to none. Let's modernize the relationship between the web development process and SEO.

Flavilla Fongang

Founder & Creative Brand Strategist | 3 Colours Rule
The Science of Purchasing Behavior: How to Use it Effectively to Attract & Convert More Prospects Into Customers

Some brands have achieved the dream: a large audience who believes in them, buying from them time and time again without questioning the value or authenticity of the products and services. And they've done it by developing an emotional connection with that audience. These days, it's more about building a community around your brand, rather than simply having clients. We'll explore the power of brand psychology that's been used by huge, successful brands such as Apple or Starbucks to earn customers that are loyal long-term.

Jackie Chu

SEO Lead, Intelligence | Uber
Internationalization Errors: How to Go Global Without Losing All Of Your Traffic

Internationalization is one of the leading causes of technical SEO debt for multinational companies. We’ll talk through common internationalization mistakes and how to avoid them so you can win visibility and grow anywhere.

Joy Hawkins

Owner | Sterling Sky Inc
To Post or Not to Post: What We Learned From Analyzing Over 1,000 Google Posts

What value do Google Posts have, and how should the average SMB prioritize them? Dive into the data from two studies conducted by Sterling Sky to answer these questions.

The first study analyzes over 1,000 Google Posts to see what types perform better based on clicks and conversions, and measures the impact of various features such as stock photos, emojis, titles, and more. The second looks at whether posting on Google has any influence on where your business ranks in the local pack. Findings from both will have you reevaluating your clients' Google posting strategy!

Joyce Collarde

SEO Supervisor | Obility
Maximize Your Conversions: Harnessing full-funnel optimization for B2B success

The long sales cycles presented in B2B pose a unique set of challenges for converting visitors into coveted users. Success requires a strategic approach that goes beyond the landing page to include your entire site. In this session, we'll look at three tried-and-true methods for increasing your conversion rate and winning more business.

Kameron Jenkins

Content Lead | Shopify
The Content Refresh: How to Do More With Less

No matter where you work, there's something we all seem to have a shortage of... time. Combine that with ambitious traffic KPIs and you'll quickly realize that a 100% new content strategy isn't sustainable. Enter the content refresh. Learn how to identify and execute the best refresh opportunities so you can rank faster and increase your existing content ROI.

Lily Ray

Senior Director, SEO & Head of Organic Research | Path Interactive
From the Medic Update to Now: How the E-A-T Ecosystem Has Transformed Organic Search

Learn why E-A-T (expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness) has taken a front seat in SEO discussions in recent years, the numerous places where Google focuses on E-A-T, and how the growing emphasis on surfacing authoritative content has drastically changed the organic search landscape across search, News, Discover, YouTube, and more.

Luke Carthy

eCommerce Consultant
The Ultimate How-To for Faceted Navigation SEO in E-commerce

One of the biggest FAQs in e-commerce: "How do you handle faceted navigation when it comes to SEO?"

We’ll ask the tough questions and answer them head-on! Join Luke as he walks through case studies, real-world examples, and how to leverage faceted navigation to really capitalize on high-converting long-tail keywords. If you're in e-commerce, you won’t want to miss this!

Miracle Inameti-Archibong

Head of SEO | Erudite Agency
Let the API Do the Work: Harnessing Natural Language for More Productive SEO

Keyword research is a vital process in getting insights into your consumer behaviour. However, it is often a very manual and labor-intensive process. How can we speed up the process so we can get to working on our implementations and getting results? Miracle walks through practical ways marketers can use APIs to do the heavy lifting and save time.

Noah Learner

Product Director | Two Octobers
Game-Changing Ways to Use the Google Search Console API

Let’s face it, you aren’t getting what you want from your keyword data. Unlock your newest SEO secret weapon with this deep dive into the power of the Google Search Console API. This game-changing tool will help you crush the competition, sell SEO to your team, and win prospects with deep SEO insights you had no idea were available.

Dr. Pete Meyers

Marketing Scientist | Moz
Rule Your Rivals: From Data to Action

Most competitive analysis ends in an avalanche of potential keywords to target, leaving you buried in indecision. Real case studies will show you how to forge your data into an actionable plan that drives strategic, targeted content. Escape from under the keyword pile and conquer your content rivals.

Rob Ousbey

VP Strategy | Moz
Beyond the Basics: 5 SEO Tricks for Uncovering Advanced Insights from Your SEO Data

Modern SEOs have no shortage of data, but you could learn even MORE about your site, content, links, and competitors by working smarter, not harder. Rob will show you how to breathe new life into your standard SEO data, and walk away with more advanced insights that are sure to impress your team (and your boss!)

Ross Simmonds

Founder, CEO | Foundation Marketing
Why Marketers Should Think More Like Investors To Drive Content Results

Every single piece of content your brand creates is an asset. So why do we view them as an expense? In this session, Ross will talk about the parallels between content marketing/SEO and the world of investing. From the techniques that take blog posts and landing pages to the moon ???? to the fundamentals of content investing to create a competitive advantage, learn how an investment mindset can drive results

Shannon McGuirk

Client Services and Delivery Director | Aira
Doing the Perfectly (Im)Possible: Debunking Digital PR & Link Building Myths in 2021

“You better be pitching that campaign into the press before 9am and definitely not on a Friday or Monday!”
“Link relevancy is important if you’re a link builder, but if you're a digital PR, it doesn't really matter.”
“You're asking the impossible to get links to category and product pages.”

Tired of hearing bold claims and questions like these? We are too.

Shannon is going to challenge many of the digital PR and link building myths you're seeing debated on Twitter. From the old classic myths that stand the test of time and are always asked, through to new beliefs that are hot topics, she's going to use data, insights and case studies to show you how to cover come some of these beliefs and improve your link building and digital PR efforts in 2021.

Tom Capper

Senior Search Scientist | Moz
The Fast & The Spurious: Core Web Vitals & SEO

Core Web Vitals are all the rage, but do they live up to the hype? Tom explores the real SEO impact of Google’s shiny new metrics, which ones you actually need to worry about, and how to prioritize fixes.

Wil Reynolds

Founder & Vice President of Innovation | Seer Interactive
The 3 Most Important Search Marketing Tools…Your Heart, Your Brain, & Your [Small] Ego

Search is a game of rankings. Only one can win the #1 spot and small tweaks can mean the difference between ranking #1 and #5. If you’re using the same tools as everyone else, what competitive advantage are you bringing to the table? Wil shows you how to transform your data into winning insights with 3 tools everyone has at their fingertips: your heart, your head, and a willingness to question everything you thought was true about SEO.

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We hope to see your smiling faces online in July!

Yes, I'm going to MozCon!

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

SEO Website Analytics: Going One Step Deeper Into GA

Posted by Brie-E-Anderson

Website analytics can tell us a lot about our audience and how they interact with our site. Oftentimes, we rely heavily on these analytics for reporting. But what if I told you that Google Analytics provides data that can be used as a strategy tool?

In this post, we are going to quickly look at three very specific, very actionable Google Analytics views for uncovering SEO opportunities.

Track Core Web Vitals

Google has verified that Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), First Input Delay (FID), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) are now part of the Page Experience ranking factor. These metrics together make up Core Web Vitals. This topic has already been covered many times in the SEO industry, and Google itself has covered the topic along with how to measure the metrics, so we won’t dive too deep into the metrics themselves.

In the documentation provided by Google, they break down how you can pull LCP, FID, and CLS in data into Google Analytics. This can be done by setting up custom events using the code found on GitHub.

Upon setting up those events, you’ll be able to see all of the Core Web Vital metrics in Google Analytics. They will show up when you go to Google Analytics > Behavior > Events > Top Events and toggle over to Event Action. To get further insight into how each page is performing in each category, use a secondary dimension of Page.

Source: Noise to Signal

To find the underperforming pages, use advanced filters to look for pages that fall under the “good” benchmark according to Google.

Using this data, you can tackle Core Web Vitals head-on and keep a close eye on performance as you make changes.

Find and fix 404s

The last thing you want is for people to finally come to your site just to be sent to an “Oops” page. This can happen for a variety of reasons: a mis-shared link, a forgotten redirect, a misspelled word in the URL, etc. It’s important to find these pages early and set up a fix right away to create the best possible experience for users.

The easiest way I’ve found to identify these URLs is to navigate to a page I know doesn’t exist on my website. For example, you may type in example.com/roger-rocks, then, when the page loads a 404, grab the title tag. Now you can navigate to Google Analytics > Behavior > All Pages and toggle over to Page Title. Once here, do a search using the title tag of your 404 page.

You’ll be shown one row with all of the stats for your 404 page. If you click on the title name, you’ll be presented with a new screen with all of the URLs that resulted in a 404 page. These are the URLs you need to research, determine why people are going to them, and then decide what you need to fix.

Again, those fixes may require creating or fixing a redirect, fixing a link (internal or external), creating content for that URL, and so on.

Find and capitalize on easy traffic opportunities

Search Console is a great tool for SEOs, as it gives us insights into how we’re performing in the search engine result pages. The downfall of Search Console is that the filtering options make it tough to manipulate the data — this isn’t the case with Google Analytics.

In Google Analytics, under Acquisition, you’ll find Search Console. If you have correctly connected your Google Analytics account with Search Console, your position, CTR, query, and landing page data should all be there.

So, if you go to Google Analytics > Acquisition > Search Console > Query, you can use the advanced search bar to help you find the data you want. In this case, let’s include Average Position less than 10, include Average Position greater than 3, and include CTR of less than 5%.



After applying this search filter, you'll find a list of keywords you currently rank well enough for, but that could use just a little boost. Increasing the CTR may be as simple as testing new title tags and meta descriptions. A higher CTR may lead to an increase in rankings, but even if it doesn’t, it will lead to an increase in traffic.

Pro tip: track your changes

The only way to know what is affecting your traffic is to track your changes. If you update a page, fix a link, or add a new resource, it may be enough to change your rankings.

I find that tracking my changes in the annotations section in Google Analytics allows me to deduce potential effects at a glance. When a date has an annotation, there is a small icon on the timeline to let you know a change was made. If you see a bigger (or smaller) than usual peak after the icon, it could be a hint that your change had an impact.

But remember, correlation does not always equal causation! As Dr. Pete would say, run your own tests. This is just meant to be a quick reference check.

In conclusion

Google Analytics is often used for reporting and tracking. But, that same data should be used to put a strategy into action.

By taking your analytics just a step further, you can unlock serious opportunities.

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

Featured Snippets: Not Gone, Just on Holiday (Apparently)

Posted by Dr-Pete

On February 19, 2021, we measured a dramatic drop in Featured Snippets on Google SERPs in the US. Like any responsible data scientist, I waited to make sure it wasn't a fluke, did my homework, and published when I was sure I was onto something. Then, this happened (30-day view):

C'MON, GOOGLE! I did all these beautiful analyses, found a lovely connection between Featured Snippet losses, YMYL queries, and head terms, and then you go and make me look like a chump?!

Is there anything we can learn from this strange turn of events? Do I really need this stress? Should I just go pour myself a cocktail? Stay tuned for none of these answers and more!

You want more data? Ok, fine, I guess...

Could this recovery be a fluke of the 10,000-keyword MozCast data set? It's unlikely, but let's dot our i's and cross our t's. Here's the Featured Snippet data from the same time period across roughly 2.2M US/desktop keywords in the STAT data set:

So, this gets a lot messier. We saw a significant drop on February 19, followed by a partial recovery, followed by an even larger drop, finally landing (for now) on a total recovery.

Our original study of the drop showed dramatic differences by query length. Here's a breakdown by four word-count buckets for the before and after Featured Snippet prevalence (the data points are February 18, February 19, and March 12):

You can plainly see that the bulk of the losses were in one-word queries, with longer queries showing minor but far less dramatic drops. All query lengths recovered by March 12.

Who really came back from holiday?

If you take two kids on vacation and come back with two kids, it's all good, right? What if the kids who came back weren't the same? What if they were robots? Or clones? Or robot clones?

Is it possible that the pages that were awarded Featured Snippets after the recovery were different from the ones from before the drop? A simple count doesn't tell us the whole story, even if we slice-and-dice it. This turns out to be a complicated problem. First of all, we have to consider that — in addition to the URL of the Featured Snippet changing — a keyword could gain or lose a Featured Snippet entirely. Consider this comparison of pre-drop and post-recovery:

Looking at the keywords in MozCast that had Featured Snippets on February 18, 79% of those same keywords still had Featured Snippets on March 12. So, we're down 21% already. If we narrow the focus to keywords that retained their Featured Snippets and displayed the same page/URL in those Featured, we're down to 60% of the original set.

That seems like a big drop, but we also have to consider that three weeks (22 days, to be precise) passed between the drop and recovery. How much change is normal for three weeks? For comparison's sake, let's look at the Featured Snippet stability for the 22 days prior to the drop:

While these numbers are a bit better than the post-recovery numbers, we're still seeing about three out of 10 keywords either losing a Featured Snippet or changing the Featured Snippet URL. Keep in mind that Featured Snippets are pulled directly from page-one organic results, so they're constantly in flux as the algorithm and the content of the web evolve.

Are Featured Snippets staying home?

It's impossible to say whether the original drop was deliberate on Google's part, an unintentional consequence of another (deliberate) change, or entirely a bug. Honestly, given the focus of the drop on so-called "head" queries and YMYL (Your Money, Your Life) queries, I thought this was a deliberate change that was here to stay. Without knowing why so many Featured Snippets went away, I can't tell you why they came back, and I can't tell you how long to expect them to stay around.

What we can assume is that Google will continue to evaluate Featured Snippet quality, especially for queries where result quality is critical (including YMYL queries) or where Google displays Knowledge Panels and other curated information. Nothing is guaranteed, and no tactic is future-proof. We can only continue to measure and adapt.

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

The Local Finder vs. Google Maps: How Different Are They?

Posted by MiriamEllis

Google must be one of the most experimental enterprises the world has ever known. When it comes to the company’s local search interfaces, rather than rolling them all out as a single, cohesive whole, they have emerged in piecemeal fashion over two decades with different but related feature sets, unique URLs, and separate branding. Small wonder that confusion arises in dialog about aspects of local search. You, your agency coworkers, and your clients may find yourselves talking at cross-purposes about local rankings simply because you’re all looking at them on different interfaces!

Such is certainly the case with Google Maps vs. the object we call the Google Local Finder. Even highly skilled organic SEOs at your agency may not understand that these are two different entities which can feature substantially different local business rankings.

Today we’re going to clear this up, with a side-by-side comparison of the two user experiences, expert quotes, and a small, original case study that demonstrates and quantifies just how different rankings are between these important interfaces.

Methodology

I manually gathered both Google Maps and Local Finder rankings across ten different types of geo-modified, local intent search phrases and ten different towns and cities across the state of California. I looked at differences both across search phrase and across locale, observing those brands which ranked in the top 10 positions for each query. My queries were remote (not performed within the city nearest me) to remove the influence of proximity and establish a remote baseline of ranking order for each entry. I tabulated all data in a spreadsheet to discover the percentage of difference in the ranked results.

Results of my study of Google Maps vs. the Local Finder

Before I roll out the results, I want to be sure I’ve offered a good definition of these two similar but unique Google platforms. Any user performing a local search (like “best tacos san jose”) can take two paths for deep local results:

1. Path one starts with a local pack, typically made up of three results near the top of the organic search results. If clicked on, the local pack takes the user to the Local Finder, which expands on the local pack to feature multiple listings, accompanied by a map. These types of results exist on google.com/search.
2. Path two may start on any Android device that features Google Maps by default, or it can begin on a desktop device by clicking the “Maps” tab above the organic SERPs. These types of results look quite similar to the Local Finder, with their list of ranked businesses and associated map, but they exist on google.com/maps.

Here’s a side-by-side comparison:

At first glance, these two user experiences look fairly similar with some minor formatting and content differences, but the URLs are distinct, and what you might also notice in this screenshot is that the rankings, themselves, are different. In this example, the results are, in fact, startlingly different.

I’d long wanted to quantify for myself just how different Maps and Local Finder results are, and so I created a spreadsheet to track the following:

1. Ten search phrases of different types including some head terms and some longer-tail terms with more refined intent.
2. Ten towns and cities from all parts of the big state of California covering a wide population ration. Angels Camp, for example, has a population of just 3,875 residents, while LA is home to nearly 4 million people.

I found that, taken altogether, the average difference in Local Finder vs. Maps results was 18.2% across all cities. The average difference was 18.5% across all search phrases. In other words, nearly one-fifth of the results on the two platforms didn’t match.

Here’s a further breakdown of the data:

Average percentage of difference by search phrase

• burgers (11%)
• grocery store (19%)
• Pediatrician (12%)
• personal injury attorney (18%)
• house cleaning service (10%)
• electric vehicle dealer (16%)
• best tacos (11%)
• cheapest tax accountant (41%)
• nearby attractions (8%)
• women’s clothing (39%)

Average percentage of difference by city

• Angels Camp (28%)
• San Jose (15%)
• San Rafael (24%)
• San Francisco (4%)
• Sacramento (16%)
• Los Angeles (25%)
• Monterey (14%)
• San Diego (16%)
• Eureka (25%)
• Grass Valley (15%)

While many keyword/location combos showed 0% difference between the two platforms, others featured degrees of difference of 20%, 30%, 50%, 70%, and even 100%.

It would have been lovely if this small study surfaced any reliable patterns for us. For example, looking at the fact that the small, rural town of Angels Camp was the locale with the most diverse SERPs (28%), one might think that the smaller the community, the greater the variance in rankings. But such an idea founders when observing that the city with the second-most variability in LA (25%).

Similarly, looking at the fact that a longer-tail search like “cheapest tax accountant” featured the most differences (41%), it could be tempting to theorize that greater refinement in search intent yields more varied results. But then we see that “best tacos” results were only 11% different across Google Maps and the Local Finder. So, to my eyes, there is no discernible pattern from this limited data set. Perhaps narratives might emerge if we pulled thousands of SERPs.

For now, all we can say with confidence is that we’ve proven that there’s a good chance that the rankings a business enjoys in Google’s Local Finder frequently will not match their rankings in Google Maps. Individual results sets for keyword/locale combos may vary not at all, somewhat, substantially, or totally.

Maps vs. Finders: What’s the diff, and why?

The above findings from our study naturally lead to the question: why are the results for the same query different on the two Google platforms? For commentary on this, I asked three of my favorite local SEOs for theories on the source of the variance, and any other notable variables they’ve observed.

GatherUp Co-Founder Mike Blumenthal says:

“I think that the differences are driven by the subtle differences of the 'view port' aspect ratio and size differences in the two environments. The viewport effectively defines the cohort of listings that are relevant enough to show. If it is larger, then there are likely more listings eligible, and if one of those happens to be strong, then the results will vary.”

Here’s an illustration of what Mike is describing. When we look at the results for the same search in the Local Finder and Google Maps, side by side, we often see that the area shown on the map is different at the automatic zoom level:

Uberall Solutions Engineer Krystal Taing confirms this understanding, with additional details:

“Typically when I begin searches in Maps, I am seeing a broader area of results being served as well as categories of businesses. The results in the Local Finder are usually more specific and display more detail about the businesses. The Maps-based results are delivered in a manner that show users desire discovery and browsing. This is different from the Local Finder in that these results tend to be more absolute and about Google pushing pre-determined businesses and information to be evaluated by the user.”

Krystal is a GMB Gold Product Expert, and her comment was the first time I’d ever heard an expert of her caliber define how Google might view the intent of Maps vs. Finder searchers differently. Fascinating insight!

Sterling Sky Founder Joy Hawkins highlights further differences in UX and reporting between the two platforms:

“What varies is mainly the features that Google shows. For example, products will show up on the listing in the Local Finder but not on Google Maps and attribute icons (women-led, Black-owned, etc.) show up on Google Maps but not in the Local Finder. Additionally, searches done in the Local Finder get lumped in with search in Google My Business (GMB) Insights whereas searches on Maps are reported on separately. Google is now segmenting it by platform and device as well.”

In sum, Google Maps vs. Local Finder searchers can have a unique UX, at least in part, because Google may surface a differently-mapped area of search and can highlight different listing elements. Meanwhile, local business owners and their marketers will discover variance in how Google reports activity surrounding these platforms.

What should you do about the Google Maps vs. Local Finder variables?

As always, there is nothing an individual can do to cause Google to change how it displays local search results. Local SEO best practices can help you move up in whatever Google displays, but you can’t cause Google to change the radius of search it is showing on a given platform.

That being said, there are three things I recommend for your consideration, based on what we’ve learned from this study.

1. See if Google Maps is casting a wider net than the Local Finder for any of your desired search phrases.

I want to show you the most extreme example of the difference between Maps and the Local Finder that I discovered during my research. First, the marker here locates the town of Angels Camp in the Sierra foothills in east California:

For the search “personal injury attorney angels camp”, note the area covered by map at the automatic zoom level accompanying the Local Finder results:

The greatest distance between any two points in this radius of results is about 100 miles.

Now, contrast this with the same search as it appears at the automatic zoom level on Google Maps:

Astonishingly, Google is returning a tri-state result for this search in Maps. The greatest distance between two pins on this map is nearly 1,000 miles!

As I mentioned, this was the most extreme case I saw. Like most local SEOs, I’ve spent considerable time explaining to clients who want to rank beyond their location that the further a user gets from the brand’s place of business, the less likely they are to see it come up in their local results. Typically, your best chance of local pack rankings begins with your own neighborhood, with a decent chance for some rankings within your city, and then a lesser chance beyond your city’s borders.

But the different behavior of Maps could yield unique opportunities. Even if what’s happening in your market is more moderate, in terms of the radius of results, my advice is to study the net Google is casting for your search terms in Maps. If it is even somewhat wider than what the Local Finder yields, and there is an aspect of the business that would make it valuable to bring in customers from further afield, this might indicate that some strategic marketing activities could potentially strengthen your position in these unusual results.

For example, one of the more distantly-located attorneys in our example might work harder to get clients from Angels Camp to mention this town name in their Google-based reviews, or might publish some Google posts about Angels Camp clients looking for the best possible lawyer regardless of distance, or publish some website content on the same topic, or look to build some new relationships and links within this more distant community. All of this is very experimental, but quite intriguing to my mind. We’re in somewhat unfamiliar territory here, so don’t be afraid to try and test things!

As always, bear in mind that all local search rankings are fluid. For verticals which primarily rely on the narrowest user-to-business proximity ratios for the bulk of transactions, more remote visibility may have no value. A convenience store, for example, is unlikely to garner much interest from faraway searchers. But for many industries, any one of these three criteria could make a larger local ranking radius extremely welcome:

• The business model is traditionally associated with traveling some distance to get to it, like hotels or attractions (thinking post-pandemic here).
• Rarity of the goods or services being offered makes the business worth driving to from a longer distance. This is extremely common in rural areas with few nearby options.
• The business has implemented digital shopping on its website due to the pandemic and would now like to sell to as many customers as possible in a wider region with either driver delivery or traditional shipping as the method of fulfillment.

If any of those scenarios fits a local brand you’re marketing, definitely look at Google Maps behavior for focus search phrases.

2. Flood Google with every possible detail about the local businesses you’re marketing

As Joy Hawkins mentioned, above, there can be many subtle differences between the elements Google displays within listings on their two platforms. Look at how hours are included in the Maps listing for this taco shop, but that they’re absent from the Finder. The truth is, Google changes the contents of the various local interfaces so often that even the experts are constantly asking themselves and one another if some element is new.

The good news is, you don’t need to spend a minute worrying about minutiae here if you make just 5 commitments:

• Fill out every field you possibly can in the Google My Business dashboard
• Add to this a modest investment in non-dashboard elements like Google Questions and Answers which exist on the Google Business Profile
• Be sure your website is optimized for the terms you want to rank for
• Earn publicity on the third-party websites Google uses as the “web results” references on your listings. I

I realize this is a tall order, but it’s also basic, good local search marketing and if you put in the work, Google will have plenty to surface about your locations, regardless of platform variables.

3. Study Google Maps with an eye to the future

Google Maps, as an entity, launched in 2005, with mobile app development spanning the next few years. The Local Finder, by contrast, has only been with us since 2015. Because local packs default to the Local Finder, it’s my impression that local SEO industry study has given the lion’s share of research to these interfaces, rather than to Google Maps.

Yet, Maps is the golden oldie in Google’s timeline (albeit one Google has handled irreverently with the rise and fall of the Map Maker community), and Maps has been shown to have three times more impressions than search, in one recent study. Maps is the default app on Android devices, and other mobile brand users often prefer it, too. Most intriguingly, Google is appearing to toy with the idea of replacing the Local Finder with Maps, though nothing has come of this yet.

I would suggest that 2021 is a good year to spend more time looking at Google Maps, interacting with it, and going down its rabbit holes into the weird walled garden Google continues to build into this massive interface. I recommend this, because I feel it’s only a matter of time before Google tidies up its piecemeal, multi-decade rollout of disconnected local interfaces via consolidation, and Maps has the history at Google to become the dominant version.

Summing up

Image credit: Ruparch

We’ve learned today that Google Maps rankings are, on average, nearly 20% different than Local Finder rankings, that this may stem, in part, from unique view port ratios, that it’s possible Google may view the intent of users on the two platforms differently, and that there are demonstrable variables in the listing content Google displays when we look at two listings side-by-side. We’ve also looked at some scenarios in which verticals that could benefit from a wider consumer radius would be smart to study Google Maps in the year ahead.

I want to close with some encouragement for everyone participating in the grand experiment of Google’s mapping project. The above photo is of the Bedolina Map, which was engraved on a rock in the Italian alps sometime around 500 BC. It is one of the oldest-known topographic maps, plotting out pathways, agricultural fields, villages, and the people who lived there. Consider it the Street View of the Iron Age.

I’m sharing this image because it’s such a good reminder that your work as a local SEO linked to digital cartography is just one leg of a very long journey which, by nature, requires a willingness to function in an experimental environment. If you can communicate this state of permanent change to clients, it can decrease stress on both sides of your next Zoom meeting. Rankings rise and fall, and as we’ve seen, they even differ across closely-related platforms, making patience essential and a big-picture view of overall growth very grounding. Keep studying, and help us all out on the mapped path ahead by sharing what you learn with our community.

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Looking to increase your general knowledge of local search marketing? Read The Essential Local SEO Strategy Guide

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Stop Asian Hate

Posted by SarahBird

We condemn the horrific acts of hate and violence targeting the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community, which culminated in the tragic mass shooting in Georgia on March 17th. We mourn the loss of life and grieve with the families that have been broken by this latest racist, misogynistic hate crime.

This is not an isolated incident. We must acknowledge the widespread examples of violence and prejudice, bigotry, and intolerance that have been building for some time. We've seen attacks on elders in the Asian community. Children face bullying from peers. There has been workplace discrimination, street harassment, violence, and vandalism. Since the beginning of the pandemic, hate crimes against Asians have increased tremendously. Anti-Asian racism is not new, but it's been fueled by dangerous false rhetoric surrounding COVID-19. I challenge myself and my community to recognize the painful history of anti-Asian racism, to learn and understand the experience of AAPI individuals, and to use the power and privilege we have to stand up to bigotry.

Why are we discussing this now?

To do the work of combating hate in every corner of our society, we need to hold conversations about these issues, loudly and often. At Moz, we have a platform that allows us to shine a light on the darkness we're facing. We have privilege that allows us to confront the uncomfortable. Silence allows hatred to flourish; discussion and accountability weeds it from the root.

What can we all do to combat AAPI hate and support the AAPI community?

Hatred shrinks from bravery. If you witness someone experiencing anti-Asian sentiment or discrimination, use bystander intervention training to inform your response. Intervene and educate friends and family that perpetuate harmful stereotypes, letting them know hatred cannot be tolerated. Seek out resources to educate yourself and share with your circle of influence. Show compassion and empathy to your AAPI friends, family, and coworkers, offering space before it's asked. Listen to and amplify AAPI voices. Find and patronize local AAPI-owned small businesses — Intentionalist is a fantastic tool to use here. Support organizations fighting to make the world a fairer, safer place for all — we'll share a few in the Resources section below.

Perhaps most importantly, have courage. We cannot allow hate to go unchecked. Be brave. Be loud. Say no to hate.

Resources
Many thanks to Kim Saira and Annie Wu Henry for compiling resources and education on this topic.

• Free bystander intervention training
• Intentionalist: Discover and patronize your diverse local small businesses.
• Anti-Hate Safety Resources from the Asian American Federation
• Stop AAPI Hate

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Every Metric Is A Vanity Metric

Posted by Dr-Pete

Marketers can get caught up in specific metrics, focusing on those data points that make you look good in reporting, but don’t help you understand your performance. 

In this week’s episode of Whiteboard Friday, Dr. Pete discusses the vanity we bring to the metrics we track, and how to take a better, more realistic view of your results.

Click on the whiteboard image above to open a high resolution version in a new tab!

Video Transcription

Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Whiteboard Friday. I'm Dr. Pete, the Marketing Scientist for Moz, and I want to talk to you today about vanity metrics. 

So I think we all have an intuition of what that means, but what I want to discuss today is I think we get caught up in this being about specific metrics. To me, the problem isn't the metrics themselves. The problem is the vanity. So I want to talk about us and what we bring to metrics, and how to do better no matter what the metric is. 

SEO metric funnel

So I want to start with this kind of simplistic SEO funnel of metrics, starting with ranking.

Ranking

Ranking via click-through rate delivers traffic. Traffic via conversion rate delivers leads or sales or conversions or whatever you want to call them, the money. Then beyond that, we might have some more advanced metrics, like lifetime value, that kind of get into revenue over time or profit over time. Naturally, over time we've moved down this funnel and kind of put our attention more at the bottom, at the bottom line and the dollars.

That makes sense. I think it's good that we've gotten away from metrics like hits. In the early days, when a page counted more because it had 200 images and 73 JavaScript files, that's not so great, right? We know now that's probably bad in some cases. But it's possible to hold that mirror up to any of these metrics and get caught up in the vanity.

I know we're used to this with rankings and traffic. We've all had customers that wanted to go after certain very specific head terms or vanity terms as we call them, that really weren't delivering results or maybe cost a lot or were very competitive.

Traffic

Traffic, okay, traffic is good. But if you've ever had a piece of viral content that went really big but ended up not driving any conversions because it had nothing to do with your site, you know that's not so great.

In fact, traffic by itself could be bad. You could be overloading your server. You could be stopping legitimate customers from buying. So bringing people to your site for no reason or the wrong people isn't that great. 

Sales and lifetime value

So I know it's easy to look at this and say, "Okay, but come on, sales. The bottom line is the bottom line." Well, I'll give you an example.

Let's say you have a big sale and you set everything to 50% off, and you bring in a ton of new sales and a ton of revenue. But let's say I tell you that your profit margins were 20%. Is that a good thing? You just cost yourself a lot of money. Now maybe you had another agenda and you're hoping to bring them back, or there's a branding aspect. But by itself we don't know necessarily if that's a great thing.

Just making more revenue isn't so great. Even profit or something like lifetime value, this is an example based in real life, but I'm going to change it a little bit to protect the innocent. Let's say you were a small company and you owned some kind of an asset. You owned some intellectual property, or you owned a piece of physical property and you sold that one year at significant profit, big margins.

Then you look and you say, "Wow, this year we made 50% profits, and next year we're going to try to make 70% based on that number." That would be a really terrible idea because that was a one-time thing, and you're not taking that into account. This is a bit of a stretch. But it's possible even to take profit or something like lifetime value or EBITDA even out of context, and even though it's a more complex metric or it's farther down the funnel, you could miss something important about what that number really means.

The three Rs

So that's the first thing. Is this a real result? Is that number going up necessarily good by itself? Without the context, you can't know that. The second thing where I think we really need to look at the entire funnel and not get focused too far down is repairs, fixing what's broken.

So let's say you track sales. Sales are going great. Everything is going well. Everybody is happy. The dollar bills are coming in. Then it stops, or it starts to drop significantly. If you don't know what happened above this, you can't do anything to fix it.

So if you don't know that your traffic dropped, if you don't know that your click-through rate dropped, and let's say your traffic dropped, you don't know why it dropped, which pages, which keywords, what rankings were affected, did you have lower rankings, or did you have rankings on less keywords, you can't go back and fix this and figure out what happened. So tracking that bottom line number isn't enough.

At that point, that has become a vanity metric. That's become something that you're celebrating, but you're not really understanding how you got there. I think we're all aware of that to a point. Maybe we don't do it, but we know we should. But the other thing I miss I think sometimes and that we miss is something I'm going to refer to as replication.

Yes, I tried a little too hard to get three R's in here. But this is repeating success. If something works and you get a bunch of sales, even if it's high margin, you get profitable sales, but you don't know what you did, you don't know what really drove that, where did the traffic come from, what was the source of that, was it specific pieces of content, was it specific keywords, what campaign was that tied to, you can't replicate that success.

So it's not just about fixing something when it's broken and when the dollars start to dry up, but when things go well, not just celebrating, but going back and trying to work up the funnel and figuring out what you did right, because if you don't know what you did right, you can't do it again. 

So three R's. Results, consider the context of the metric. Repairs, be able to work up the funnel and know what's broken. If things go well, replication. Be able to repeat your successes and hopefully do it again. 

So again, vanity, it's not in the metric. It's in us. You can have vanity with any of these things. So don't get caught up in any one thing. Consider the whole funnel.

I hope you can avoid the mistakes, and I hope you can repeat your successes. Thanks a lot, and I'll see you next time. Bye-bye.

Video transcription by Speechpad.com

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