Website Stickiness

Have you ever gone to a website and felt that the website was just not what you were looking for?  Chances are you visited only a page or two and left in just seconds.  If so you may not realize it but you also sent a message to Google saying, "I did not like this website".

Maybe a few minutes later you went to another website that you found through Google (while searching for the same words) and liked not only the appearance, but also the text and pictures you found there.  Maybe you went to a dozen pages on this site, looked at several pictures and visited half a dozen pages.  Again, you sent a message to Google without your knowledge saying, "I liked this website".

Google now compares the results based on your two website visits and guesses that you liked the second website much better than the first.  At this point Google reduces it's recommendation (ranking points) for the first website you visited and raised it's recommendation (ranking points) for the second website.  If enough people do the same thing Google will move the first website down in it's rankings and the second website up.

How Does Google Know?

Google uses a small program (cookie) to monitor your actions on the Internet. The cookie gets installed when you visit Google.  Google is then able to track every second you spend on any website Google recommended to you.  Google can also see how many pages you visited, what pages you visited, if you sent an email from the website, if you printed any of the pages, if you saved the website to favorite places and also if you came back and visited the website a 2nd, 3rd or 4th time.  Google then assumes the more you did on the website and the more time you spent on it the more you liked it.

What is Website Stickiness?

Website stickiness refers to the ability of your website to keep people interested in staying a long time, visit a lot of pages and come back over and over again.

Why is Stickiness Important?

If people leave your website after visiting only one page and never come back Google will lower your rankings (Non-sticky website). If people stay forever, visit every page and come back over and over again (Sticky Website) then Google will rank your website higher for the phrases you already rank for and then start ranking your website for more and more phrases (opportunities to get more people into your website).

How do I Increase My Websites Stickiness?

Interesting pictures and text are the major keys to website stickiness.  If you have cheap looking pictures people will leave almost instantly.  If your text reads like an advertisement or is boring people will leave very quickly. If your text is impersonal (about you instead of about them) people will leave much faster than the text is about them.

Home and About Pages

The "Home Page" and "About Page" of your website are the two most important places to be interesting (sticky).  You either interest people here or they never even bother to look at the rest of your website.  Should you choose to work with us in the future we would be happy to assist you in creating a "Home" and "About" pages that are both interesting and sticky.

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