Forum Moderators: DixonJones
Finally, I made up a chart. I counted how many sites displayed hit counters.
Sites 1-10: Only one had a visible hit counter.
Sites 11-20: Two sites had a visible HC.
Sites 21-30: Four sites had a visible HC .. and so on.
It appears that sites displaying hit counters tend toward lower rankings!
This is for one narrow niche only, not a statistically valid study.
I have two theories. Maybe you have more or better ones:
a) Crappy / tacky sites display hit counters -and- such sites will rank poorly anyhow.
(i.e. no direct cause-effect relationship.)
b) Hit counter sites AREe discriminated against, on the grounds that they are
"hit-hungry", and/or liable to play dirty tricks.
I would like to keep my hit counter showing, its a fast check of traffic for me.
IF, however, its of any real ranking disadvantage, I'll take it down in a flash.
Should I take the HC down just to avoid the appearance of 'tackiness', regardless of SERPs?
Any thoughts? -Larry
no direct cause-effect relationship.
Correct.
Should I take the HC down just to avoid the appearance of 'tackiness', regardless of SERPs?
If tacky is not what you're aiming for then yes. And I would get some stats software on your server instead. The information provided by a hit counter is next to useless.
TJ
The site is non-commercial, but well researched.
I do NOT want to present a tacky, amateurish or juvenile looking front page.
Anyone else? - LH
A counter can actually be helpful to the user. They will realize that they are on a widely used page(if it is). On the other hand, the count can easily be 'upped' by the webmaster.
For the record, I don't use them.
[edited by: Birdman at 2:15 pm (utc) on Dec. 18, 2004]
I like having the number right there, something like a temperature guage on a car
versus an idiot light. I rely on my access_log files for real data.
I'm just trying to feel out opinions. Any input is very welcome. - Larry
The reason why the hit counter doesn't appear on the pages at the top of the SERPs is because it does look tacky, and the people at the top of the SERPs have a lot more at stake in their websites so they want to avoid tackiness.
I have a free hit counter on my blog, and the blog does great in the SERPs. I can put a page up, and a day later I may find it getting significant search engine traffic.
The free hit counter place offers an upgrade option where you don't have to display it, but it costs more money per month than inexpensive web hosting!
Regardless of opinions about looks, do some testing to see how much difference the counter you're using makes to your page's loading speed, especially for dialup users. That might help you decide what to do.
It appears that sites displaying hit counters tend toward lower rankings!
I suspect that same people that think a hit counter is "important" are going to be making the same mistakes that affect their ranking in search engines.
As for looking tacky, I've got a few peeves that I've come to know as Stupid Web Tricks, and HC's are one of them. :-D
