do Google visitors stay?

or does it just bring a lot of quick glances at a page

[annej]

I've been looking at my stats and it appears to me that my visitors from bookmarks and links from outside sites bring tend to stay on the site longer. Perhaps it's because when people are searching there are so many sites to look at they just take a glance and occasionally bookmark to come back later.

This is not to say we shouldn't optimize for Google. It's still the best way for people interested in our topic and/or product to find our sites using a search. Google and those searches that use Google results still bring in by far the greatest number of hits through search engines.

I'm just trying to put it all into a bit of perspective. It seems to me a huge challenge is to figure out a way to get these visitors to stay and browse through the site for a while.

Annd

[hakre]

hi!

maybe you should analyze the searchwords people coming from google are using. maybe they are too lazy to read the description google offers, so they take a look ony your page to get their own impression.

on my site, most of the staying users are coming directly out of my software and read all online help stuff, but linked or googled users come to download first. only some of them look on the screenshots or extended options at all.

[SlyOldDog]

Yes, the search terms people can find you on are not always related to your site.

We are number 2 for a very big spanish search term, but it's of no value to us because it's only when you make it into a 2 word phrase that it will bring us customers.

About 90% of people who visit our site hit the back button within 10 seconds. I guess that's pretty normal. I do the same when I am surfing with Google.

[Liane]

I don't know, I estimate that approximately 80% of my sales come from Google. I know this to be very close to accurate as on my inquiry form I ask, "How did you find [company name here] and the answer is almost always Google. Yahoo and MSN come in 2nd and 3rd.

If the lead turns into a sale, I keep track of which search engine sent the customer.

[MeditationMan]

I find that 20% of people hit the back button after viewing my index page. That's down from 27% back in November, just before I changed the main image to something that I like less but the punters clearly prefer. Funny how such a small thing can make such a difference.

The extra people staying on (and presumably bookmarking and returning later) will make this my best month to date for overall traffic, despite the fact that our search engine referals are at about 2/3 of what they were in September.

Like Ann, I'm feeling much more relaxed about my position in Google now.

[taxpod]

Even if you have a truly sticky site, you are going to get a lot of marginal traffic from any search engine. I think the trick is to get exposure to potentially return visitors. That's the whole reason for getting search engine traffic to begin with. Your traffic is bascially made of of 1) return visitors who specifically want your site, 2) clicks in from other sites related to your topic and advertising you've placed, and 3) the search engine traffic. Obviously "1" is the best and "2" is second best. But without "3" you don't get exposed to others in your topic who might not know about you but once they do, they'll link to you. Also you want to get tons of traffic from people who may not know if your site is what they are looking for. These different sorts of traffic complement each other so none is really of greater importance than the others.

[daamsie]

I have found that my best visitors are from good links from other sites.. in particular being a 'featured' link or the likes, but I guess that's only to be expected.. the visitors are explained what your site's going to be like before they visit, which means they've already decided to have more of a look around - it only makes sense really.

I think it is a challenge to keep SE visitors though.. particularly when they don't click through to a front page, but rather one of the sub-pages.. Focussing on making each of the sub-pages as attractive as possible and as well linked as possible to the rest of the site is I think the main thing to concentrate on in getting SE traffic to stick.. If people a) get what they were after on the page they visit and b) find it easy to browse through to the rest of the site.. I think you stand a better chance of keeping them for a while!

Another thing is analyzing the keyphrases that people are using to get to your site.. Judging by the keyphrases, you should be able to get an idea of what people were after and then consider whether you were offering them enough value for their visit. If their search was totally unrelated, then don't bother, but if their search was related to your site's topic and they didn't stay for long, then it probably wouldn't hurt to revisit the design or content displayed.

[annej]

I'm sure that visitors from bookmarks and other sites will always stay longer but I'd like to get those search engine visitors to stay longer.

I did check the search phrases people are coming in on and almost all are right on topic, they are finding pretty much what they are looking for.

I also have a left column linking back to important pages on my site. Near the top of each page just under the title of the article I have a teaser line written to entice the reader into the article. I really can't think of anything I could do on those individual pages. It must be my homepage that I really need to work on.

If anyone wants to check the page linked in my profile to see what I could do to get people to stay that would be a great help to me.

Anne

Anne

[martinibuster]

Without doing a site review, I will say this: Anything you can do to please a lazy/transient surfer is going to help. Making them scroll is a no-no.

On my own page (web design site), you can see a small logo to the left, what I do, a short blurb about two of my services and links to those sections. All those elements are designed to fit in your browser window, even IF you are on a 15 inch screen. If you are on a larger screen, I have bonus content below the "fold."

Same principle, same effect. Don't make people scroll.

Other points to consider: What are offline analogues, especially in the TV, Retail, Magazine world? In your given subject matter, are the audience icons things like Howard Cosell, the ManBoy, Martha Stewart, Harley Davidson style, New York Times?

If I don't understand, or want a deeper understanding, of the icons and their design cues, I try to follow these icons and tease out the colors and that elusive "feel" that the audience expects. Is it a Pottery Barn feel? Is it a Bebe feel? Is it a Kentucky Fried Chicken feel? Go into those places and soak in their icons, colors, and motifs for inspiration.

What kinds of imagery does this audience find appealing? Think about Metaphors: A motorcycling magazine may faeature a small stylized illustration of a motorcyclist popping a wheelie in the left hand corner. A book review site uses a bookmark or a book as a metaphor.

But above all, keep as much content in the surfers face as possible, without making them scroll. Even if that means reducing your logo to a little stopwatch at the top of the page. Especially if your site is informational.

Look at the average magazine and how their covers pull you in. They use clusters of information that draw in the Casual Glance. No work involved.

:) Y

[SlyGuy]

keep as much content in the surfers face as possible, without making them scroll.

Very good point.

Check out the websites for Fortune 500 companies. They spend tons of research money on what makes visitors stay and what makes visitors click away. It's very rare to see scrolling on any of the websites, or at least the index page.

There might be boatloads of information available inside the website and if the navigation system is clear, the user will find it. The mistake lies in the websites that bombard you with 20,000+ words as soon as you click on their homepage.

- Chad

[annej]

These suggestions are great. I've been working through my site and am finding that I have a lot of unnecessary stuff near the top of most of my pages. I've already gone through my homepage and first level links and have found I can get the important information in the part of the pages visitors see before they scroll.

Out went the decorative bars, too big graphics and unnecessary text! It’s even made me take a second look at some of my graphics which inspired me to find new better ones.

Thanks, Anne

[jomaxx]

Personally I'd stay away from Fortune 500 sites, since so many large companies continue to demonstrate an utter lack of gettingitness.

Better would be to take a long, long look at websites that are longterm popular successes, and analyze why they present information the way they do. Yahoo, Amazon, Google and eBay for a start. Companies that have demonstrated they understand the tradeoffs inherent in web design and can manage them successfully.

About web traffic, no question that bookmarks and type-ins are going to be your most motivated customers. But SE traffic is extremely targeted and is normally of very high quality. I'd take a search engine visitor in preference to a clickthrough from most sites, but of course it depends on the specifics.

[Brett_Tabke]

It seems to me a huge challenge is to figure out a way to get these visitors to stay and browse through the site for a while.

And get them to bookmark the site more.

I think the critical thing is to think about how you go about searching. What do you do when you hit a site from a se referral? We all generally follow the same process.