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mini-tutorial: How to Understand Google’s “Refine Results” and Stop Losing Traffic

Discussion in 'Google' started by disgust, Oct 30, 2006.

  1. #1
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    If you have a good ranking for a particular keyphrase or keyword in Google and you've noticed a dip in traffic, I suggest you check out the SERP manually and stop using tools to do so.

    If your major keyphrases have "Refine Results" it will drastically drop the number of clickthroughs for that particular placement you have.

    The answer, of course, is understanding how the "more:" operator works and changing your optimization strategies. These changes in strategies are not what you expect; it's not about links, it's not about on page content, it's not about old school search engine optimization anymore.

    One might expect that a query for "widget screenshots" would be the same as "widget more:screenshots." It's not. Not by a long shot. Try it out and see for yourself. Some example SERPs where it's visible: a medication example, a travel result, and an auto result. Click on one of the "refined" queries, and compare that to the SERP without the "more:" operator. Confused?

    It's about social bookmarking, it's about the web 2.0 interactivity hype, and it's about Google moving away from their traditional algorithm. If you haven't figured it out earlier, it's all coming from the Google Coop.

    Unfortunately it's obviously open to a lot of abuse. Webmasters could create multiple accounts, make them look natural, cover their tracks (different emails, different IP addresses), and boost their own sites.

    A less abusive strategy, but one that still will work, is to go the Digg route: beg users for tagging on your page. It will of course add more clutter to your page. Whether or not that's worth it to you is really a matter of opinion; but you should realize that right now if you're in one of the affected categories, you need to be aware of the refined results, and you need to learn how to optimize from them. If you don't, you'll be losing traffic.

    Currently it applies to the following categories: Health, Destination Guides, Autos, Computers & Video Games, Photography & Video Equipment, and Stereo & Home Theater. If Google deems it successful, expect it to expand in the future to other categories.

    Official information on the Google Coop is available, but don't expect Google to reveal all of the secrets behind how things work. Some things have changed, but some things haven't: as always, the best way to optimize anything is to test, test, and test some more. See what works, what doesn't, and start applying it to your sites.
    ---

    I originally posted this on my blog. However, I figured people here would find it useful, as a lot of people seem to be in the dark about how it works. If you have more questions about it or things you want clarified, let me know. :)
     
    disgust, Oct 30, 2006 IP
    T0PS3O and aditya_sfs like this.
  2. 2003m2003

    2003m2003 Well-Known Member

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    #2
    Thanks disgust, please expalin more about 'social bookmarking'
     
    2003m2003, Oct 30, 2006 IP
  3. Lexiseek

    Lexiseek Banned

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    #3
    Nice post! That's something worth paying attention to.
     
    Lexiseek, Oct 30, 2006 IP
  4. stymiee

    stymiee Peon

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    #4
    Why do you say this?
     
    stymiee, Oct 30, 2006 IP
  5. Ganceann

    Ganceann Peon

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    #5
    He says this because results in serps can be affected by 'authority figures' - people who have labelled websites as highly relevant to certain search terms and therefore added weight to the result and brought a website from oblivion to in your face.

    Meanwhile, other 'ignored' or non-labelled websites suffer and have their rank usurped by a more 'relevant' result as deemed by the labelling by an expert.

    Initially I thought it was going to be useful but have had many reservations when comparing some results as obvious bias has influenced some areas and caused some totally irrelevant sites to start appearing high up in refinements.
     
    Ganceann, Oct 30, 2006 IP
  6. stymiee

    stymiee Peon

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    #6
    But what does using an automated tool have to do with it?
     
    stymiee, Oct 30, 2006 IP
  7. disgust

    disgust Guest

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    #7
    things like delicious, digg, reddit, etc. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_bookmarking

    she, not he. :)

    ... should really change my name or something, I get that way too much.

    and unfortunately you don't even need to be an "expert" to give sites this sort of boost.

    with automated tools, you see your SERP position, but you may not even realize the "refine your results" bit is showing up. any important keywords or keyphrases you should check manually to see if the "refine your results" bit is showing up, as it will drastically reduce the number of people clicking on your result in the SERPs for your initial ranking.

    if you have 100 keyphrases you're tracking and all you get is "position #3", "position #1", etc, you may not even realize which queries are being hit by this.
     
    disgust, Oct 30, 2006 IP
  8. stymiee

    stymiee Peon

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    #8
    Just how much of an effect do you think that has on traffic in which this occurs?
     
    stymiee, Oct 30, 2006 IP
  9. disgust

    disgust Guest

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    #9
    I think it varies by niche and by how much of your traffic comes from words that trigger it.

    on one of my websites, after this was started (even though the serps for my major keywords are about the same) my traffic from google reduced 25% to 40%. seems to change day from day. but there was a huge impact in terms of traffic.

    didn't look much into it until now because the site doesn't make a ton of money and I had better things to do at the time.
     
    disgust, Oct 30, 2006 IP
  10. mvandemar

    mvandemar Notable Member

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    #10
    disgust, thanks, good read there. :D

    Btw, love the logo on RG, you do that yourself?

    -Michael
     
    mvandemar, Nov 6, 2006 IP
  11. disgust

    disgust Guest

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    #11
    nope, I'm horrible with graphics and with layouts ;) friend of mine did it.

    edit:

    for anyone curious, I signed up for the google coop, tagged my site with the appropriate tags and waited a few days. here are the results:

    [​IMG]
     
    disgust, Nov 6, 2006 IP
  12. disgust

    disgust Guest

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    #12
    result from doing the same thing with another site of mine:

    [​IMG]

    sure seems to work :)
     
    disgust, Nov 10, 2006 IP
  13. mvandemar

    mvandemar Notable Member

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    #13
    This is only helpful currently if there happen to be "refine results" for your industry, correct? And how did you tag your own site? I thought it was more of a social bookmark thing, where others tagged your site for you?

    -Michael
     
    mvandemar, Nov 10, 2006 IP
  14. disgust

    disgust Guest

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    #14
    right, it'll only help if "refine results" shows up for any of your keywords.

    it's a social bookmarking type thing but so few people use it it's ridiculously easy to get it to work right, basically. it seems like if you have 0 votes you won't get anywhere in refine results but if you even have 1 you'd rank where you normally would (relative to the other sites that have been voted / tagged).
     
    disgust, Nov 10, 2006 IP
  15. pjpjpjpj

    pjpjpjpj Peon

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    #15
    All very interesting. I have not yet experimented with the coop myself, but I am beginning to feel the need to get into the whole social bookmarking craze and beef up my sites.
     
    pjpjpjpj, Nov 10, 2006 IP