Pogo sticking in seo: what it is, causes and how to fix it solution (or prevent it)
Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2024 8:35 am
There is nothing more frustrating than finding out that users barely spend any time on your website when they enter . And what is worse: they don't stay even 5 seconds, and they are already gone.
This phenomenon has a name in SEO, and it’s Pogo Sticking . So, when this happens, we usually say that the user is “pogoing.” As funny as it may sound, the truth is that it can be a problem, because it is one of the most feared negative user signals in SEO.
And I say maybe because sometimes there is no need to worry about it, and other times it can be a symptom that there are aspects of your website that are failing and that, in addition, are visible as soon as you land on it.
The consequences of not finding a solution are very high: both the user and Google are left with an image of you that is not interesting, because it can greatly affect your web positioning .
In this article I'm going to shed some light on this whole Pogo Sticking thing: I want you to be clear about what it is (and what it isn't), its most common causes, and how you can identify if it's happening with certain tools. Then, I'll give you some solutions to put an end to it (and if not, they'll help you prevent it).
A mix of theory and practice that won't take you long to read (I promise). In any case, you can jump to the section that interests you from this index
In SEO, when we talk about Pogo Sticking we are referring to a user behavior that a priori is not a good signal for us .
This occurs when a user performs a search on a search engine like Google, clicks on a result in the list (ours, for example), and after entering, stays there for a few seconds and then leaves . In other words, they go back to the list of results.
This happens because our site has not met list of suriname consumer email your expectations: you have not found the information you were looking for . Although, there may be many other underlying causes that we will see later, but the essence is this.
Come on: it is a phenomenon that sets off all the alarms , because you could be losing many conversions.
> Difference between Pogo sticking and bounce rate
I know. It sounds like the same thing, but it isn't . Pogo sticking suggests that the user didn't find the first result in the SERP useful, and then clicked on one or more other results until they found the website that did help them.
Pogo Sticking en Google
Fountain:Jose Facchin
This is not the case with bounce rates . In fact, you may not reach a specific page from the SERPs, but from any source (a link on social media, for example). A bounce occurs when a user enters a website, stays for a reasonable amount of time, and does not take any action on it .
For example, you land on a landing page, look at it for a few seconds without doing anything else (you don't interact), and then leave. You don't click on a link, fill out a form, or add an item to your cart. This is considered a bounce, because that person had a chance to look at what you're offering, but for some reason, they didn't interact . And this can mean a lost lead or sale.
Now… Is this always a negative sign ? If you have spent a lot of time on that page, it may be that you have been reading something that has interested you a lot. This is often the case with blog articles, and that is why we also look at the average time on page . If it is very short, then we can suspect that something is wrong.
>Pogo-Sticking vs dwell time
Many people think that Pogo-Sticking is the same as Dwell time, but they couldn't be more different! Dwell time measures the specific time a user spends on a web page after clicking on a search result, before returning to the results page.
Therefore, if the number of seconds is very low, the pogo phenomenon will occur . But if it is high, reaching minutes and minutes on the website, then there will be a high Dwell time. This is usually interpreted positively, because it indicates that the content is relevant and attractive.
To make things a little clearer, let's imagine a search for "how to make homemade bread":
A user clicks on the first result, sees it's a complex recipe, goes back to the results, clicks on the second, finds it too basic, goes back to the results, and so on = Pogo Sticking occurs
A user clicks on a result, finds a clear and detailed recipe, and spends several minutes reading it before returning to the search results = High Dwell time .
Is pogo sticking always bad?
Like bounce rate, pogo sticking doesn't always indicate that something bad is happening with our page .
Sometimes users go through a few different options before deciding on the right one, because the various results Google has shown them are a bit ambiguous and they are not entirely sure which URL to stick with.
This same thing happened to me not long ago, because I was looking to find out the benefits of the yoga wheel as a posture, but then I saw that there was an accessory (the yoga wheel) to be able to do it. And yes, I opened more than one result, one after another :
This phenomenon has a name in SEO, and it’s Pogo Sticking . So, when this happens, we usually say that the user is “pogoing.” As funny as it may sound, the truth is that it can be a problem, because it is one of the most feared negative user signals in SEO.
And I say maybe because sometimes there is no need to worry about it, and other times it can be a symptom that there are aspects of your website that are failing and that, in addition, are visible as soon as you land on it.
The consequences of not finding a solution are very high: both the user and Google are left with an image of you that is not interesting, because it can greatly affect your web positioning .
In this article I'm going to shed some light on this whole Pogo Sticking thing: I want you to be clear about what it is (and what it isn't), its most common causes, and how you can identify if it's happening with certain tools. Then, I'll give you some solutions to put an end to it (and if not, they'll help you prevent it).
A mix of theory and practice that won't take you long to read (I promise). In any case, you can jump to the section that interests you from this index
In SEO, when we talk about Pogo Sticking we are referring to a user behavior that a priori is not a good signal for us .
This occurs when a user performs a search on a search engine like Google, clicks on a result in the list (ours, for example), and after entering, stays there for a few seconds and then leaves . In other words, they go back to the list of results.
This happens because our site has not met list of suriname consumer email your expectations: you have not found the information you were looking for . Although, there may be many other underlying causes that we will see later, but the essence is this.
Come on: it is a phenomenon that sets off all the alarms , because you could be losing many conversions.
> Difference between Pogo sticking and bounce rate
I know. It sounds like the same thing, but it isn't . Pogo sticking suggests that the user didn't find the first result in the SERP useful, and then clicked on one or more other results until they found the website that did help them.
Pogo Sticking en Google
Fountain:Jose Facchin
This is not the case with bounce rates . In fact, you may not reach a specific page from the SERPs, but from any source (a link on social media, for example). A bounce occurs when a user enters a website, stays for a reasonable amount of time, and does not take any action on it .
For example, you land on a landing page, look at it for a few seconds without doing anything else (you don't interact), and then leave. You don't click on a link, fill out a form, or add an item to your cart. This is considered a bounce, because that person had a chance to look at what you're offering, but for some reason, they didn't interact . And this can mean a lost lead or sale.
Now… Is this always a negative sign ? If you have spent a lot of time on that page, it may be that you have been reading something that has interested you a lot. This is often the case with blog articles, and that is why we also look at the average time on page . If it is very short, then we can suspect that something is wrong.
>Pogo-Sticking vs dwell time
Many people think that Pogo-Sticking is the same as Dwell time, but they couldn't be more different! Dwell time measures the specific time a user spends on a web page after clicking on a search result, before returning to the results page.
Therefore, if the number of seconds is very low, the pogo phenomenon will occur . But if it is high, reaching minutes and minutes on the website, then there will be a high Dwell time. This is usually interpreted positively, because it indicates that the content is relevant and attractive.
To make things a little clearer, let's imagine a search for "how to make homemade bread":
A user clicks on the first result, sees it's a complex recipe, goes back to the results, clicks on the second, finds it too basic, goes back to the results, and so on = Pogo Sticking occurs
A user clicks on a result, finds a clear and detailed recipe, and spends several minutes reading it before returning to the search results = High Dwell time .
Is pogo sticking always bad?
Like bounce rate, pogo sticking doesn't always indicate that something bad is happening with our page .
Sometimes users go through a few different options before deciding on the right one, because the various results Google has shown them are a bit ambiguous and they are not entirely sure which URL to stick with.
This same thing happened to me not long ago, because I was looking to find out the benefits of the yoga wheel as a posture, but then I saw that there was an accessory (the yoga wheel) to be able to do it. And yes, I opened more than one result, one after another :