Pogo-Sticking in SEO: How Can It Affect Your Website?

As a user, you might have jumped from one site to another on the search results to find the information that satisfies you the most. But, did you know that this activity is called pogo-sticking?

In general, pogo-sticking is the condition when users swiftly switch between webpages and search engine results pages (SERPs), visiting only a few seconds on each page.

Yet, will this situation harm your site performance? This article will guide you to learn more about pogo-sticking and how to prevent it. So, read it until the end!

What Is Pogo-Sticking?

Pogo-sticking in SEO characterizes a scenario in which a user rapidly moves across search results pages. For example, you are looking for “how to open a business in Texas” on Google. 

When you click the first result, it seems that the content does not provide you with the information you need. Therefore, you will go back to the search result and visit other sites giving you with the right information. 

The thing is when many people do the pogo-sticking after visiting the first result, it will tell Google that the first result fails to satisfy users. Thus, the search engine may drop the rank to a few spots below. 

Sometimes, pogo-sticking can be a strong sign that the result is not fulfilling what users need. Regarding this situation, Google has rolled out a new feature to halt pogo-sticking. 

Upon conducting a keyword search, Google displays a "People also search for" box beneath the result when you click on it and then click Back to return to the search results.

With this new feature, Google acknowledges that you have a poor search experience. Therefore, Google will provide you with other choices so that you are not limited to the first page.

What Causes Pogo-Sticking?

If you are wondering why people do pogo-sticking, there are some causes triggering the situation, such as:

1. Buried Information

The first cause is buried information which can happen if a piece of information is buried under a lot of confusing or redundant text. Also, your information can be locked somewhere on your site so it is unavailable to some users. 

2. Clickbait Content

Clickbait titles will lure users to visit the content and when they do, unfortunately, they do not find the information they need. Or, the content contrasting to the title, leaving the users disappointed. 

3. Bad User Experience

Bad user experience can also trigger pogo-sticking. Users might be frustrated by how our site performs and looks, making them leave your site and go back to the search results. 

Some factors affecting bad user experience include disturbing ads, slow page speed, confusing site navigation, and obtrusive sign-up forms hindering visitors from viewing the content. 

4. Users Do Not Intend to Stay Longer

Pogo-sticking can also occur when a searcher is only browsing the site, meaning that they might not plan to spend much time on a single page. They can be attempting to remember a website they recently viewed, comparing costs, or seeking some inspiration.

5. Content Fails to Satisfy Search Intent

Search engines like Google have a big commitment to provide the most helpful content to users. However, when they visit the content and it does not align with their expectation, there is a contradiction between search intent and content. 

To prevent this, make sure to create content based on pertinent keywords and search intent. Remember to directly address what people need in searching.

Bounce Rate and Pogo-Sticking in SEO, What’s the Difference?

When talking about the action of leaving the site early, you might encounter bounce and pogo-sticking. But, are both the same? 

In fact, users doing pogo-sticking go back to the SERPs, and bounce does not always go back to the search results.

Remember that pogo-sticks are all bounces. However, not every bounce is a pogo-stick. 

Bounce rate is the percentage of inactive sessions on your website, including sessions with a duration of less than 10 seconds, no conversion event, and fewer than two pageviews per session.

A high bounce rate could be a sign of a problem with the content or user experience of your website. It may also indicate that guests have discovered what they were seeking and have departed.

How Pogo-Sticking Affects Your Site

If pogo-sticking occurs frequently on your website, it may indicate poor user experience or irrelevant or low-quality content, and both could affect your rankings. 

Despite this, pogo-sticking in SEO is not a ranking factor according to Google. 

However, when someone visits your website and then immediately goes back to the search results, it might damage your reputation and trust. It is possible that people won't trust your content or brand.

Additionally, pogo-sticking can affect engagement and conversion rates if your objective is to turn online visitors into paying clients.

To sum up, should you worry about pogo-sticking? In terms of SEO, you may not because users leaving your sites for many reasons, and since pogo-sticking is not a ranking factor, you do not have to worry that much. 

Nevertheless, if you see it from a business perspective, pogo-sticking is worth your attention if you want them to convert to paid customers, increase engagement, and improve brand reputation. 

How to Keep Your Site Engaging

One of the ways to prevent pogo-sticking is to create an engaging website. Some best practices you can adhere to are as follows:

1. Improve Your Site User Interface and Experience

Bad user experience has become one of the factors people doing pogo-sticking. Therefore, you must sweep away the distractions on your site to make your site engaging. You can fix the user interface to give the best user experience by doing these:

• Minimize the use of pop-ups, such as pop-up ads, sign-up forms, subscribe menus, banners, and many more. 
• Ensure that your website is mobile-friendly.
• Make the best website design by considering a usable, consistent, and clear layout.
• Ensure that your site is easy to navigate.

2. Utilize Internal Links

Internal links draw visitors further into your website, decreasing the likelihood that they will return to the search results. Additionally, you are providing users with additional information about their query when you employ an internal link.

As a result, they are less inclined to return to Google for additional information because your page has all they require.

3. Make Your Site Loa Fast

If your website loads slowly or is generally slow, some visitors will simply go from your site. Moreover, when competitors offer content more quickly, some users will probably turn to visiting their pages. 

Therefore, a fast page load is important to prevent pogo-sticking and to give a better user experience

Furthermore, you must deliver content to visitors as quickly as possible if you want it to rank well in search engine results pages. This is because site speed is one of Google's ranking criteria. To test your page speed, you can use the testing tools on the internet like cmlabs’ Page Speed Test.
 

4. Use the Table of Content

Giving a table of contents before jumping to your content will help users scan the general information that you serve in your content. After that, they can find what they need fast without reading the entire content for not finding one. 

5. Refresh Your Content

Updating your content with recent information will keep your content relevant. In addition, Google can identify outdated content and can deprioritize your content. Do not forget to show that you already refreshed your content by updating the publishing content or adding [Updated] on your title tag.

6. Include FAQ

Last but not least, you can include Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) to keep people staying on your site. Users will not have to return to the search results to discover the answers to their urgent queries if you provide them with a frequently asked questions section.

Conclusion

Those are the detailed information about pogo-sticking in SEO that you can learn. To sum up, pogo-sticks can indicate that you should improve some aspects of your site, like content and site user experience. With that, you can also enhance your SEO efforts. 

If you need to work on SEO best practices, you can rely on SEO Services by cmlabs! We can assist you in on-page, off-page, and technical SEO for your site. Secure a meeting now and tell us your SEO needs for free!