Cyrus Shepard discusses strategies for improving website engagement metrics like bounce rate and time on site. He recommends focusing on speed optimizations, improving typography, matching content to user intent, adding images/video, answering related questions, and strengthening internal linking. Shepard saw positive results after implementing these engagement strategies, with bounce rate decreasing from 80% to 42% and traffic recovering from a 50% drop.

1. @CyrusShepard • PeepCon 2018 • Manila

2. So I've Got this Money $ite
Not Actual
Money Site

3. Focus on Engagement

4. 1. Improved Task Completion
2. Bounce Rate: 80% to 42%
3. Update Content Every Few Weeks
4. Built 3-5 links
Strategy:

5. Disaster!
~50% below
expected
Everything is great

6. Step #1: Is it an Actual
Rankings Drop?
1. Analytics Errors
2. Seasonality (WOW, YOY Traffic)
3. Google Algorithm Change
Did it change in Google Search Console?
Moz: https://moz.com/google-algorithm-change
Marie Haynes: https://www.mariehaynes.com/algo-changes-and-more/
RankRanger https://www.rankranger.com/google-algorithm-updates

7. Yes: Visibility Drop
https://www.semrush.com/
My site
Major Competitor

8. Step #2: Usual Suspects
1. Google Penalties
2. Technical Issues
3. Lost Links
4. Competition
5. Any Site Changes
Google Search Console
Site Audit: Search Console, Moz, SEMrush, Ryte, etc
Search Console, Moz, SEMrush, Ryte, etc
SERP Analysis
Wayback Machine, Stillo, Fetch and Render
https://moz.com/blog/seo-rankings-drop-guide

9. How I lost my hair:
Before After

10. What
About
Speed?

11. Oh no!
Page Load Time
Server Response Time

12. Lighthouse Speed Audit
https://developers.google.com/web/tools/lighthouse/
Performance
How to Fix

13. Mobile Speed!
http://bit.ly/2nXL6Nq

14. How I fixed it:
1. Removed Plugins
2. Compressed Images
• Imagify
3. Combined/Deferred JavaScript
• Async JavaScript
4. Critical Path CSS
• Autoptimize

15. Bingo!
Page Load Time
Server Response Time

16. Except…
Except…

17. Larry's Rule #1: Bounce Rate
https://moz.com/blog/do-website-engagement-rates-impact-organic-rankings
Top 4 Positions
Correlated With
Lowest Bounce
Rate

18. Larry's Rule #2: Organic CTR
Higher Rank
leads to higher
CTR, but is the
reverse true?
https://moz.com/blog/do-website-engagement-rates-impact-organic-rankings

19. Larry's Rule #2: Organic CTR
Seems to be a
correlation, but
is it causation?
https://moz.com/blog/do-website-engagement-rates-impact-organic-rankings

20. Larry's Rule #3: Time on Site
https://moz.com/blog/do-website-engagement-rates-impact-organic-rankings
Is Time on Site
the Magic Bullet?

21. Session Duration vs Sessions
Session duration seems highly correlated with visits

22. Plan: Improving Engagement
1. Speed
2. Typography
3. Match User Intent w/ Keyword Data
4. Add Images/Video/Media
5. Answer More Questions
6. Internal Linking

23. 2. Typography
https://www.google.com/chrome/browser/canary.html
Lighthouse SEO
Audit flags illegible
fonts, and shows
you exactly what
text to fix

24. 2. Typography
https://twitter.com/justinrbriggs/status/963478859038380032
• Font Size (min 16px)
• Line Height
• Headings
• Lists, Tables, Quotes
• Colors/Contrast
Good Typography Calculator:
https://pearsonified.com/typography/

25. 3. Match User Intent
Google Search Consolt

26. 3. Match User Intent
Google Search Console
<title>Search Twitter Bios | Followerwonk Twitter Analytics</title>

27. 3. Match User Intent
Google Search Console
Incorporate into CTAs

28. 4. Add Video
https://twitter.com/methode/status/840805504276414464
The right video
can increase
engagement +
time on site

29. 5. Answer More Questions
https://codepen.io/anon/pen/vdJdyr?editors=1000
Create New
Content
Answering
Related
Questions

30. 6. Internal Linking
Link to Related
Content in
Prominent
Places

31. Plan: Improving Engagement
1. Speed
2. Typography
3. Match User Intent w/ Keyword Data
4. Add Images/Video/Media
5. Answer More Questions
6. Internal Linking

32. Did it work?

33. Did it work?

34. Thanks!
Twitter: @cyrusshepard