An exp

1. Can Queries (and Clicks) Influence Rankings? Visual results from a Google experiment Rand Fishkin, CEO + Co-founder, SEOmoz August 2011

2. I Ran an Experiment http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html Original post here: https://plus.google.com/u/1/111294201325870406922/posts/2FmCppTwREj?hl=en

3. Trying to Change These SERPs: Note everywhereist.com ranks #4 in the original (taken August 3rd at 1:40pm Pacific) http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html Original screenshot here: http://minus.com/ljwYzm

4. Also Promoted on Twitter http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html Tweet post: http://twitter.com/#!/randfish/status/98857476040040450

5. Results After 2 Hours At 3:40pm (2 hours later), the site is now ranking #3 and #4. http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html Screenshot with that timestamp: http://minus.com/llEnnQ

6. Total Clicks on the URLs Twitter URL Google Plus URL Bit.ly stats for each can be seen here: https://bitly.com/twtrblev+ and here: https://bitly.com/gptrblev+ http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html

7. Google Analytics Data Note the higher bounce rate and shorter time on site due to the nature of the traffic Bit.ly stats for each can be seen here: https://bitly.com/twtrblev+ and here: https://bitly.com/gptrblev+ http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html

8. This Change Only Lasted ~18 Hours Back down to ranking #4 by 9:28am on August 4th. http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html Screenshot of 1 day later here: http://minus.com/ll2NDQ

9. But then… It Changed Again?! Whoa! Suddenly ranking #1 and #2 (~48 hours after falling back to position #4) http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html Screenshot of this result (from Monday) here: http://min.us/mcLZeu6

10. Maybe it was just on-page changes? Note use of words “travel” and “blog” in this post’s intro. And their conspicuous lack of existence in this post (which was at the top when the experiment began) http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html Screenshot of this result (from Monday) here: http://min.us/mcLZeu6

11. Others Have Shown Sustained Volume Creates Sustained Rankings Martin MacDonald of OMD explains here: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/whoa-can-query-volume-directly-influence-rankings http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html

12. At no time before, during or after the experiment has the site ranked in the top 1,000 results (first 100 pages) for “travel blog” If search volume can influence queries the way Martin suggested, it clearly takes a higher quantity, more diversity or perhaps other factors than what I could trigger in my experiment. http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html

14. Google doesn’t seem to be easily manipulated by a few hundred queries

15. CTR may have impacted rankings here, but it could just have been the new blog post containing the keywords in a prominent position.

16. Google+ Wow! Drove more than 50% of the volume that Twitter did. That’s remarkable in and of itself, given that I have <1/3rd the “followers” on GG+ as Twitter.