Why is it better to abandon behavioral factors cheating
What are the behavioral factors
The main metrics that allow estimate user's behavior are the following:
- session time;
- content drilldown;
- pageviews;
- site regionality;
- mentioning on socials;
- bounce rate;
- conversion: callback request, purchase, etc.;
- links CTR in the search.
This list can be much more extensive, but this article has a bit different task.
First of all, metrics are chosen for each site individually. This is because commercial and informational sites have different purposes, and consequently the session time will significantly differ and be interpreted individually.
Secondly, some parameters can be added or excluded. Metric systems consider the diversity of reports: ranging from a cohort report to a deep e-commerce analysis.
Behavioral factors cheating: what is it and why
In particular cases, they can even make orders affecting the conversion. As the search engines consider such actions as a site's usefulness and convenience, they give it a higher rating, however, just in theory.
Practically, such a cheating way to improve the site's ranking is considered as a violation, and user action imitation will be sanctioned.
However, cheating tactics didn't disappear. They have been actively used up to 2014 when there were rather more filtered resources. Today, the filter works automatically, and you can see it's performance in the metric system.
In most cases, filters influence the site ranking by the brand request and ones that include a brand or company name without additional accuracy.
Some SEO-specialists also use software that imitates users working on the PC, e.g., ZennoPoster. They can independently create algorithms and imitate the visits by a fixed sequence. Moreover, this software is "taught" to use shifting IP-addresses, change devices and browsers.
In most cases, the amount of such fake users is a small percentage of all the traffic by request. If there is a large number of pseudo-users, the search engine will spot attempts to cheat the behavioral factors. However, the more complicated is the algorithm, the harder it is to find.
Behavioral factors cheating services
It is also widely thought that such a tool can replace ads with the paid ones to make a user follow them. As such a sort of promotion is considered to be illegal, webmasters decided to abandon these tools quite soon.
In most cases, such services are like marketplaces, where optimizer gives tasks to all the employees. For example, to enter a query and visit two odd sites and then go to the target one and stay there for some time.
Why cheating with site visits is ineffective
When it happens, the best outcome is that the site will lose ranking. The worst — it will be excluded from the SERP.
Factors that signalize about the cheating

Behavioral factors cheating from competitors
In order to eliminate a strong competitor, some unfair webmasters or site owners can affect the factors on your site to provoke the algorithms. Site engines state that such actions are foreseen, and this won't affect your positions somehow.
Conclusion
On the other hand, such actions are always spotted, and the site is certainly hurt: ranking goes worse. After all, the site gets filtered. There are many tools that help to illegally improve the behavior factors; however, using them is always risky.
Moreover, working with the services and software demands money, time, and forces anyway. So, is it worth trying provided you know that one day, everything can become wasted?
The most reliable and safe way to promote your site is regular developments and upgrades. It's important to optimize the site and make it usable for real visitors. In this case, you will move to the top much slower, but once you get it, you will stay there for ages.
This article is a part of Serpstat's Checklist tool

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