Why is it better to abandon behavioral factors cheating

Among internet-marketers, the term "behavioral factors" refers to a complex of metrics that help to estimate the site's efficiency using data concerning visitors' actions. The user behavior assessment is based on many 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.

Today, there isn't any common value that will certainly show whether your site has good behavioral factors or not. That's why this parameter is estimated individually.

Behavioral factors cheating means artificial improvement of the mentioned parameters. Driving up the visits is provided by special software or users from some specialized services who enter the site on purpose. In addition, as the real users, they surf the site for a long time viewing various pages.

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.

They are supported by some special services which promise quick and safe promotion with the minimum efforts. They create complicated algorithms that improve the behavior factors: visits, page scroll with the needed speed, following several links, pageview during a certain interval, etc.

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.

There are two basic types of tools that help to improve behavioral factors:

Even if the site hadn't got banned during the first months of using the illegal services for behavioral factors improvement, this doesn't mean that it will stay unnoticed and hold its positions in the future. Sooner or later, the cheating will be spotted by the algorithms.

When it happens, the best outcome is that the site will lose ranking. The worst — it will be excluded from the SERP.

Search algorithms have already worked out an automotive system that helps to identify the frauds and illegal manipulations. The main factors that disclose cheating are:

In addition, such services often use a common server. Employees return there, and search engines see it.

One of the most common issues that meet webmasters is unfair 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.

Till the behavioral factors are one of the key ranking influencers, there will always be attempts to cheat and get the quick result by the minimum efforts.

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.