In a recent episode of ‘Office Hours’ on Google Search Central, Google’s Martin Splitt (Google Search Relations team) decisively addressed a common SEO misconception: the notion that low-quality traffic negatively impacts search rankings. Contrary to popular belief, Google’s ranking algorithms do not penalise sites based on the quality of incoming traffic. Instead, the focus remains steadfast on content relevance and user engagement.

Office Hours viewer, Fabio, asked:

“Do I have to be concerned about bad actors trying to make our site appear untrustworthy by sending spam or fake traffic to my site? Since site trustworthiness is binary?”

Splitt responded:

“It’s not really binary, and just by sending traffic from questionable sources to a site, that won’t be ‘tainted’. If a site itself does shady things, such as spam, malware, sure, that’s a problem, but nobody gets to choose or control where traffic or links are coming from, so that’s not something Google Search will look at to judge a website’s trustworthiness.”

Google’s algorithms are designed to evaluate the quality of content rather than the source of traffic. This means that even if a site receives traffic from less credible sources, it will not necessarily see a drop in rankings. The critical factors that influence rankings include how well the content satisfies user intent, engagement metrics such as time on site, and the overall relevance of the information provided.

For SEO professionals, this clarification reinforces the importance of prioritising high-quality content and user experience over concerns about traffic sources. The emphasis should be on creating content that resonates with users, ensuring that the site delivers valuable information that meets their needs.

Google also highlighted that while user engagement metrics like bounce rate and session duration are important, they do not act as direct ranking factors. Instead, they serve as indicators of how well the content aligns with user expectations. A high bounce rate, for instance, may signal that the content does not meet the user’s needs, but it will not directly cause a drop in rankings.

Google SEO ‘Office Hours’, August 2024

Watch this discussion from the August 2024 episode of ‘Office Hours’, below. (Begins at 18:49).

This statement serves as a reminder that the focus of SEO should always be on the quality and relevance of content. Traffic sources, whether high or low quality, are secondary to the fundamental goal of providing users with the best possible information.

This clarification should guide SEO strategies and encourage content creators to focus on content quality and user engagement rather than concerning themselves with matters that are outside their control, such as the origins of traffic to their website.