Google’s John Mueller answers whether Google uses Google Analytics data (like bounce rate and time on site) and whether Google uses Chrome browser data for ranking. His answer couldn’t have been clearer.
Chrome data for ranking purposes?
A person in a Google office hour hangout asked if Google uses Chrome data for rankings. It’s unclear what kind of “data” the person was asking about, though.
He may have been asking about traffic data because there is an idea that Chrome tracks traffic data and some people think that Google uses Traffic as a ranking factor.
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In 2013, someone blogged about a Brighton SEO presentation by three former Googlers.
The blogger mistakenly posted that Chrome was tracking website traffic for ranking purposes.
That information then goes into someone’s speculative list of 200 ranking factors, and he lists direct traffic as a ranking factor without fact-checking the video to hear what’s actually being said.
I fact-checked it, and the ex-Googler definitely didn’t say that Chrome uses traffic data as a ranking factor. This is 100% total manufacturing.
Does Google Chrome collect data for ranking purposes?
Which brings us to a question from this guy during Google SEO office hours, someone asked if Google uses Chrome data for rankings.
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Here is the problem:
“What data does Google Chrome collect from users for ranking purposes?”
John Mueller replied:
“I don’t think we use anything from Google Chrome to rank.
So the only thing that happens with Chrome is the Page Experience Report, and we use Chrome User Experience Report data, which is aggregated data on what users see when they visit a website, specifically about page experience.
I think it’s the only thing we use in the Chrome rankings. “
What John Mueller said was Chrome User Experience Report (CrUX) is data collected by Chrome by users who have opted in to reporting their user experience data. This is where your actual Core Web Vitals score comes from.
Does Google use analytics to rank?
The next person who asked the question asked if Google Analytics data was used for ranking purposes and mentioned bounce rate data.
There is an idea that the data collected in Google Analytics is used by Google for ranking purposes.
he asks:
“What about Google Analytics data? Do you think Google Analytics data has an impact on rankings?”
John Mueller’s answer was straightforward and without hesitation:
“No.
No.
We don’t use it at all. “
The person asking this question went on to ask a question about bounce rate and time on site.
“Ok. So bounce rate and time on site are not useful for rankings, right?”
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Mueller replied:
“Well, I mean, we don’t use this data, so I think these metrics are sometimes useful to site owners.
But that doesn’t mean they are useful for actual searches. “
John Mueller clears up misinformation
There’s quite a bit of SEO misinformation out there, and unfortunately, it’s been around for a long time and keeps popping up year after year.
Some of this is the result of lazy article writing where no one fact-checks what they write, leading to misleading statements about ranking factors.
Some of this is due to a reluctance to conduct research to understand the broad scope of the subject, especially in patents and research papers.
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A common mistake is to take a patent completely out of context and then build a whole SEO theory from it.
In general, it’s best to listen to Googlers when they state that they don’t use a certain item as a ranking factor and that statement is backed by a lack of research and patents.
Citation
Does Google Use Analytics and Chrome Data for Ranking?
Watch at 12:40 minutes:
