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For site owners and marketing professionals experiencing a surge in bot traffic, rest assured that this will have no impact on your Google rankings. This was made clear from recent comments made by Google webmaster trends analyst John Mueller.
The discussion surrounding how Google looks at web traffic generated by bots began last week when a Twitter user tweeted the following question to Mueller:
“We are noticing a lot of bot traffic coming in and it’s tagged under organic traffic, will this have an adverse any effect or does Google ignore this?”
It would seem that this user was concerned about Google Analytics data showing an uptick in fake organic traffic to his website, since it does not convert nor engage with the site.
Mueller responded to the user’s concern by stating that bot traffic “has no effect on Google search.”
Another Twitter user responded to Mueller’s claim, stating:
“That’s good to know that but I see badbots creating automatic back links on their site and their PA (Page Authority) DA (Domaine Authority) is worse than mine.”
Again, Mueller responded: “PA & DA have absolutely no effect on Google search. Zero effect.”
Essentially, Mueller is confirming that Google does not use Google Analytics data for ranking, and having lots of bots heading to your site will not affect your rankings.
If the bot traffic is so extreme that it is affecting the speed and overall performance of your site, then it could potentially have an impact, but this is unlikely.
So, there you have it. If you’ve been experiencing an uptick in bot traffic and are concerned about it affecting your rankings, there’s no need to worry, according to Google. Instead of spending your energy on bots, continue focusing on your regular SEO efforts and produce high quality content that users and Google will love.
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