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I know Google loves sites with a lot of traffic (good traffic - visitors that stay for a while on my site).

So my question is:
Does Google know and take into account the direct links traffic also?

For example, if I send someone my site's link and he is visiting the site (let's say from Edge browser), does Google know of this visit and take it into account for my rank?

And if the answer is "no", does it make any difference if the visit was from Chrome? And also does it make any difference if my site is on Google Analytics?

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    Amount of traffic is not likely to be a ranking signal. For many sites, Google has no way of knowing how much traffic they get or how long users stay on the site. Even if a site uses Google Analytics, Google says they don't use data from GA for ranking purposes. If Google did use traffic as a ranking signal it would lead to a feedback loop. Many (even most) sites get the majority of their traffic from search engines. A new site would have no way of ranking and sites that were ranking well would end up ranking even better from the traffic from those rankings.
    – Stephen Ostermiller ♦
    Commented Jan 15, 2021 at 21:13
  • While Google may not use Analytics data as a ranking signal, they do use engagement metrics taken directly from Chrome. I have too often seen organic performance shoot up when sustained traffic from other sources mean that there is suddenly a lot of usage data for a website for Google to access.
    – GeoffAtkins
    Commented Jul 15 at 8:31

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I'm assuming by 'direct link' you mean a link that might be in an email or a that a user types directly into their browser.

The first question you have to ask is: How would Google know about your direct link? The assumption with a direct link is that the user didn't use Google for a search.

It's possible that Google would know because you have installed Google Analytics. Google has apparently said that they won't use the data from GA to influence rankings. However, this is a matter of debate: Malicious bot - mulitple cities and browsers and https://www.seoblog.com/analytics-affect-rankings-seo/

As to what browsers the user is using, it's probably irrelevant as that wouldn't change the money that Google makes for displaying advertising, which is why they're really in business.

My own personal experience is that direct visits/links may inform Google of content that Google has not indexed yet, and therefore their algorithm may put a priority on indexing the page with a direct link.

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    "Google's primary means of ranking seems to be, how do your users respond to Google's search results? Do they click on your page and return in 10 seconds?" - Google does not use pogo-sticking in their rankings. Google's biggest way to rank pages is and always will be votes of confidence from other sites, i.e. incoming links.
    – Maximillian Laumeister ♦
    Commented Jan 15, 2021 at 20:31
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    @MaximillianLaumeister, thanks. I wasn't aware that Cutt's had made that statement. I've edited my answer. However, in my experience, incoming links have had only a little impact on my ranking, especially when compared to my competitors..
    – Trebor
    Commented Jan 16, 2021 at 0:18
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    Gave you a vote. Surprised by your experience with links, because my own experience has been the opposite. I can have a page with no inbound links that performs poorly in search, then when it gets linked from prestigious blogs and sites, it shoots up in rankings. Food for thought.
    – Maximillian Laumeister ♦
    Commented Jan 16, 2021 at 1:48
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    @MaximillianLaumeister, it may be difference between page versus site backlinks. Most of my backlinks are to my home page or about me page. I'll have to pay more attention to the other pages with links. Thanks for the input.
    – Trebor
    Commented Jan 16, 2021 at 1:58

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