Your take on "Back to the top" button

[xecutable]

I am torn apart. For a while I have been thinking about it, even implemented it, but I don't know kinda feels "space taking" especially on mobile. (We are talking about a sticky on the bottom right side button btw like an arrow or something).

And yes most newer phones won't notice much cause of their big screens, but I still get some traffic from people with 240px (can't even imagine what it's like to view a site from those).

So far I can't really see it affecting any metrics and wonder if anyone has tried it at any point or is currently using one.

 

[Strider1973]

I disabled it in my WP themes.

I just don't like the space it takes, the additional loading time, the distraction to users, and the additional link juice it uses.
I'd also say that whoever wants to scroll up, will be able to do so without the button, and even increase time on site by 1 second or so... And on iOS/Safari you can just tap the top to scroll up.

Anyway, I'd say it's a very minor thing, if you like to have it on your site, just leave it there, I don't think you'll find measurable effects.

 

[AussieDave]

I still get some traffic from people with 240px (can't even imagine what it's like to view a site from those).

Well before mobiles, I'd concern myself with making sure my sites were optimized for every screen resolution. However, it occurred to me (standard screen res was 1024x768 at the time), anyone using 640x480 etc., etc., meant they probably had an old PC.

At that point, I was faced with much the same dilemma as you are now xecutable.

A mobile with 240px, just like a PC on 640x480 resolution, that person ain't probably worth much to you as an affiliate

 

[xecutable]

I put it up a day or 2 before I posted this and ran it ever since. To be honest I thought it would have a lot more impact since most of my traffic is mobile. For these 2+ weeks I did not see anything, even with crazyegg installed for visual monitoring.

I wasn't really happy being there in the first place, but for the sake of the user experience. In a world of constant pop up and ads and what not, I prefer not to have an extra element especially if it didn't effect anything. Thanks for the input as well.

 

[AidanLCFC]

personally this is never something I've thought about especially the techie stuff you guys spoke about above. but i'd just think 'does it make the website better for the user?'. probably yes however I don't tend to use the feature much on sites i visit

 

[CL-Ed]

Totally unnecessary. Tapping the status bar at the top of the screen on a phone (iphone or Android*) already scrolls any web page to the top. But judging by this thread it would seem that maybe not many people are aware of that feature.

* Edit: apparently not, sorry.

the additional link juice it uses

If you do add a link to the top of the page it's an internal page anchor link, nothing to do with search engine link metrics.

 

[TheGooner]

Totally unnecessary. Tapping the status bar at the top of the screen on a phone (iphone or Android) already scrolls any web page to the top.

I thought WOW - does it? I never knew. ... So I tried it - does NOT work for me.
Using a six month Samsung Phone - Android 8.1.0 - basic internet browser.

I think the take-away is that not every solution works in every situation. I put "Back to top" anchors at the bottom of my long pages - and I find I use them when scrolling on mobile.

 

[Strider1973]

I thought WOW - does it? I never knew. ... So I tried it - does NOT work for me.
Using a six month Samsung Phone - Android 8.1.0 - basic internet browser.

Tapping on top works on iPhone for sure.
I also have a Samsung. When I scroll down, a small arrow to the top button is displayed at the middle of the bottom of the phone. That works on all websites.

 

[LA-Martyn]

Totally unnecessary. Tapping the status bar at the top of the screen on a phone (iphone or Android) already scrolls any web page to the top.

MIND BLOWN!

 

[TheGooner]

I also have a Samsung. When I scroll down, a small arrow to the top button is displayed at the middle of the bottom of the phone.

Aha .... I see that !!

I see that Arrow in a circle at the bottom of the screen when I scroll down - but it's not always there.
It disappears sometimes - and sometimes it appear to be overlaid with another menu at the bottom.

So it's not always there - and it costs nothing to put a "go to top" optin.

 

[PROFRBcom]

and the additional link juice it uses.
I'd also say that whoever wants to scroll up, will be able to do so without the button, and even increase time on site by 1 second or so... And on iOS/Safari you can just tap the top to scroll up.
.

Totally unnecessary. Tapping the status bar at the top of the screen on a phone (iphone or Android) already scrolls any web page to the top. But judging by this thread it would seem that maybe not many people are aware of that feature.


If you do add a link to the top of the page it's an internal page anchor link, nothing to do with search engine link metrics.

[1] I can't seem to replicate this tapping at the top of the screen tip on a top of the line Samsung phone.
[2] I also don't think that internal page anchors do anything to weaken link juice. They do however annoyingly show up in the SERPS sometimes. In fact, I think I'm gonna make a post on this topic right now.

Well before mobiles, I'd concern myself with making sure my sites were optimized for every screen resolution. However, it occurred to me (standard screen res was 1024x768 at the time), anyone using 640x480 etc., etc., meant they probably had an old PC.

At that point, I was faced with much the same dilemma as you are now xecutable.

A mobile with 240px, just like a PC on 640x480 resolution, that person ain't probably worth much to you as an affiliate

I agree with this. I took this line of thinking for all mobile traffic, for years.

However, the counter argument to this is that Google cares. Everything has to be mobile optimized, even if one does not give a damn about mobile traffic. I would personally much rather optimize for desktop, and rank on desktop, and mobile traffic could go to shit for all I care if I could have the DT rankings in my pocket. This may be specific to us being poker affiliates, but I'd make the trade if I could!

My point here is, if Google thinks you're shorting mobile users, they will now penalize you in all results for a poor mobile user experience.

 

[CL-Ed]

Sorry for bad advice re Android. I have an iphone but I did check before I wrote that to see if it was the same on Android. I found a bunch of youtube videos showing people doing the same thing, so assumed it was universal. Looks like you need to download something extra to do so which obviously you can't rely on.

 

[Thomas Andreas]

I would also think about it from a content point of you. If you mainly have pages etc of 1000 words or less, it might not be necessary to have it. However, if you do pages with 3000-4000 words then having a good navigation is useful. Especially from a customer perspective.