7 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}
7 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}

What is the new normal? CTR on the first page of search

by svalegria
6 replies
  • SEO
    • |
I am sure we have all seen an older chart to describe CTR of Google's first page. Something like this:


Rank # 1 36.4%
Rank # 2 12.5%
Rank # 3 9.5%
Rank # 4 7.9%
Rank # 5 6.1%
Rank # 6 4.1%
Rank # 7 3.8%
Rank # 8 3.5%
Rank # 9 3%
Rank # 10 2.2%



My question is with the addition of Google + Local, prevalence of adwords on the first page and the likelihood of 15 or more sites showing up on the first page, what does the new CTR chart look like? Has anyone seen anything published?
#ctr #normal #page #search
  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    They'll never be the same for every site, there's too many things that can change on a single search page.
    • Adwords, no Adwords?
    • Competition, no competition?
    • Do you own multiple pages on the first SERPs?
    • Do you have any thumbnail images ranked at the top of the first search page?
    • Is it a local keyword?
    • Is there a full moon?
    • etc...
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7878233].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Marc_L
      Originally Posted by yukon View Post

      They'll never be the same for every site, there's too many things that can change on a single search page.
      • Adwords, no Adwords?
      • Competition, no competition?
      • Do you own multiple pages on the first SERPs?
      • Do you have any thumbnail images ranked at the top of the first search page?
      • Is it a local keyword?
      • Is there a full moon?
      • etc...
      Not only that but if the blurb Google shows on the first page needs to be compelling or people won't click.
      Signature

      Want answers to your SEO questions? Check out our library of FAQ's. Good luck and happy ranking!

      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7878245].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author ilee
    A very specific keyword can render #2 #3 next to 0 traffic as well. For example, someone searching for a "blue widget amazon.co.uk" is probably going to click on amazon.co.uk which will probably be the first spot.

    It varies too wildly from keyword to keyword, don't get hung up on it. I always just focus on trying to rank at least 3rd place.
    Signature
    --~***~--


    --~***~--
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7878445].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author RedShifted
    I'm more curious about what I can do to increase my CTR.

    The thing thats always bugged me is descriptions need to be optimized for SEO, so it makes it somewhat difficult to make appealing descriptions.

    Like most my descriptions read something like:

    "xxxx[company] offers keyword 1, keyword 2 and keyword 3 to all residents of [state]. We are fully licensed, insured & BBB accredited".

    Its usually some type of variation like that. Sometimes we put our phone number in the description. Sometimes I'll say "click here" or "visit our site for more information".

    But that seems like the most generic way you can write your descriptions. It doesn't really differentiate you from other websites.

    The only other thing I can think of doing is getting google authorship, but if anyone has any interesting tips for increasing CTR, I'd love to know. Maybe I should just pay a copywriter to write my descriptions?
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7878491].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author yukon
      Banned
      Originally Posted by RedShifted View Post

      I'm more curious about what I can do to increase my CTR.

      The thing thats always bugged me is descriptions need to be optimized for SEO, so it makes it somewhat difficult to make appealing descriptions.

      Like most my descriptions read something like:

      "xxxx[company] offers keyword 1, keyword 2 and keyword 3 to all residents of [state]. We are fully licensed, insured & BBB accredited".

      Its usually some type of variation like that. Sometimes we put our phone number in the description. Sometimes I'll say "click here" or "visit our site for more information".

      But that seems like the most generic way you can write your descriptions. It doesn't really differentiate you from other websites.

      The only other thing I can think of doing is getting google authorship, but if anyone has any interesting tips for increasing CTR, I'd love to know. Maybe I should just pay a copywriter to write my descriptions?

      You could test SERP descriptions like Wikipedia does If you have a variety of relevant on-page text. Wikipedia doesn't use a meta description in their HTML source code. What that does (no meta description tag) is customize the SERP description based on the [exact] keyword being searched.

      Example search phrases:
      • mold removal nj
      • help removing mold nj

      The 2nd search phrase has a chance of including the keyword help in the search description If the keyword (help) is included anyplace on the web page (needs to be on the web page), the 1st search phrase might not ever see the word help in the search description.

      Anyways, you could test CTR on a few keywords/pages to see If it helps.

      Here's an example from Wikipedia, the example keyword is crappy but it proves my point:

      The two different search phrases return customized SERP descriptions for the same web page/URL depending on which keyword you search (cars or trucks).









      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7878814].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author LiftMyRank
    Organic CTR is declining, for most competitive serps I'm in, now every single result has the top 3 spots to adwords, this wasn't always the case not too long ago, my own findings is about 20% goes to the #1 position.
    Signature
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7879898].message }}

Trending Topics