How does CTR relate to SERPS Position?
-
I'd always though that CTR would increase with SERPS position but my data doesn't really seem to show that.
I used google analytics/acquisition/SEO/Queries and looked at the top 1800 queries. Then I filtered those with a CTR of 0 and for branded keywords.
The result was as shown - a big glob with no real pattern other than a long tail of keywords with a 100% CTR
Does this tell me anything useful or am I just wasting my time?
Its probably worth stating that only 12 of my keywords had over 1000 impressions and none over 10,000 (all in top 10 though) - but thats a function of my industry sector
-
Hi Zippy-Bungle,
If your rankings improve then your CTR is likely to improve too. To affect CTR you can use the meta description and title tags - the more compelling your meta des the more likely it'll get clicks. I sometimes use high performing ad text for this if it's relevant.
As to whether an increase in CTR would relate to an increase in rankings - I don't really know. However, I did notice that our CTR dropped slightly and then our listings dropped a little too - whether this is a coincidence or not I couldn't tell you.
I think it would be very difficult for Google to use CTR, time on site and bounce as ranking signals. For example, if someone just wants my company's phone number, they may do a brand name search, find the number at the top of our pages and call us but analytics/google would count this as a bounce! So, we've been 'useful' but we've not encouraged the visitor to click into deeper pages (they found what they were looking for on the first page they visited) - so how does google know when a page has been 'useful' or not? (obviously I know links play a role here, I'm just speaking from a data perspective).
So, I suspect google doesn't use these signals, because it seems pretty darn difficult to determine what is a real bounce and what isn't (as in a real bounce would be where the site you click on is useless for the query). As for time on site... well, if you follow google's instructions and make your site faster (we halved our site speed in April) then time on site will inevitably reduce (ours did!) so, again I don't know how google would use this (unless it was in conjunction with site speed). As for CTR - that only tells one half of the story, so again, not sure how google could use it. I know they use it for adwords, but it's in their best interests for the most likely to be clicked ad to be highly prominent and any reduction in cpc as a result is easily mitigated by the fact that it gets more clicks (stack 'em high, sell 'em cheap)
However, I do think google probably uses a metric similar to bounce, when users use the back button to immediately leave a page they've just landed on and end up back on the same serp as they started from. This is just my theory, and the reason I think they use something like this is because if I was them I would. I will probably get shouted down here by everyone else, and this is just my opinion so do with it what you will!
-
Hi Tom, yes that's what I meant,. Never thought about it the other way round so I'm glad for the confusion as I learned something that I hadn't expected to learn.
Ive ve still got the issue with the data blob though not seeming to correspond with what other sources show. Is it a function of low search volumes or something else?
-
Beg your pardon, I think I misinterpreted your initial question. My answer addressed "Would an increase in CTR result in an increase in rankings" (No), but I think you meant "Would an increase in rankings result in an increase in CTR" (Usually yes)
Sorry about that, was that what you meant?
-
Thanks. That's good to know. I thought there was a case a few years ago where some Yahoo data got into the open and it showed that there was a correlation.
Checking on that I discovered this Moz article (which is more recent) which seems to imply that there is a relation - or have I misunderstood your answer, the article or both?
-
Your data shows you what is generally accepted - there is no relation between CTR and organic search.
Certainly with what Google tells us it has no baring at all - although we should always take what they say with a pinch of salt, my own tests and most other people I know agree with this. Some people think the time on site/bounce rate may have an affect, but again I don't think this is the case either.
The only time where CTR comes into play is for PPC, where it can affect your cost-per-lick and quality score.
For SEO, it's widely agreed that there is no relation.
Hope this helps.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Measure traffic from serp feature
Hey 🙂 Does anyone know if there's a way of measuring traffic coming through serp features? I know that you can get some info on SEMrush but not traffic coming from those specific results like stories and instant answers. Thanks!
Reporting & Analytics | | Anna_90 -
Conflicting average position data from Google Search Console?
I'm looking at Google Search Console data in Google Analytics, specifically Average Position as given in the Landing Page report, and the same metric broken out by mobile and desktop in the Devices report. In the Landing Page report, I see an aggregated average position that's much higher/worse than an actual average of what is reported for mobile, desktop and tablet traffic under the Device reporting. For example: Mobile: 5 Desktop: 5 Tablet: 5 So the average still should be roughly 5, right? Why would the Landing Page then show an aggregate Average Position of 8? I wouldn't expect to see a precisely same average given that different device types have different proportions that could render differently when the buckets are combined, but this is a huge swing. In fact, the aggregate Average Position as given in the top level Devices report is closer to 5 than to the 8 shown in the Landing Pages report. (These aren't actual numbers, but are illustrative of what I'm seeing, by the way.) Unless I'm missing some vital difference in the way that Average Position is reporting for the Landing Page report versus the Device reports, it doesn't seem like this should be possible. What am I missing?
Reporting & Analytics | | BradsDeals0 -
How does Google measure page position in Webmasters?
Does anyone know exactly how Google measures page position in Webmaster Tools? For example: In Google Webmaster Tools, we had a product which on the 22/12/15 was at position 7, and then dropped to position 112 on the 30/12/15. It then rose back up to position 7 on the 6/01/16 and then down to position 25 on the 16/01/16. What does this mean and why?
Reporting & Analytics | | CostumeD0 -
Google Analytics Average Position
I'm looking at Google Analytics -> Acquisition -> Search Engine Optimization -> Queries reports. I'm looking at keywords and the average position. What Google reports and what I see in a Google incognito search is different (usually my search is much lower). For example, for one search term, Google reports 5.8 average position and every time I search it is 8. My local result is 4. Anyone know why this is? I'm wondering if Google is averaging the Local results into number?
Reporting & Analytics | | CalicoKitty20000 -
Drop in direct traffic & spike in Adwords, any relation?
So I noticed a significant (around 50%) drop in Direct traffic in analytics to one of my websites (compared to last month). I've also noticed a spike in Adwords for around the same number of sessions. The drop in traffic is pretty much isolated to one specific page, and it is the same page involved in the spike in Adwords. Is it possible that Google was not recognizing a portion of the Adwords traffic? That's the only theory I have, but we haven't changed anything with their tracking or Adwords, so I'm a little hesitant to go with that theory.
Reporting & Analytics | | KiyoW0 -
GA: How can non related kws show up in the organic report?
Hi mozzers, I have a site A: www.example.com (with its own branded kws) SiteB: subdomain.example.com Site A and B are related and belong to the same company. Site B was released a couple months ago. ISSUE: I have noticed branded kws from Site A showing up on Site B's GA which doesn't make any sense. I try to make searches in the SE with those kws and not a single search showed the Site B(subdomain). What is weird is that 2 months ago had a an issue with bounce rate on site B showing a 0% bounce rate, then I discovered that we had 2 GATC on site, removed the extra code and bounce was back to normal. Since then I have seen a rise of branded kws from Site A to Site B. Can someone help me here figuring out what is wrong? Thanks
Reporting & Analytics | | Ideas-Money-Art0 -
Why Webmaster tools shows different avg. positions?
Hi everyone, I am new to Seomoz, I loved this amazing SEO school 🙂 My questions is about webmaster tool. Webmaster tool shows that my site's avg. positions is 34 and its getting better every week. I even see some new queries, new avg. positions for that queries. That's great ! But when I search the avg position it is between 54 -60 and I don't see any new queries . Shouldnt we rely on what webmaster tells us about avg. positions? Thanks a lot
Reporting & Analytics | | EzgiGunyel-InfinPixels0 -
Why is a section of our website dropping in&out of Google SERPs?
In July 2011 we started a news section that has it's own 'subfolder' /news/ (http://www.chorder.com/news/new_gear/, http://www.chorder.com/news/gear_deals/ etc.) The whole news section is dropping in&out of Google SERP's since late October, as show in attached graph. All news texts are real deal, written by our own staff, linked from homepage. Any idea why this happens and how to prevent it? cmqky.png
Reporting & Analytics | | imventurer0