What is the CTR and how it improves the results in the SERP
The CTR, from the English Click Through Rate, is the number of clicks made by users between the number of times our ad or link to our website is printed in the search results. This data is expressed as a percentage and is of vital importance in the performance of online advertising campaigns such as Google Ad's. and in the positioning Seo organic.
“The CTR is an indicator of the acceptance that our ads and web links have in the search results”
It is an estimation metric, since we are talking about the number of clicks between impressions (number of times our ad or link appears in the results) and it does not guarantee clicks from unique users. They are counted in such a way that the same user can click many times on the same link after repeating a search.
Although it is highly relevant in online advertising platforms, so is the organic results of our website that are shown in the SERP, providing great value in positioning. Seo.
In this post we will focus on a general vision since depending on many factors, especially in Ads, it is difficult to estimate a clear strategy. For example, if the word we want to position is very competitive or not (if there are many advertisers in that keyword) or, how targeted our ad is, since showing a generic ad is not the same as showing a specific product. The more targeted the ad, the greater the probability of success and the better CTR.
All ads and keywords have their own CTR.
What is the CTR for?
The main objective of the CTR in Seo is the optimization of ads and links to our website and thus obtain a greater number of clicks.
Different studies ensure that the highest percentage of clicks occur in the first positions of Google. Currently, Google shows 10 organic search results and 4 Ads, so reaching the top positions and hitting the keywords in the ad campaigns greatly increases the chances of attracting traffic to our website.
This metric allows us to evaluate the acceptance of our ads or links in search results. For example, it allows you to see the impact of certain titles or descriptions, whether the rich snippets we offer are successful or not, or if the way an ad is promoted is appropriate.
It is a KPI of vital importance in the Sem, since it allows us to have an estimate of the expense or investment that we are going to make for a certain keyword in advertising. Through this metric, we can evaluate the CPC Adwords (Cost Per Click on advertising).
We can interpret the CTR to determine the ads or keywords that are most effective for our interests. According to Web Master Tools support,
“The closer your keywords and ads are to each other and to your business, the more likely a user will click on one of your ads after searching for your keyword phrase”
How is the Click Through Rate calculated?
The CTR formula consists of dividing the number of clicks that users make on that link/ad between the number of times it appears on the search results page and multiplied by 100. For example, if we have a link that appears 100 times in the search results and the user clicks 5 times the result would be: (5 / 100) * 100 = 5%. In this way, our CTR for that ad or link would be 5%.
It should be remembered that the CTR is a temporary value, that is, we need to locate it on specific dates to know its real value. A CTR can vary a lot, for example, throughout a year. But perhaps we are only interested in that value in a specific time frame, such as when we launch an ad or create a positioning strategy Seo for a temporary promotion. Remember to limit the dates to obtain a more approximate value.
When is a CTR good?
When we intend to interpret this metric, we must bear in mind that there is no perfect value that gives the impression of a good CTR.
Depending on the position it occupies in the list of search results, we can estimate the CTR percentages as good or bad. It also differs if the CTR value is a value for organic links on our website or an advertisement in Google Ads. In Ads displays, it depends on where the ad is displayed. An ad in the Google results list is not the same as a banner on a website, but it is the most important indicator to estimate the quality of the ad with the least possible investment.
Therefore it is convenient to compare CTRs in the same context. In the case of organic results it is easier, because our context will always be the results list or SERP. However, in the ads we must contrast them. Google Ad's offers us a tool to be able to check it and better draw our strategy.
As a reference, a result positioned in the first position can attract around 30% of the traffic for a certain keyword, while another result in the tenth position would attract around 7% of traffic.
Why is it important in Seo?
Mainly because it allows us to measure the success of our links in the search results. It also allows you to measure the status of an ad and find out how accepted it is by users. If, for example, we carry out an Ads campaign with an advertisement for a certain keyword and we observe that the CTR is very low, perhaps it would be convenient to study a change in the advertisement design or to bid on another similar keyword. By studying this metric, we can also know the profitability of our ad.
Can we help you with your strategy? SEO?
How to know the CTR of our website?
Google Search Console is a powerful tool that allows us to know the CTR of our website. Google Ads gives us the same information for our ads and campaigns.
Within the Search Console tool, in the left side panel of the new console, we will click on “Performance” and then click on the CTR box on the graph. In this image we will see an overview of the CTR for all the keywords on our website. We have the option to select firecent periods of time.
If we want to know more details for each url or keyword, below is a list with all the keywords of our website indexed in the Google engine.
How to improve organic results?
If you have previously worked Seo You will have already read a lot about how to optimize titles to obtain a better click-through rate, so in this section I will only describe the most relevant aspects that you should take into account.
- Create catchy titles
- Create descriptions that provide valuable information
- Use the keyword of the post content in the title and/or meta description. Try not to repeat it exactly, use long tail terms that include the keyword.
- Do not abuse emoticons. Google is constantly changing its policy regarding displaying these symbols or emojis. Use ASCII symbols.
- Make sure the title clearly and unambiguously reflects what the content of the link is about.
- Use rich snippets to stand out from other results.
- Take care of the lengths of titles and descriptions, check it both in mobile and desktop view. Google currently correctly displays titles with lengths of 60 characters and meta descriptions of 155 with some variations in mobile view. Seomofo is a perfect tool to check it.
Remember to take control of what you are doing. In this post I tell you how to control the CTR Seo in a comfortable way.
Control your CTR
Tools to optimize CTR
Snippet optimization: https://seomofo.com/snippet-optimizer.html
Analysis Tool: https://search.google.com/search-console
Sources and bibliography
https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/2615875?hl=es
En Millennials Consulting We work on many aspects of Seo. For any questions about our work you can see our services Travel Seo.
