Click-through rate is the number of times your listings got clicked divided by the number of times it showed. In SEO terminology, its clicks ÷ Impressions.
Organic CTR is clicks ÷ Impressions in Google organic listings.
Let’s look at a typical search listing from the search engine result pages (SERPs)..
A user on a Google search results sees
- Title – The text in blue.
- Description/Snippet – 2-3 lines text directly below the title.
- URL – Immediately above the title.
- Sitelinks – Enhances the results by adding supplemental links below the description text
Sitelinks only show some of the times, the listing comprises three immutable properties:- the title (blue text) , the URL & the description (2-3 lines of black text).
- A high CTR is a very good indication of your listings appeal. A lower CTR demands that the listing be improved.
- You don’t need to make your listings clickbaity to get a higher CTR. Some of the most mundane titles have a higher CTR because of the fact that they directly address the user’s search query. However, it is undeniable that the clickiness of a title is important to get the user to the page.
We now arrive at what is essentially a catch-22
- In order to get the users to click through to your results you need a catchy title & description that may not be descriptive of the page. This may reduce its relevance to the topic.
- In order to rank higher on search engines so that your users can see you, you will need descriptive title and description. This takes the “clickiness” out of the title and description.
So how do we fix this ?
We focus on the document structure of the page to improve its relevance but allow for some artistic freedom in choosing titles and descriptions. We fix any subsequent authority loss of the page by acquiring backlinks.