What is click-through rate (CTR) in SEO?
Click-through rate (CTR) in SEO measures the percentage of people who clicked on your result in SERP out of the total number of people who saw the result.
CTR shows how your ranked pages are performing in the SERPs and if they are able to attract a good amount of visitors.
How to calculate click-through rate?
To calculate the click-through rate of your web page, divide the ‘number of clicks’ on your web page result by the ‘number of impressions’ or the number of times your web page was displayed in SERP and multiply by 100.
Click-through rate can also be easily checked in your Google Search Console.
Formula for calculating click-through rate
Real-life example of click-through rate
Let’s now understand click-through rate with an example:
Say, you’ve published a blog post on the topic ‘What is Click-through Rate’ and is it ranked on the first page of google SERP. Now, you get 10,000 impressions, which means 10,000 people saw your result. Out of those, 2,000 people clicked on your result.
Plugging this data in the formula, you’ll get a CTR of: 2,000 / 10,000 x 100 = 20%
What’s considered a good click-through rate? (benchmark)
There is no one universal number for a good click-through rate as it varies from industry to industry, type of search query, search volume, or even from keyword to keyword. The main factor that influences the CTR of the organic search result is its position in the SERP.
Top results tend to be the most clicked by users. According to a study, the first 3 search results have the highest CTR from the top 10 ranking pages – therefore they get the most of the organic traffic from the SERP.
A 2022 data indicates that ranking #1 generates a typical CTR of 39.6%. That's more than double the CTR for the 2nd position, 18.4%, and nearly 4x the CTR for the 3rd position, 10.1%.
However, there is no clear evidence that the CTR plays a role in Google’s ranking algorithm – Google representatives officially stated several times that it is not a ranking signal.
The Click-through rate is, of course, very important. If hundreds of thousands of people see your search result, but no one clicks on them, it’s a wasted effort. That means you should optimize your content to rank in SERPs first page (better on the first position) to steal the most possible CTR.
Ways to increase your click-through rate
- Optimize your blog post title: The title of your blog post plays an important role in ranking as well as attracting the user to click on the result. Research says, title tags between 40 to 60 characters have the highest CTR.
- Write attractive meta desc: While meta descriptions may not impact the algorithm directly, they do impact your CTR. Even the smallest blurb in your meta description when used effectively encourages users to click your link. Here are 8 ways Meta Descriptions Can Improve Your CTR
- Craft URLs intelligently: URLs that include a keyword have a 45% higher click-through rate compared to URLs without keywords. That is why it is important to craft your URL keeping in mind all the best practices. For a clearer understanding, consider exploring UTM parameters examples to see how incorporating them can enhance your ability to track and analyze user engagement effectively.