THE FACTS ABOUT ORGANIC CLICK RATES ON GOOGLE SEARCH RESULTS
THE FACTS ABOUT ORGANIC CLICK RATES ON GOOGLE SEARCH RESULTS
The Facts About Organic Click-Through Rates in Google Search Results
Facts Discovered About Organic Click-Through Rates Based on 5 Million Google Search Results Examined
One of the industry’s leading organizations analyzed 5 million Google search results to better understand organic click-through rates. (See as source: https://backlinko.com/google-ctr-stats This article was translated into Turkish by the Alien Road team from the linked article on the baclinko.com website.)
First, click-through rates for 874,929 pages and 5,079,491 search queries were analyzed.
Then, it was investigated how factors such as tag length, sentiment and meta descriptions affected organic click rates.
Click-through rate data was obtained from different Google Search Console accounts, thanks to data provided by ClickFlow.
Without further ado, let’s examine the results of this research together.
Summary of Research Findings
The average click-through rate of links that rank first in Google’s organic search results is 37.1%.
The link ranked 1st in organic search results is clicked 10 times more than the link ranked 10th.
The organic click rates for links 7 to 10 are almost the same. That’s why moving up a few positions from the bottom of the page doesn’t help you get more organic traffic.
On average, moving up one position in search results increases your click-through rate by 30.8%. However, the rank you reach from row to row significantly affects this ratio. Moving from rank 3 to rank 2 usually results in a large increase in click-through rate. However, moving from 10th to 9th does not make a statistically significant difference.
Click-through rates for links with questions in their titles are 14.1% higher than links without questions.
Titles between 15 and 40 characters have the highest click-through rates. According to the data obtained, headlines with 15 to 40 characters have an 8.6% higher click-through rate than headlines that are not within this range.
URLs containing the keyword have a 45% higher click-through rate than those without the keyword.
Using actionable words in the title causes the click-through rate to decrease. According to research, headlines with call to action have a 13.9% lower click-through rate than those without.
Emotional headlines can increase your click-through rate. It was found that headlines containing positive or negative emotions were clicked approximately 7% more.
Writing meta descriptions for your pages increases your click-through rate. Pages with a meta description have a 5.8% higher click-through rate than pages without a description.
You can find more information about the analysis below.
The 1st Result in Google Results Gets 31.7% of All Clicks
The first purpose of the research was to determine the click-through rate criteria.
When the database of 5 million results was examined, it was found that the result ranked 1st had the highest click-through rate.
The Facts About Organic Click-Through Rates in Google Search Results
At the same time, there appears to be a sharp decline in click-through rates on the second page of search results.
There is a sharp decline on the 2nd page of search results
In fact, only 0.78% of people searching on Google click on links on the second page.
The click-through rate trends identified in the research are consistent with other click-through rate studies conducted by Advanced Web Ranking.
Google Organic Click Results Research
Since the click-through rates on the second page decreased significantly, this page was not included in the study. In the study, the data on the second and subsequent pages were removed and a new analysis was made. Results with abnormally high click-through rates were also excluded from the study (For example: queries containing brands).
When analysis was made for the first page results with the remaining data set, it was revealed that the link ranked 1st in Google had a click-through rate of 31.7%.
The link that ranks #1 on Google has a 31.7% click-through rate.
Here is the click-through rate breakdown of Google’s first page organic results:
Click-through rate distribution of Google first page organic results
As you can see, the link ranked #1 on Google has 10 times the click-through rate compared to the link ranked #10.
This result is not surprising for those who are interested in SEO or working in this field. It is a well-known fact that ranking first in search results is extremely important compared to other ranks.
The main reason for this, as supported by a recent study by Moz, is that many Google users instinctively click on the first result on Google. This is despite the fact that the 2nd place result is only a few pixels below.
This explains the serious drop in click-through rate.
Click-through rate difference between sites ranked 1st and 2nd on Google
Summary: The #1 result on Google gets 31.7% of all clicks.
There is a Significant Increase in Organic Click Rate in Ranks 3 and 5
As mentioned before, the 1st ranked result on Google has the highest click-through rate.
However, results outside the top row still receive clicks.
Especially the click-through rate in the 6th to 10th results has a very flat graph, and a serious decrease in the click-through rate is observed from the 5th result.
After Google rank 5, there is a serious decrease in the click-through rate.
Two conclusions can be drawn from this:
Many users scroll the page and do not look beyond the 5th result.
Moving from rank 6 to rank 5 provides a significant increase in click-through rate.
It is possible to see a similar increase in click rate in the 3rd place.
Google search results 3rd rank status
This may be because when there are no ads or SERP features, the 3rd place result is often easily displayed at the top.
The fact that Google’s 3rd rank is usually displayed when the page is opened causes an increase in the click-through rate.
In fact, the first 3 results in Google search results receive 75.1% of clicks.
The first 3 results in Google search results have 75.1% of clicks.
Summary: Data shows that “being on the first page” is not a success in terms of SEO. Instead, all that matters is placing first (or at least in the top 3). The first 3 organic results get 75% of clicks.
Moving Up One Rank Increases Click-Through Rate by 30.8%
Assuming all else is equal, moving up a single position in Google results results in a 30.8% increase in click-through rate.
Moving up a single position in Google results results in a 30.8% increase in click-through rate.
However, this increase in click-through rate is not evenly distributed. It’s not even close to being equal.
The effect of rank promotion on the SERP on the click-through rate generally varies depending on the current position.
The contribution of each increase in Google ranking to the click rate is as shown in the graph.
For example, moving from rank 9 to rank 8 only results in a 5% higher click-through rate. This is not a big difference either.
However, moving from rank 6 to rank 5 provides a 53.2% increase in click-through rate.
Summary: Moving up one place in the Google rankings increases the click-through rate by an average of 30.8%. But this depends heavily on the current position. The biggest increase is achieved by moving from the 6th to the 5th position, and the increase in the click-through rate is 53.2%.
Many Websites Get 8.1 Clicks Per Query
The research also examined all queries in Google Search Console and how many of these queries ended in clicks.
First of all, it was determined that very few of a website’s queries on Google turned into impressions.
Very few of the queries in Google Search Console turn into impressions.
This may mean that the keywords listed in the results are long-form keywords with low search volume, or it may also mean that the site does not rank well. Maybe it could be both.
Just like low impressions, many queries receive very few clicks (8.1 per query).
Many queries in Google Search Console also receive very few clicks.
Summary: “Rank for word A” may not be a meaningful SEO metric. This is because many pages rank for keywords with low search volume. However, most impressions and clicks come from relatively shorter queries.
Titles Containing Questions Have Above Average Click-Through Rates
The study also compared the average organic click rates of titles with and without questions.
(To identify titles containing questions, question patterns such as How, Why, What, Who or question marks were taken into consideration).
It has been found that headlines that contain questions have a 14.1% higher click-through rate than headlines that do not contain questions.
Titles that contain questions have a higher click-through rate than those that do not contain questions.
Here is the detailed click-through rate distribution for the top 10 results.
Distribution of titles containing questions and those not containing questions in the first 10 rows
The findings are consistent with click-through rate studies published in the journal Influence.
Click-through rate study published in Social Influence magazine
Question patterns can increase the click-through rate because people searching on Google are generally trying to find an answer to a question.
(After all, these are called “queries”).
At the same time, using a title with a question shows the user that your content provides an answer to the question the user is asking.
Titles containing questions also provide answers to users.
For example, in the study, they optimized the term “nofollow link” into a title containing a question.
Example of a title containing a question being first in line
According to GSC data, the page has a 29.2% click-through rate.
The click rate of the title containing a question in the previous image is 29.2%
Many people g
While searching for the general term “nofollow link”, they are actually searching to find out what this term is. And the title containing the question used shows that it can give the searching user the answer he is looking for.
Summary: Question-based headlines have a 14.1% higher click-through rate than non-question-based headlines.
Titles with the Highest Click-Through Rate: Titles Between 15 and 40 Characters
What is the optimal title length? Should you keep your headlines short and concise? Or should you use longer titles that include plenty of information about your content?
According to the data obtained from the study, you need to find the middle ground.
It has been found that titles between 15 and 40 characters have the highest click-through rates.
It has been found that titles between 15 and 40 characters have the highest click-through rates.
Although long titles are beneficial from an SEO perspective (long title = more keywords), they can actually be a disadvantage as they have a lower organic click-through rate.
In fact, Etsy tested countless title variations in a large-scale SEO study. According to their results, it was announced that “shorter titles provide higher performance compared to longer titles.”
Shorter headers provide higher performance compared to longer headers.
The author of this study hypothesizes that shorter titles may yield more positive results on Google due to the similarity of the queries. However, according to the analysis made in this research, the click-through rate is highest in short and medium-length titles.
Summary: Titles between 15 and 40 characters have the highest organic click-through rates. Headlines in this range have an 8.6% higher click-through rate than other headlines.
Keyword-Rich Link Addresses Have a Significantly Higher Click-Through Rate
The research also examined whether keyword-rich link addresses have an effect on the click-through rate.
Take, for example, someone searching for “weekend trip.” A link address like Seyahat.com/hafta-sonu-tripesi Seyahat.com/Seyahat-sayfa? Could a link like this have a higher click-through rate?
For this analysis, search queries were examined, compared to link addresses, and a similarity index ranging from 0% to 100% was created.
As the similarity of the Google search word and the matching word in the URL increases, the click rate also increases.
0% means the two words are not at all similar, and 100% means they are an exact match. All kinds of punctuation marks and symbols were ignored in the research. At the same time, it has taken the plural suffix “s”, and words that are very similar to each other have been accepted as the same word. (such as book and books). (In Turkish, we can treat this as “lar/s” and give the words “book/books” as an example.)
In line with all these values, it has been determined that there is a strong relationship between keyword-rich link addresses and organic click rates.
Relationship between the search term and the words in the URL
Although the link addresses containing the queried keyword have the highest click-through rate, it has been determined that the partial presence of the given keyword in the link address causes a significant increase in the click-through rate.
Google’s Search Engine Optimization guide reminds website administrators that their pages’ link addresses are listed on the SERP. It also recommends using relevant keywords in link addresses.
Google recommends that search terms should be passed in the URL.
According to a study published by Microsoft in 2012, it was stated that “trusted domain names” have a higher click-through rate in search engines compared to domain names that people are not familiar with.
Microsoft says that domains with higher awareness have higher click-through rates.
The theory behind this is that search engine users check the link address of the page to determine the best match for their query.
Summary: It has been determined that there is a 45% difference in clicks between link addresses that match the exact query (the entire query is found in the link address) and link addresses that do not match (none of the words of the query are found in the link address).
“Calls to Action” Negatively Affect Click-Through Rate
“Calls to Action” are words and phrases that make your headlines easy to spot and, in theory, are intended to help you get more clicks.
Examples of Call to Action words:
Hidden
Strong
Extremely
Perfect
The best
Unbelievable
Crazy
We claim
The research data shows that Calls to Action reduce the click-through rate by 13.9%.
Calls to Action reduce click-through rate by 13.9%.
Calls to Action stand out on crowded platforms (like Facebook)
They are very effective in attracting people, but these words are perceived as clickbait in Google search results.
For example, looking at the top 3 results for the keyword “how to write headlines”:
Example of action-provoking headline writing
For keywords like these, you expect eye-catching results like “How to Write a Highly Compelling Title.”
However, the first 3 results used extremely simple titles.
Example of using simple titles in headlines
Summary: Although CTAs work on social media, they can hurt your click-through rate. In fact, headlines with Calls to Action have a 13.9% lower click-through rate than headlines without them.
Emotional Titles Can Increase Organic Click-Through Rate
The results show that emotional headlines (headlines containing positive or negative sentiment) have a higher click-through rate than emotionally neutral headlines.
Emotional headlines have a higher click-through rate than emotionally neutral headlines.
Specifically, emotional headlines have been found to have a 7.3% higher click-through rate than non-emotional headlines.
It has also been found that positive and negative headlines are equally effective. When examined for other variables (such as ranking), it is seen that titles containing positive emotions have a 7.4% higher click rate, and titles containing negative emotions have a 7.2% higher click rate.
For this analysis, the “text polarity” of each word in the title was analyzed. Each headline was given a sentiment score based on the predicted positive or negative sentiment of the title.
For example, a headline like this is considered neutral.
An example of a neutral headline
This title is also considered a title with a positive sentiment.
An example of a headline with positive sentiment
Various industry studies, including BuzzSumo’s research, have found a link between emotional headlines and engagement.
There is a connection between emotional headlines and engagement.
However, there is no industry research examining the connection between emotional title tags and Google organic click-through rate.
According to the data obtained in the study, it is seen that emotional titles receive higher click rates in organic results.
What’s interesting is that while Calls to Action reduce the click-through rate, emotional headlines increase the click-through rate.
This may be because emotionality is a more expressive measure than any call to action. In other words, an emotionally charged headline can be written without using actionable words. And headlines that don’t sound like clickbait but are emotionally compelling will definitely make your link stand out and get more clicks on the SERP.
Summary: Headlines with positive or negative sentiment have a higher click-through rate than neutral headlines.
Pages with a Meta Description Have a Higher Click-Through Rate Compared to Pages Without a Description
Even though descriptions don’t directly impact SEO, Google still recommends writing unique descriptions for each page on your site.
Google still recommends writing a unique description for each page.
In fact, they even say that well-written descriptions can get more clicks in Google searches.
Google clearly says that well-written description texts will get more clicks.
Therefore, the click-through rates of pages with and without meta description were examined. It was found that pages with a meta description had a 5.8% higher click-through rate than pages without a description.
Pages with a meta description have a 5.8% higher click-through rate than pages without a description.
This finding comes as no surprise to those experienced with SEO. Even though Google doesn’t always use the meta descriptions you write, your meta description usually appears on the SERP.
When there is no meta description, Google takes text snippets from your page to fill the empty space.
When there is no description, Google takes text sections from your page to fill the empty space.
And these snippets that Google takes from your page may not always be more attractive than a well-written description.
Summary: Writing unique meta descriptions for each page can increase your site’s organic click-through rate. Pages with a meta description have been proven to have a 5.8% higher click-through rate than pages without a description.
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