Click-through Rates: Why You Need Content That Clicks


A Click-through rate is defined as the “number of click-throughs for a specific link divided by the number of times that link was viewed” (“Week 1 Lesson, n.d.). The measurement of click-through rates is important because it can provide insight as to whether or not your website is performing well or poorly (Kent, 2018). A high click-through rate indicates that the current content being provided is valuable to the audience; however, a low click-through rate indicates that the current strategy should be reevaluated (Kent, 2018).

Although there are many variations in what a click-through rate is based on what it is being used for (pay per click, email marketing, and so on), this blog post is focusing on the Web Analytics and Search Engine Optimization component. According to Kent, providing relevant content throughout each web page on a website is an important element of “capturing clicks” (2018). Based on Google’s algorithm, the higher and more organic the click-through rate the more traffic that will be driven to a website (Kent, 2018).

Figure 1 is an illustration of the direct correlation between a Click-through rate and a website’s ranking on a Google search. Based on the graph, as the click-through rates increased the search results ranking increased as well (“Click Through Rate”, n.d.). On the other hand, as the click-through rates decreased, the search results rankings did too (“Click Through Rate”, n.d.).




Figure 1: (Click Through Rate, n.d.)

           

Figure 2 is an illustration of the formula that is used to determine the click-through rate. In its final form, the click through rate is expressed as a percentage.




Figure 2: (Singh, 2017)

Optimizing click-through rate produces benefits such as more organic rankings and more traffic to a website (“Click Through Rate”, n.d.). There are also methods to increase organic click-through rates. Three of these methods are “optimizing the title”, “optimizing the meta description”, and “optimizing the URLs” (“Click Through Rate”, n.d.). Optimizing the title by adding emotions or numbered lists can lead to higher click-through rates (“Click Through Rates”, n.d.). Although meta-descriptions are not actually considered in Google rankings, it is still able to draw readers to a website and increase the click-through rate. Lastly, optimizing URLs can help increase click-through rates. For example, using shorter URLs and descriptive URLs have proven to be successful methods for increasing click-through rates (“Click Through Rates”, n.d.). A study from Microsoft indicated that “descriptive URLs get 25% more clicks than generic URLs” (“Click Through Rates”, n.d.).

Click-through rates are extremely important for the overall web analytics and search engine optimization rankings of a company. Because it is common knowledge that results on the first page typically receive the most traffic, every company is competing to make reserve a spot on the first page of search results. According to Shelton, 71% of search traffic clicks is accounted for by the first page of Google search results (2017). Ultimately the significance of tracking click through rates is to gain insight on the type of content that is providing value to your audience and to discover which keywords are actually producing the intended results (“Click Through Rate (CTR)”, n.d.). 



                                                                     References

Click-Through Rate: Everything You Want to Know and More. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://conversionxl.com/guides/click-through-rate/

Click-Through Rate (CTR): Importance for SEO and PPC. (2013, March 19). Retrieved from https://www.semrush.com/blog/click-through-rate-ctr-importance-for-seo-and-ppc/

Kent, K. (2018, September 14). What is CTR? Understanding the Meaning of Click Through Rate. Retrieved from https://www.lyfemarketing.com/blog/what-is-ctr-click-through-rate/

Shelton, K. (2017, November 29). The Value Of Search Results Rankings. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/10/30/the-value-of-search-results-rankings/#1586a46244d3

Singh, A. (2017, April 28). What is CTR in Google Adsense- Everything you need to know? Retrieved from https://www.bloghashtag.com/what-is-ctr-in-google-adsense/

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