Emmanuel ChijiokeCTR is a KPI that can be used in many digital marketing strategies . In this case we are going to talk about ctr manipulation and its relevance according to SEO positioning. In addition, we will also give you some keys for its correct optimization, which will influence the search results.
What is CTR?
Within the field of Digital Marketing there are many metrics that can be used to measure the results of the strategies implemented. Among them, 3 of these metrics stand out. These would be:
- The number of impressions.
- The CTR.
- The conversions.
In this post, we are going to focus on what CTR is in Digital Marketing, and ctr manipulation to achieve result.
The CTR, acronym for Click Through Rate , is an essential KPI that refers to the percentage of clicks that a certain publication achieves.
When calculating this metric, simply divide the total number of clicks on that URL by the number of impressions and then multiply it by 100 to obtain the percentage.
The CTR is a very relevant metric within Digital Marketing because it influences many aspects. For example, in social networks, in email marketing campaigns, in advertising campaigns or in SEO positioning.
What is the CTR manipulationin in SEO?
Having seen what CTR is in the field of Digital Marketing, let’s specifically define what CTR is in SEO.
In SEO, the CTR would be defined as the number of clicks that the links of your company’s website take in the search engine results pages . Therefore, it is one of the most important KPIs within organic positioning.
When calculating this KPI for SEO , the formula is exactly the same as the one mentioned above: (CLICKS/IMPRESSIONS) X 100 .
2.1 How does ctr manipulation help web positioning?
If you are wondering how CTR helps SEO, the reason is very simple. However, that should not diminish the importance of the fact itself.
The ctr manipulation helps to climb positions in the results of the Google SERPs ( Search Engine Results Page or results pages). With this, you can get to appear on the first page of the search engine.
This is so because Google takes into account many quality factors when positioning, but one of them is the CTR of a specific result. Let’s take an example to see it more clearly.
Imagine that your company has a blog and the link to one of your articles appears on page 2 of the Google SERPs when someone enters your keyword in the search engine.
Suddenly, your link, despite being on that second page, starts to receive more clicks than the ones on page 1. Your CTR will start to go up and that fact is like telling Google “this link is much more interesting than the ones on page 1. Let’s upload it!” And this is how ctr manipulation helps web positioning.
Of course, although this time we focus on optimizing the CTR or ctr manipulation, if you really want to scale sites to the first position on the first page, that will not be enough. It will also be necessary to carry out a good link building strategy and work on SEO On Page.
What factors influence the CTR within web positioning?
As a company with an online presence, you must be clear about one thing. There is a lot of talk about SEO only focusing on the positions. However, SEO is not just being at the top of the search engine. It is being there, that users click and reach your brand.
For this, there are several essential factors that will influence the CTR within the search results pages.
- The title, which must have the main keyword and be attractive.
- The meta description must be optimized. That means it has to contain that main keyword as well, while providing a summary of what users will find on that page when they click the link.
- The URL will also be optimized, containing the keyword and without being excessively long.
- Rich snippets or enriched fragments are becoming more and more relevant. These provide added value, as they contain valuable information for the user. Plus, they make search results much more visually appealing.
4. Importance of ctr manipulation
Optimizing the CTR of your company’s website will help achieve many benefits, such as increasing conversions or, as we have seen, improving web positioning.
This improvement is achieved both directly and indirectly.
- The direct way is the one we already mentioned. By carrying out ctr manipulation, Google will begin to consider your link much more relevant and it will position itself better in the results.
- The indirect way is that, by carrying out ctr manipulation, quality traffic to your website will also increase. In turn, this will improve your bounce rate and the time the user spends on the page. Both elements are also considered by Google when positioning.
It is clear that if you do not know this KPI – ctr manipulation, you will not know if it is necessary to optimize it or not. However, now that you have this information, you will surely be interested in knowing the CTR of your results in Google. Well, if you want to see examples of CTR of your links, you can go to Google Search Console .
Within the Search traffic, in “Search analysis”, you can see a lot of data, such as impressions or the CTR already calculated.
If after analyzing the data you consider that it is necessary to make changes and carry out ctr manipulation, there are different methods to do it.
5. CTR manipulation to improve web positioning
When optimizing the CTR, it will be necessary to take into account those factors that are important for it in positioning. Let’s see it in steps.
5.1 Set an appropriate SEO title
- The SEO title is what is known as the title tag . It is the title of the page that is published.
- This title does not need to be exactly the same as H1, which is the title of the publication itself.
- It is advisable to make some variations between both titles, although in both it is important that the keyword appears.
- The SEO title cannot be very long. It is usually recommended that it does not exceed 60 characters. Doing so will not appear complete in Google results, but cut with ellipses.
- In addition to the characters, Google also takes into account the width of pixels, so it is important to avoid many uppercase (they take up more than lowercase) or question marks.
5.2 Optimize the metascript
The meta description is a short summary of the content of the published page. It must also include the chosen keyword and must be made up of certain characters: the minimum will be 120 and 150 will be enough.
In this case, the same thing happens as with the title tag. In addition to the characters, you have to consider what these are to avoid those that have a large pixel width and that the text is cut off.
5.3 CTR manipulation & Slug optimization
Before we commented that another factor that influences the CTR within SEO is the URL. Well, this is where the slug comes into play.
The slug is the part of a page’s URL that follows the domain. Among its features:
- You must include the keyword.
- It has to be as short as possible. To do this, try to remove any words that are not providing meaning. For example, articles and prepositions.
- Do not add “ñ”, accents or special characters.
- The words in the slug must be separated by hyphens.
5.4 Use rich snippets
The rich snippets , known as enriched fragments, show more information to the user . This CTR manipulation helps SEO, improve CTR and increase web traffic.
The reason is that by offering more data to Internet users from the SERP itself, they make them stop longer, increasing the chances that they will click on the link to find out even more. Consequently, this can also increase leads and sales.
However, depending on the content displayed in rich snippets , in some cases they can be detrimental to CTR manipulation strategy.
When SEO positioning is optimized with these fragments, it may happen that the content displayed in them is already sufficient for the user and they do not need to enter the page of that link to learn more.
Even so, there are more occasions in which they bring benefits.
5.5 Use emoticons
Another recommended way of ctr manipulation is to use emoticons in the snippet of your content.
For its use there is no infallible formula and this will depend on some factors. For example, the type of content on your website or the degree of formality you want to convey.
Therefore, the inclusion of emoticons should not be done lightly . Also, it is not possible to do it in all the elements that make up the snippet . This is the case of the slug, in which it is not allowed.
Where they could be added is in the meta description or in the title tag. 1 or 2 could be included, as an excess of emoticons would undermine the credibility of the website.
Also, remember that in both cases you should not exceed the character limit and also take care of the pixel width.
5.6 Remove or update dates
Users like updated content . Therefore, depending on the content to be treated, no matter how much a link appears in the first result, it may happen that the user does not click on it.
For example, imagine that you have an article on digital marketing trends very well positioned , but the date shown is from 2014. Two posts further down there is one on the same topic, but from this year. Possibly the user enters the most current, because he knows that trends change over time.
When it comes to evergreen content , that is, one that does not go out of style, remains relevant even as time passes and attracts visits despite adding years, you can remove the date.
In other cases, it will always be best not only to update the content (something that Google values), but also the dates, so that the update date appears and not the creation/publication date.
Although it is important to have other metrics to know if your strategies are being favorable or not, the CTR is one of the most important indicators and ctr manipulation is essential . To this end, do not hesitate to support yourself using the grandly SEO Agency to improve your web positioning.
Emmanuel Chijioke
David GRANT