This post will go through the best ways that Algorithmic Global has found to increase organic click-through rate (referred to as CTR) on a WordPress site.  

To start, let’s define CTR.

What is Organic Click Through Rate?  

CTR is a digital marketing term that dictates the percentage of people clicking on your ad/website after being displayed in the SERPs. The way that we calculate CTR is by dividing the number of clicks by the number of impressions. 

According to Google, a page that receives a higher CTR will get a SERP boost for the targeted organic keyword. The way that Google dictates how a user interacts with a page is with Google AI Algorithm Called RankBrain. Depending on the keyword, RankBrain can increase or decrease the importance of backlinks, content freshness, content length, and domain authority when looking at the content on the page. When The Algorithmic Global team develops content, they are writing both for the end-user and RankBrain, the Google AI Algorithm.  

How does CTR connect with rankings? 

CTR and Google search rankings are intimately connected. It’s one thing to be able to write for Google, but it is a whole different ball game when you are also looking to get people to read your published content. If you are not getting people to read the content posted, Google will drop your rank and keep you hidden from the first page. 

Importance of Improving Organic Click Through Rate 

Here I will provide you with actionable tips to increase the organic Click Through Rate of your site. Our team has found that working on your website’s organic CTR is the best way to improve your search rank.

Even with all the buzz surrounding social media, search engines remain the most important traffic source for most websites. Learning to improve organic click through rate will help you get ahead of your competition. 

You can get ahead of the competition using these six steps:

How to Find your Current Click Through Rate?

The first place to look when wanting to know your website’s current CTR is utilizing Google Analytics.

Next, you want to click on the drop-down menu Acquisition > Search Console > Queries. 

Here you will find the search queries that brought people to our site.

This page also displays the queries’ clicks, impressions, click-through rate, and average search position.

Understanding your queries will help you know what content performs well and which doesn’t. The next step will be to improve organic click through rate for the pages and keywords that are not performing as well. 

You can utilize Google Analytics time after time to see how your queries have improved after changes have been made. Simply compare from the time before and after the changes have been made.

What changes can improve Click Through Rate?

There are the five essential items to consider to improve your sites organic click through Rate:

1. Improve Your Titles

The writing on the page title is single-handedly the most prominent part of your search results. When writing the title, make sure it is useful. For starters, you can try out different page titles that spike emotion. Whenever you create a blog or a page, it is essential to take a minute and jot down a few page titles options before selecting one. 

2. Perfect Your Headlines

There is no need to guess what headlines to write, and there are tools you can use to see what will be best for SEO. We use SEMRush, and their keyword tool to dictate what our headlines will be. SEMRush gives you the option for multiple questions and keywords that you can use in your headers.

3. Descriptive URLs 

The URL of a page is an essential factor regarding CTR. A URL is one of the places where you can place keywords. Google and the users pay attention to the structure of the URL. Use categories and sub-categories in your link structure to help with CTR allowing the reader to know there is more than this one interesting article in the website.

4. Changing up the Meta Descriptions

Meta descriptions take up most of the search results and are the text that appears under the result title and link. In the meta descriptions, you can tell visitors more about what to expect from the content. Each post needs a custom description that includes your main keyword and a power word. Avoid making your meta descriptions longer than 160 characters because they will be cut off. 

5. Improve Site Speed

There is nothing worse than waiting on a website to load. Using Gtmetrix, you can test where your site’s speed is lacking and make the necessary changes. 

Concluding thoughts

Producing solid, compelling content is essential for any website, but it won’t matter if nobody clicks. I hope you have gained some insights into the importance of increasing organic click through rate and the steps to make it happen. 

If you have any questions about increasing your site’s click-through rate, please reach out via our contact page.