search result pages from google are becoming more different from each other, and even interactive. this makes it much harder to trust any studies that involve clicking on results, because no two set of results are the same.
How much control do writers and content creators have over how their content appears in search results? They have many options to choose from to make their search snippets more efficient.
What Is A Click Through Rate?
The organic click-through-rate (CTR) is the percentage of people who click on a search engine result when they perform a search.
Organic Click Through Rate is mostly determined by ranking position, but it is also impacted by the title tag, description, URL, and existence of Rich Snippets for a given result.
To help you understand the concept better, I’ll give you an example.
If you are ranked number 2 for a keyword that is searched for 200 times per month,
And, 20 people click on your website.
So, your organic Click Through Rate would be 10%.
The number of times a search result is viewed on the SERP is the number of impressions divided by the number of clicks it receives.
How does Click Through Rate affect website ranking?
Well, I also have an answer for that.
Google cares a lot about DA Google uses Domain Authority as a metric tool to rank websites. Therefore, Google cares a lot about Domain Authority.
If users are unable to access your website’s content, it may be because your Click Through Rate is low. This means that google has analyzed your website and determined it to be irrelevant, and has lowered it in the search results.
As Anteelo uncovers how many websites actually get the clicks and the ones that are left to scrape by stating that:
The website ranking first in search results gets at least 31.7% of the clicks, even second and third place gets nearly 75% of the clicks left, but the bad news is for sites left after the 2nd and 3rd. The Click Through Rate for these sites drops significantly as you scroll down the page.
. Anteelo has uncovered that you need to understand the reality of the solution, not just a high Click Through Rate, in order to convert.
This tool gives you a report on your website’s traffic and how often they visit, which is important to know in order to improve your conversion rate.
The anatomy of a standard search snippet
The standard Google search snippet has changed over the years, but in essence all the key elements are still there:
- is always the title of the linked article. The title of the linked article is always in blue and is clickable.
- The description of that page (about two lines long — it was lengthened for no particular reason a few years ago, but now seems to be back to two lines)
- The URL path used to be green but is now black.
Here’s how much control you have over these standard elements of your search snippet (in the order they currently appear):
Logo
When attempting to determine which image to display next to a URL in search results, Google will consider the website’s favicon. This allows you to have complete control over this section of the search results.
URL path
Google tries to show the most relevant URL path to the user instead of just the URL of the page. This consists of:
- I don’t have any evidence to back this up, but when I’m choosing which links to click on, I always look at the domain names. Choose a domain name that is interesting to help people click on your site. Tools like Namify help you find domains that are short, memorable, and witty.
- The breadcrumb or the truncated URL: You can use breadcrumb schema to force Google to use breadcrumb instead of the URL, and watch your Search Console to see if that helped clickthrough:
Title
Google has been increasingly rewriting the title of the search snippet, which used to be generated based on the page title.
In other words, even though it’s not guaranteed, it’s still a good idea to make your title include keywords that will make people want to click on it.
Description
Google has been ignoring the meta description associated with a website for years and generating its own search snippet description instead. Recent studies show that Google does this in about 70% of cases.
Although it is not necessary to create meta descriptions, they can be helpful in providing Google with additional information about the content of your website.
Adding a concise summary of your content at the beginning of your article may trick Google into using your chosen snippet description.
Rich snippets for content-based pages
Rich snippets are search results that include additional details beyond the usual title and description. They can include things like the author of a result, the date it was published, or how many stars it has. Web publishers can control what information appears in rich snippets by adding schema markup to their website.
Here are the types of rich snippets that will work for content-based pages:
FAQ page
Having a FAQ page is not a requirement for using this rich snippet. You can use the code by answering two or more questions on the page. There are several plugins that can help you with coding, including this one for WordPress.
HowTo schema
The HowTo schema was introduced in order to provide step-by-step instructions for people who want to do things themselves.
Video schema
More often than not, rich snippets only show up on mobile devices, but they are very common.
Video schema is not required to generate a rich snippet, although it will help ensure that one is generated. I have seen dozens of cases where Google creates a rich snippet simply by embedding a video on the page.
Even though it’s not necessary, it wouldn’t hurt to use rich code, especially since there’s a tool that can generate the code for you.
Structured snippets
Rich snippets are more popular than structured snippets, even though they are less common on search.
Image thumbnails
Image thumbnails are very rare on desktop. Images appear in most search snippets on mobile devices.
There’s no particular optimization tactic here, but there are best practices that may or may not help:
- Your landing page should ideally have at least one image. Make sure the image is featured on your WordPress site.
- Compress your image to make it load faster.
- Specify the thumbnail using the meta tag.
Dates
When searching on Google, dates may appear in the search results snippet if Google believes this information may be useful to the person carrying out the search. Dates can have a big impact on how often a search result is clicked on, according to research by Ignite Visibility. About half of searchers say that dates in search results are either “important” or “very important” factors in deciding whether to click on a result.
- Search snippets with more recent dates are more likely to be clicked on.
- An older date will still appear on the top of the page even if you scroll down.
Google has clear guidelines as to how web publishers can keep those dates fresh:
- Don’t try to hide dates, because they are useful.
- When you update a piece of writing, you should republish it on a new date only if you have basically rewritten it. If you have only made a few changes, it is better to update the old piece and change the publish date.
- As of October 2019, Google has updated its algorithm As of October 2019, Google has updated its algorithm to prioritize articles that are more recently updated.
- The schema “datePublished” and “dateModified” are not required, but will be helpful.
Google will understand all of the following date formats:
- Published December 4, 2019
- Posted Dec 4, 2020
- Last updated: Dec 14, 2018
- Updated Dec 14, 2021 8pm ET
Mini sitelinks
The most unpredictable element of a search snippet is probably mini sitelinks. There is no sure way to know which links Google will choose to feature on its search engine, as it varies and may be selected randomly from navigation, tag, or category links. Additionally, there is no recourse if Google chooses a link that is not beneficial or relevant.
Mini sitelinks can be generated for just about any result, not just the top-ranking one.
Mini sitelinks are useful because they make it more likely that people will click on your search result.
If you want Google to show mini sitelinks in your search snippet, one thing you can do is use an on-page table of contents (which uses HTML anchor links).
How To Improve Click Through Rate?
Optimize Headlines
The headlines of your text should specify the query that the user searched for.
People use specific keywords when they are looking for something online. This means that your title must meet the requirements for appearing in search results, which will result in more people visiting your site.
So, Let’s understand how does your headline should be:
Use a display limit of 60 characters in your headline. This will ensure that your headline is seen in its entirety by users on all devices.
Your meta title should be 60 characters or less, as recommended by Moz.
This is based on the pixels that Google shows in search results. This feature increases the chances that Google will properly display it by 90%.
1) Keep your design simple and user-friendly. 2) Consider the needs of your users when designing your website.
instead of – “11 Ways to Improve Your Website to Generate More Leads” It should, for instance, be “11 ways to improve your website to generate more leads” instead of “11 Ways to Improve Your Website to Generate More Leads.”
If you present a technique with a series of steps, the user will feel confident that they can complete the task easily, as long as they follow the process.
3) Use Keywords That Are Long-Tailed In Your Meta Title.
Long-tail keywords are phrases that are not commonly searched for, but receive a high amount of traffic.
This means that questions with these types of keywords are only searched a few times each month.
4) You Must Connect To Your Users’ Emotions
Your headlines need to both tell the reader what they will get by clicking on your article, as well as providing interesting information that makes them want to click.
Make your information interactive, but don’t go overboard.
You shouldn’t use lines like “You won’t believe what occurred next” to try and make your website more interesting.
Statements like these are not good for business because they have been used to lie to customers too many times.
5) Set Attainable Goals In Your Blogs
Your users have come to your website in search of a unique solution.
So, don’t give users titles that are unattainable, such as “make profits in one week” or “lose 8 pounds in 2 weeks”. This may catch their attention, but it will never give you long-term customers.
Headlines should have specifications and keywords. The meta title is the title of your content that is seen by users visiting your website who may be searching for the same thing.
Your visitors usually come to your site for one of three reasons: they need information, they want to find a solution to a problem, or they’re just looking to have a good time. To increase your organic Click Through Rate, follow these guidelines when optimizing your title: – Avoid reckless and out-of-context headlines – Make sure your titles are clear and concise – Use keyword-rich titles that accurately reflect the content of your article – Test different titles to see which one performs best
If you improve your organic Click Through Rate, you will get more traffic and conversions.
Meta Description
The meta description is the text that appears under the headline or meta title on a webpage. It acts as a mini advertisement for your website.
It previews the content that readers would find if they clicked on it and explored your website further.
In other words, a well-written meta description will make your website look more appealing to potential visitors. Your meta description is the introduction to the content that the reader is about to read, so it should not be left to fend for itself.
If you don’t provide a meta description, Google will choose one for you from your content.
When your page appears in Google search results, the description underneath your web page title is usually the first two lines of your page’s content.
