Does Organic CTR Impact Google Rankings?

Does organic click-through rate (CTR) data impact google rankings? This has been a huge topic of debate for years within the search industry.

Several tests seem to have shown that the click-through rate Influence the Google Organic Ranking. A new test seems to show the opposite. Who to believe?

According to Rand, Click-through rate is a Ranking Factor

Rand Fishkin ( co-founder of Moz.com ), has several times used moz's large subscribers (mainly via social networks) to carry out SEO Tests. A test in July 2015 seems to have shown that the Organic CTR (Click-through rate) Improve Google Search Ranking, and that a better CTR led to a better position in search.

But be careful, his test was biased, like all tests, and the CTR was not the only variable. He talked about this again in a video referring to a patent you should read. He had already been interested in this in 2014.

According to Bartosz Góralewicz, Google no Longer Uses CTR in Their Ranking Algorithm

Bartosz Góralewicz conducted a test in March 2015 to try to prove the same, but he came to the opposite conclusion! According to Bartosz, Google no longer take into account CTR in their Organic Ranking Algorithm. You can read hiss explanations on Search Engine Land (as well as in more detail on its own site ).

In summary, Bartosz used click bots, which simulate users doing Google searches and clicking on results. He explains that he had trouble getting there, but after weeks of work he could simulate visits that Google apparently did not identify as Bot user. To prove this, He shows that the visits were recorded in Google Analytics and Google Search Console (which is not easy for simple clickbots ). And most importantly, he was able to influence Google Trends and Google Ad Planner. In his conclusion, he believes that it is finally safe to tell that that Google has abandoned CTR from their core algorithm, because this metric can be easily manipulated.

According to Google, CTR is not a Ranking Factor

Besides, Gary Illyes ( Webmaster Trends Analyst at Google ) said in 2015 that Google do not use CTR as a Ranking Factor.

My Personal Opinion

Well then, if Google does not use CTR as a Ranking Signal, why other tests have positively shown Organic CTR Does Improve Google Ranking? And why do we read That Higher Organic CTR Lead to Higher Position on Search Engine?

Here are some thoughts I would like to share with you about tests I Mentioned Earlier:

• Rand's Test Conducted By Real Human Users: Real Human Google Visitors, with Browsers cookies enable. Conversely, the experiments of Bartosz were made with software. Although he ensured that google were unable identify this as artificial visit, But it does not prove that Google's algorithm has not "decided" to ignore these types of queries and clicks. In reality, it seems probable that Google checks if the CTR increases for people not connected to their Google account as for others (Ditto for many other things such as the type of desktop / mobile device, Operating system, browser, etc.).
• It is also possible to surmise that the actions performed by human visitors at Rand's test to increase the CTR have involved other criteria which may also influence the search ranking.
• Bartosz conducted the test for a short amount of time (2 weeks if I understood correctly). In my opinion, to improve the CTR results in improved positioning, it takes a much longer period. And if one day there is a peak of traffic (it can happen, buzz or other), the CTR must keep high after that, otherwise it does not confirm the interest of Internet users.

What is Your Opinion About Organic CTR Impact on Google Ranking?

5 Essential SEO Principles To Master In 2017

I Believe, An Effective Keyword Strategies, Keywords Focus on the Website, Design for Optimal User Experience, With Good Quality Content and Crawlable Linking Strategy is The Foundation of a Successful Website SEO Campaign.

5 SEO Principles

Keyword Strategies: An Effective Keyword Strategy Start with Keyword Research and Selection, Selected Keyword and Keyword Phrase Should be used in the Website Content and Linking Strategy.

Keywords Focus on The Website: Selected Keyword and Keyword Phrase or its Synonyms or Similar Words Presence throughout the Website and Internal Linking.

User Experience: Site Loading Speed, Performance, and Security.

Good Quality Content: Fresh Content Focusing on Providing the Right Solution to Human Visitor with as much Information as Needed in the Smallest Possible Space.

Crawlable Linking Strategy:

1. Internal Linking: Place Only Links that are Natural for the Human Reader. 
2. Inbound or Incoming Links: All types of Incoming links that does not violet Google Link Scheme and Incoming Link Pointing to Live Pages.
3. Outbound or External Link: Advocate site visitor to read related resource by pointing External hyperlinks.

How To: Fewer Visitors, More Sales.

Search engine optimization is not about getting as much traffic as possible. It's about getting the right kind of website traffic. Sometimes, less traffic can be better.

Trying to get as many visitors as possible might not be a good thing

Many webmasters try to get as many visitors as possible. They join traffic exchange programs and they optimize their web pages for keywords that have very many searches.

Unfortunately, getting as much traffic as possible is not the right strategy for a successful website. Traffic that doesn't convert is useless traffic. If your website has thousands of visitors but only a few sales then you have done something wrong.

Less traffic can be better

If you want to succeed with your website, you have to focus on the conversion rate of your web pages. A website with a good conversion rate will do much better than a website with many visitors. Here's an example:

• Barbara's website gets 10,000 unique visitors because it has a #1 ranking for the keyword "buy inexpensive brown shoes". The conversion rate is 2%.
• Maggi's website gets 1,000,000 unique visitors because it has a #1 ranking for the much more popular keyword "shoes". The conversion rate is .02%

Both websites will get 200 conversions. But why does Maggi's website get the same number of conversions as Barbara's although it has 100 times the number of visitors?

There can be several reasons for this. For example, Maggi's keyword "Wedding Dress" is very generic keyword. People looking for generic keywords usually aren't interested in purchasing. They are looking for general information about Handmade Wedding Dress topic.

Maggi's landing page also might have a poor design. Her website might not offer what the searcher is looking for. That is very likely if the visitor found the website through a generic keyword.

Barbara's keyword "Buy Handmade Wedding Dress" is very targeted. Web surfers who use that keyword know what they're looking for and they are ready to buy. That means that Barbara needs fewer visitors to get a sale.

Multiply your revenue without working more

Four word keywords such as "Buy Handmade Wedding Dress" have much less competition than two-word keywords such as "Wedding Dress". That means that it is much easier to get top rankings for these long tail keywords. Suppose it takes Barbara five hours of optimization per month to maintain the #1 ranking. Each working hour costs $50. That means that Barbara spends $250 per month.

To maintain the #1 ranking for the two-word keyword "Wedding Dress", Maggi has to invest 40 hours per month because it is much more work to get and maintain high rankings for such a competitive keyword. Maggi's working hour also costs $50, that means that the spends $2000 per month.

As explained above, both websites get 200 conversions. If each conversion is worth $15 then Barbara has a ROI (return-on-investment) of 600% for every dollar spent on search engine optimization. Maggi has a ROI of 100%.

If Maggi had not invested his 40 hours in a single keyword but in optimizing 6 good converting four-word keywords that each needs 5 hours then he would have multiplied his revenue by 6 without working more.

What can you do to increase your conversion rate?

You can do the following to improve your conversion rate:

1. Do not waste your time for getting vanity rankings. It makes no sense to get high rankings for one-word keywords.
2. Optimize your web pages for multiple-word keywords that attract visitors that are ready to buy.
3. Make sure that your landing pages contain a clear call to action and that the content of your landing pages is related to the optimized keyword.
4. Make sure that your website has a professional look so that potential buyers aren't turned off.

Search engine optimization is not about getting visitors. It is about getting conversions. Search engine optimization is about creating conversion paths for the traffic that comes from search engines. If you optimize your web pages for the right keywords then you'll save a lot of time and you'll get more conversions.

Webmaster Academy: A Primer on Search Engine Optimization

If you have a website, you probably want it to be easy to find. Search engine optimization, or SEO, is “the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in search engines” (Wikipedia). While the most important thing to do is to always focus on providing your users with a great experience, here are some great optimization tips to get you started:

Optimizing Content
If there’s one thing to remember, it’s to make sure your website has high-quality content. Your content should be concise, relevant, and unique. Remember to use words that users would search for, which you can find more data on in Webmaster Tools.

Improving HTML
Make sure that your website contains all the proper HTML tags necessary for search engine crawlers to understand each page. Each web page should have a relevant title (created with the <title> element in HTML) that concisely describes that page’s content. Images should have alternate text (the alt HTML attribute) because Google is much better at understanding text than looking at pictures.

Relevant Publicity
While Google pays attention to everything on your website, it can also learn a lot about your site from other websites. Consider sharing your website with other communities online. Don’t know where to start? See if your local chamber of commerce website lists local businesses. Google uses external signals like these when evaluating your website.

Because doing all of this can be a daunting task, many businesses hire search engine optimizers (also called SEOs). Just like with anyone you hire, before bringing on an SEO make sure to complete your due diligence - here are some tips to make sure you are bringing on a great fit that abides by Google’s Webmaster Guidelines.

While search engine optimization can seem overwhelming at first, remember that it’s all about creating the best website for your users. A comprehensive list of SEO best practices can be found in Google’s SEO Starter Guide. For more information about how to build a great website that performs well in search, make sure to visit the Webmaster Academy.

Posted by Garen Checkley, Search Quality Team