What are the new Google Online Marketing metrics trying to tell us and why we should care? (#1 -Click Through Rate)

If you work in marketing and have been keeping up to date with the latest Search Marketing news you might have been aware that Google is refreshing all of its Online Advertising tools as well as officially Shutting Down Old Adwords Interface in 2018 so it is important now more than ever to recap the performance metrics they have been making us used to, as well as new Online Marketing performance metrics that take over in terms of importance and impact on any online business.

This post is the 1st installment of a series where I explain the importance of every Google performance metric for search marketing and what it means for every website in this day and age.

Let's start with the basics, you have created your content/ webpage / product and you want the desired visibility online, for that you need page engagement so the first touchpoint is Click Through Rates.

What is Click-through rate (CTR) and how is it aiding engagement and online visibility

According to Google, "CTR is a ratio showing how often people who see your ad end up clicking it. Click-through rate (CTR) can be used to gauge how well your keywords and ads are performing."

In the context of organic search results, your clickthrough rate is how often people click on your site out of all the times your site gets shown in search results. A low CTR means that, no matter how well your site is ranking, users aren’t clicking through to it. This may indicate that they don’t think your site will meet their needs, or that some other site looks better. One way to improve your CTR is to look at your site’s titles and snippets in our search results: are they compelling? Do they accurately represent the content of each URL? Do they give searchers a reason to click on them?

Why user experience is highly related to this metric and how Google rewards you if you abide to it?

Basically, what Google is telling us is that compelling page titles are rewarded if they go in line with what the user had in mind when he looked up something online. Providing helpful and relevant information, added value knowledge, or selling propositions under a 70 character title is crucial in nowadays world.

How to improve CTR? - The SEO Impact of Click-Through Rate (What You Need to Know)

1 - SEO + Search Intent = Effective CTR

Using highly relevant keywords / user search intent for higher engagement and consequent page ranking

Keywords that increase expected click through rates: In order to stand out from the crowd and achieve that desired attention, a company most deliver the best engaging page title that matches the user′s according search term as this key to for engagement and 1st touchpoint with a company′s website. 

2 - SEO + Art of Persuasion = Engagement

Create engaging page titles that persuade enough to achieve user interest?

The art persuasion dates back to the Ancient Greek philosophy learnings from the brain of Aristotle, and Online Marketing and generating online attention to your business doesnt differ very much from this methodology. Aristotle’s three means of persuasion rely on 3 pillars: Ethos, Pathos, Logos.

The pillar that relies on the power of the ethical appeal is related Ethos, and in an online scenario it requires you to demonstrate to your users that you own a legit selling proposition (think of USP that distinguishes your offering from the immense marketing noise out there and highlight why is it credible and trustworthy). 

Pathos relates to emotion, meaning one needs to understand users’ needs and attitudes ( think user search query to page title proposition)

Logos is logic, and the word is self-explanatory, persuade others with logic and reasoning to convince of why user′s should click on your page (think of Key Diferetiating selling proposition, added value content, reasons to buy)

Source: Create good titles and snippets in Search Results https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/35624

Expected CTR is a crucial component of Google′s Ad Rank which is a performance metric based on keyword-ad-webpage title relevancy which ultimately determines which webpages get the top spot on Google based on Click engagement. Whichever website achieves this high relevancy is more likely to have a user to click your webpage after searching on your keyword phrase.

3 - SEO + UX = Improved Online Experience

Analyse and refine page performance by optimising keywords in line with user's search intent via Google Search Console

The key aspect is to apply the knowledge of your site with the findings from Search Queries as you’ll likely have several improvement ideas to help searchers find your site.

1. First understand your website’s goals and your target audience (on Google Search Console, use Search Queries “filters” to support your knowledge)
2. Sort by clicks in Top queries to understand the top queries bringing searchers to your site (for the given time period)
3. Sort by CTR to notice any missed opportunities
4. Categorize queries into logical buckets that simplify tracking your progress and staying in touch with users’ needs
5. Sort Top pages by clicks to find the URLs on your site most visited by searchers (for the given time period)
6. Sort Top pages by impressions to find valuable pages that can be used to help feature your related, high-quality, but lower-ranking pages

What is a good Click-Through Rate? CTR Benchmarks in 2018

Quick Essential Snappy Facts:

1 - How Far Down the Search Results Page Will Most People Go?

The average web user won’t go past the first five listings on a search engine results page (SERP).

2 - Comparison of Google clickthrough rates by position in 2018

In short, achieving the top spot on Google gets you 35% of the total potential traffic for a certain keyword.

3 - How Ads Influence Organic Click-Through Rate On Google

• A. Searchers who see an ad may be more likely to click an organic listing.
• B. Searchers who've been previously exposed to a site/brand via ads may be more likely to click>engage>convert.
• C. Paid results do strongly impact organic click-through rate, especially in certain queries.
• D. Paid ad clicks may lead to increased links, mentions, coverage, sharing, etc. that can boost organic rankings.
• E. Bidding on search queries can affect the boarder market around those searches by shifting searcher demand, incentivizing (or de-incentivizing) content creation, etc.