do ctr's really affect organic rankings?
TRANSCRIPT
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www.climb-online.co.uk© 2015 Climb Online Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Do CTR’s Really AffectOrganic Rankings?
@SAMTHOMASSEOhttps://uk.linkedin.com/in/sam-thomas-seo
Sam Thomas
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www.climb-online.co.uk© 2015 Climb Online Limited. All Rights Reserved.
What Have Previous Tests Told Us?
My Test
The Results
Too Summarise
What It Means For Your Clients
The End!
The Agenda.Why I Did This Test
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www.climb-online.co.uk© 2015 Climb Online Limited. All Rights Reserved.
About Me.•SEO’er for around 5 years.
•Currently Head of Organic Media at Climb Online.
•Specialise in Technical / Onsite SEO.
•Worked With Clients in a Range of Industries.
•Working with Budgets from £250 - £10’000 per month.
• Those of you who follow me on Twitter will know I tweet more about delayed trains than SEO..
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www.climb-online.co.uk© 2015 Climb Online Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Why I Did This Test.• It has been on my agenda for a few years.
•Other similar tests.
•How it works in a common SEO environment.
•Could it provide a new value for clients?
• Is it a viable part of an SEO strategy?
•How much resource would it take?
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www.climb-online.co.uk© 2015 Climb Online Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Previous Tests / Reports
•Moz – May 2014
•Search Engine Land – August 2015
•Moz - April 2016
• Forums
Google – Every Month, Every Year
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www.climb-online.co.uk© 2015 Climb Online Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Moz – May 2014
•Rand Blog – Search Term – IMEC Lab
•Position 7 6:03pm
•A tweet asking people to click – around 200 clicks.
•Position 1 9.01pm
• Evidence suggests clicks increase rankings.
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www.climb-online.co.uk© 2015 Climb Online Limited. All Rights Reserved.
SEJ – August 2015•Bartosz Góralewicz – Search Term – Negative SEO
•Position 2.
•Bot traffic with engagement of 2-4 minutes including clicking on internal links.
•Stayed at Position 2.
• Two Months Later – Ranking started to drop.
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www.climb-online.co.uk© 2015 Climb Online Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Moz – April 2016
• Larry Kim Blog – Rank Brain
• If You Beat the Expected CTR – You Rank Higher
• If CTR is Lower than Expected – You Rank Lower.
•Want to Move up a Position? Increase CTR by 3%.
• Evidence suggests Rank Brain takes into account CTR and can increase rankings.
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Wordstream CTR Averages
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So.. Does it?
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www.climb-online.co.uk© 2015 Climb Online Limited. All Rights Reserved.
My Test•Keyword: FREE SEO AUDIT.
•Bot Traffic With Engagement.
• Initial Ranking: 29
•Real World Environment – Minus Backlinks.
•We Also Shared This on Social Media.
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www.climb-online.co.uk© 2015 Climb Online Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Round 1!• Traffic: 150 visits.
• Time on site: 1 minute +
• Internal Clicks: 2 pages
•Bot Instructions: Go to Google.co.uk -> Search for “Free SEO Audit” -> Search through top 5 pages -> find http://climb-online.co.uk -> click result -> stay on page for 30 seconds -> click an internal link -> stay on page for 40 seconds.
Position 29
Position 23
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www.climb-online.co.uk© 2015 Climb Online Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Round 2!Position 25
Position 19
• Traffic: 250 visits.
• Time on site: 1 minute 30 seconds.
• Internal Clicks: 2 pages
•Bot Instructions: Go to Google.co.uk -> Search for “Free SEO Audit” -> Search through top 5 pages -> find http://climb-online.co.uk -> click result -> stay on page for 50 seconds -> click an internal link -> stay on page for 40 seconds.
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www.climb-online.co.uk© 2015 Climb Online Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Round 3!Position 19
Position 12
• Traffic: 750 visits.
• Time on site: 1 minute 15 seconds.
• Internal Clicks: 3 pages
•Bot Instructions: Go to Google.co.uk -> Search for “Free SEO Audit” -> Search through top 5 pages -> find http://climb-online.co.uk -> click result -> stay on page for 30 seconds -> click an internal link -> stay on page for 25 seconds -> click an internal link -> stay on page for 20 seconds.
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SURPRISE TEST!Position 11
Position 1
• John Bull appears on Dragons Den last Sunday
•Showcases a tablet stand called Plinth
•Pocket Design Stand – Very Simple
•Notes in pitch about rankings at the top of page 2 / bottom of page 1
• I check on Sunday night to see if claim is true
•By Monday the website is position 1 for search term “Tablet Stand”
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www.climb-online.co.uk© 2015 Climb Online Limited. All Rights Reserved.
The Answers.• Is it sustainable?
• Is it a viable part of a strategy?
•Does increasing CTR actually increase rankings?
•Should you use a bot to do it?
•How can it become a natural part of an SEO campaign?
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How Can You Apply It?
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Naturally Increasing CTR•Where you rank is one thing; getting people to click is another.
•Page Titles & Meta Descriptions are EVERYTHING.
•Good:
•Bad:
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What Makes an Engaging Result?•All Text Displays in Full.
•Snappy and to the point – relates directly to the search intent.
•Where Appropriate – Use Emotive Words.
• Features a competitive call to action.
• Eases an issue for the searcher.
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Thank you
@SAMTHOMASSEOhttps://uk.linkedin.com/in/sam-thomas-seo