Getting impressions but not clicks?
No worries,
This post contains 21 Tested Tips that work INSTANTLY to improve your CTR.
Let’s begin:
1. Make Use of Social Proof
Social proof is the idea that people are more likely to take action if they see that others have already done so. You can leverage social proof by displaying how people have benefited from your content.
This is how you can improve your CTR by showing users that your content is popular and worth checking out.
One more example: “208 People Increased their Website Traffic by 2X overnight using this Method.”
Attractive right? But try not to clickbait users and provide them with proof if you make a claim. Click-baiting can have a negative effect on your website rankings.
2. Use Call-to-Actions (Almost Always)
The meta description is just the perfect place to include a Call-to-Action. By doing this you can directly influence the actions of potential visitors, increasing the chances that they click-through to your content.
For example, “Discover the best practices for improving your CTR – Download our guide now”.
A strong CTA should be clear, concise, and straightforward, inviting the reader to take a specific action.
Try experimenting with different types of call-to-actions (CTAs) & keep them updated to see what resonates best with your audience.
3. Use Long Tail Keywords
Long tail keywords are descriptive and specific. So when you use a long tail keyword in your title, users find it relevant and specific to their search intent.
Result? They click on your link and you get a visitor.
However, finding the right keywords can be a tough task to pull. Here is a guide to help you find the right long tail keyword for your content.
4. Write Engaging Headlines that ‘Invites’
Your headlines are the first thing that visitors see and it’s what determines whether they will visit your website or not. Make sure your headlines are attention-grabbing and clearly convey the content of the post.
Use power words, questions, dates and numbers to create interest.
Additionally if you are creating an informative guide (example- about weight loss), include the specific time period and results that users will get after reading your guide.
For example: “How to lose 12 kg weight in 3 Months”. See how it just became much more compelling than a simple & boring “How to lose weight” headline?
You need to do the same.
5. Offer Exclusive Content
Offering exclusive content, such as behind-the-scenes insights, freebies, or early access to new products, can be a great way to incentivise users to click on your link.
Also you need to make sure your exclusive content is valuable and relevant to your target audience.
For example: “How to Write a Converting Email” vs “How to Write a Converting Email [4 Free Email Templates Attached]”. Now if you want to know how to write a good converting email and you come across these two results, which one would you click first?
See the difference?
6. Create Compelling Meta Descriptions
Meta descriptions are undoubtedly the most important factor for a high or a poor CTR. After all, it’s the “Hello, click me” element of your page on the search engine.
For starters, meta description is the short text that appears under the title of your page in search results.
It’s an important factor in determining whether a user will click on your link or not.
Here’s how you can write a compelling meta description for a better CTR:
- Keep it concise and clear: Keep it brief and straightforward, as it’s meant to provide a quick overview of your page.
- Incorporate keywords: Include relevant keywords in your meta description that are related to your page’s content.
- Address the user’s pain points: Try to provide a solution (or a part of it) to user’s problem and show them how you can help.
- Limit the words: Most search engines cut off descriptions that are more than 160 characters long, so keep it under that limit.
- Avoid duplication: Ensure that each of your web pages has a unique meta description that accurately reflects the content on that page.
7. Always Use Attractive & Relevant Images
Images don’t generally appear on the main search page of Google and hence are often overlooked for CTR practices.
But believe this or not, attractive and relevant images can improve CTR to a great extent!
Using an image that is relevant, attractive and informative increases the likelihood that users will click on it in the ‘image’ section of search results and hence improving the CTR.
8. Make Your Title Simple & Relevant to the Content
Users are more likely to engage with your content if the title is simple, easy to read and understand. Many people try to be fancy and technical in their titles which leaves the users confused, and guess who wants to read a confusing piece of content? No one.
Use clear, concise language, and stick to your target keywords that serves the search intent of the users.
You can use different plugins and tools to check how your metadata appears on the Google search page and optimise it accordingly.
9. Use Descriptive URLs to Improve CTR
If you use popular SEO plugins like Yoast SEO or RankMath then you might recognise this tip.
Descriptive URLs, are also known as “friendly URLs,” and can help improve click-through rate (CTR) by making the link more appealing and specific to the user.
A good descriptive URL is short and sweet, preferably under 55-60 characters. It contains your focus keywords and is readable. Also it uses words instead of numbers and special characters to make it more user friendly.
10. Use Structured Data Whenever Possible
There’s no hidden secret that search engines love data.
Structured data is a great way of showing search engines that your content is informative, factual, organised and useful to the audience.
By using structured data in your content you can make it easier for search engines to understand your content and present it in a more informative and visually appealing way to the audience.
These structured data generates more clicks, are better looking and gives more information to the users which improves CTR.
11. Use Lists in Your Content
Lists make a content look organised and easily understandable. This appeals to the searcher and makes them click on that easily understandable and useful content!
Additionally, lists increase your chances of appearing in the featured snippets on the top of Google search.
Can you do this with plain paragraph content format? Not that easily.
Use lists as much as possible in your content to increase your visibility and your CTR as Google loves lists and organised content in general.
12. Include Rich Snippets to Increase CTR
Rich snippets are a type of structured data that provide additional information about your web page to search engines. They can help increase CTR by making the search result visually more appealing and informative.
You can imbed rich snippets to your web page by using plugins like Rich Snippet Plugin or by coding it manually.
13. Use Emotional Triggers Effectively
You might already know what emotional triggers are and why are they so important. Yet most people don’t use them effectively.
These are some ways you can use emotional triggers effectively:
- Choose the right trigger for your content: A positive trigger won’t necessarily attract users as much as a negative trigger can in some cases, and vice versa is also true.
- Select the best place to put an emotional trigger: You must decide what could be the best place to put your emotional triggers, the options can include your title and the meta description or even the URL.
- Make the trigger relevant to your content: Avoid using unnecessary emotional triggers as it can leave you with negative results.
- Keep them short and concise: Be mindful of the limited words you get for placing your emotional triggers in titles and meta descriptions.
This way by using language that elicits an emotional response, you can grab the reader’s attention and encourage them to click on your link.
14. Add Summaries and Table of Content
Summaries are the overview of your content. Search engine use these summaries in featured snippets on top of the search page when a searcher searches for something.
Adding a short summary (preferably 50-70 words) will allow search engines to use your content in the featured snippets section.
The same goes for Table of Content.
But this is an arguable tip to increase CTR.
Why?
Being viewed as a featured snippet provides the information to the searcher that they need, but without clicking on the page link. This may lead to a decreased CTR.
However, I included this tip here because I think we might have a few ways to increase the CTR even from the featured snippets. Here’s how:
- Insert a Call-to-Action in your summary that refers to your complete content: I would prefer adding it in the beginning or at the end of the summary. For example: “Study all the points mentioned in this article to get your desired results fast.”
- Include a sentence that mentions a specific part of the content: For example: “Step 3 of this article would give your desired results in no time.”
- Make Your Lists Long: Make your lists long if the topic allows you to as long lists often get cut off in featured snippets forcing searchers to click on your link to view the full list. I prefer adding 8 or more points in your lists for this purpose.
These tips are very specific and may look amateur but can really help with increasing your CTR.
15. Add an Attractive Website Icon
Most of the websites have an icon uploaded. But you need to make sure that your website icon is attractive and looks relevant to your website theme.
Icon is not just a logo or a random image but a profile picture for your website.
So you might want to keep an attractive and relevant profile picture that attracts searchers to click on your website link rather than repel them to find another sites.
16. Add Year in Your Title
Adding an year (preferably current year) increases the chances of more and more people clicking on your link.
How?
Adding the current year in your title shows that your content is up to date and will provide a working and updated solution/content to the searcher.
For example: The page above has a 200% better CTR then compared to website average.
This is probably the easiest thing you can do to improve your CTR.
17. Optimise Your Landing Pages for Mobile
Did you ever open a web page that look bad on mobile screen or was simply not optimised for mobile? I bet you closed the page and went back to the search results instantly.
In cases like this, the click doesn’t count and the website is left with a poor CTR.
Don’t let this happen to your website.
Optimise your website for mobile screens. You can use themes that are optimised for mobiles or can ask your developer to make your website mobile optimised.
18. Localise Your Content
Localising your content means tailoring it to the specific language, culture, and geography of your target audience. This can help improve your click-through rate (CTR) in search results by making your website more relevant to the users.
Here are some ways to localise your content:
- Use local keywords and phrases in your content and meta tags.
- Provide local contact information, such as your phone numbers and address.
- Display prices and currency symbols in your local currency.
- Use images and graphics that are relevant to your local culture.
19. Move Your Website to HTTPS
Set up a SSL certificate and move your website to HTTPS if you are using the older HTTP version.
HTTPS and a SSL certificate builds trust for your website and hence searchers are happy to visit it.
Without any of these, the website is not secure and the no person wants to enter a non-secure website. They instantly close your webpage leaving you with a decreased CTR.
20. Improve Load Speed to Improve CTR
Do you like slow loading websites? Probably not. Nor does anyone else. And not even Google.
Slow website results in longer page load times and can make users bounce off almost immediately after clicking on your link.
53% of users abandon a website if it takes more than 3 seconds to load, thus reducing your CTR by over a half!
Focus on optimising your website speed and keep a check on it regularly with tools like PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix.
21. Match Searcher’s Search Intent
Lastly, I would like to remind you of choosing proper keywords to match the searcher’s search intent.
I know this is obvious and you are aware of matching search intent of the searchers on your website. But sometimes people target wrong keywords (example, navigational and commercial keywords) that fail to serve the search intent of the searcher.
For example: You use ‘YouTube videos’ as your target keyword. Let’s say this page is ranking on first page of Google too. But who is going to click on your page link?
Most people will open the first search result, i.e. YouTube.com because ‘YouTube videos’ is a navigational keyword.
There’s no use of appearing even on first page of Google if your content is not serving searcher’s search intent and nobody will click on your content if their search intent is not fulfilled.
So consider the search intent of the keyword before you decide to include it in your focus keywords.
In Wrapping Up: How to Improve CTR
Improving CTR may not be as difficult as you might think. These 21 Tips that I mentioned here can help you increase CTR in no time.
You can save this page and use it as a checklist every time you create a post.
And I would love to hear which of these tips worked the best for you.
Tell me in the comments below, and if you got any questions, feel free to ask. I will try to answer every query we get.
Till then you might want to read our popular article on Best Off Page SEO Techniques used by SEO experts.