The factors influencing CTR: what they are and how to work with them

There are 3 most important factors to work on to improve Click through Rate. In this article we give you some tips to make them perform.

What are the factors that influence the Click Through Rate (CTR) , that is the click rate in the search? A recent study by Ignite Visibility , an American digital marketing agency, says that there are three elements that have the greatest impact on CTR:

• The meta description : 62.9%
• The brand name : 24.2%
• The title tag : 13%

Other data to be taken into consideration in a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy relate to improvements in search results of the last year, in particular starting from January 2019: for example, the inclusion of featured snippets and other elements of the SERP.

In this article we go into more detail, so that we can better understand the importance of these factors in making users click on a result related to their online business.

CTR and Meta description

As we have seen, the factor that most influences CTR is the meta description . Hence the importance of writing descriptions that intrigue the reader, that attract attention and manage to convince him in about 250 characters.

Although it has been known since 2009 that the meta description is not a ranking factor, if well prepared it has an enormous impact on the CTR.

How should a good meta description be?

• It must contain at least the main keyword , to prevent Google from automatically creating its own meta description
• It must be unique and not a repetition of descriptions of other pages
• Must suggest something more than the title
• It is important that it contains a Call To Action (CTA)
• It must not exceed the number of characters

CTR and branding

The data, perhaps more unexpected than this study, is that relating to the important influence that brand recognition has on CTR . 24.2% of respondents say that in search results, they only click on the results of the brand they have already dealt with in the past.

For this reason, with a view to improving the Click Through Rate , it is important to work on brand awareness , or on the degree of recognition of a product by the consumer through the name or logo.

To ensure that the user has imprinted the brand of the company where you work, you can invest in social media marketing strategies and in virtual places where the company can actively respond to reviews and offer solutions to customer problems.

CTR and Title

The most important part of the search result, which is also a ranking factor, is the title tag which, according to the Ignite Visibility survey, influences the CTR for 13%.

Thinking about creating a title tag by filling it with keywords can bring immediate results, but for a long time it could give significant disadvantages, namely a penalty by Google and, therefore, a low CTR.

To optimize the title and encourage the increase in CTR, it is necessary to follow some good practices, which we summarize below:

• The title tag must not exceed 60/70 characters , to prevent Google from truncating the sentences in the SERP
• Like the metadescription, the title must be unique and not a copy of others on your web pages;
• It must be as clear and explicit as possible . Here are some examples: "How to ...", "Guide to create ...", "3 tricks that not everyone knows"
• It must provide solutions to common problems;
• The use of numbers , but also of square brackets and hashtags , can greatly attract people's attention;
• Preferring common sense and balance is the best way to create a convincing title tag . Exaggerations must be avoided.

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