do ctr's really affect organic rankings?

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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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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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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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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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Previous Tests / Reports

•Moz – May 2014

•Search Engine Land – August 2015

•Moz - April 2016

• Forums

Google – Every Month, Every Year

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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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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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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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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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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

http://climb-online.co.uk/

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Round 2!Position 25

Position 19

• Traffic: 250 visits.

• Time on site: 1 minute 30 seconds.


•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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Round 3!Position 19

Position 12

• Traffic: 750 visits.

• Time on site: 1 minute 15 seconds.


•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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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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Don’t Forget to Tweet!

Thank you

@SAMTHOMASSEOhttps://uk.linkedin.com/in/sam-thomas-seo

do ctr's really affect organic rankings?

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