What if I told you, you can increase the click-through-rate of your organic search results by 30%?  Sounds great, right?

Now, what if I said you’d be rewarded with higher search rankings, in addition to the extra clicks?

It’s true.  Growing your expected organic CTR will improve clicks and SEO.  But first, let’s understand what we’re really talking about here, and explore the difference between PPC and organic CTR.

Table of Contents

1. What is Organic Click-Through Rate? (PPC vs Organic CTR)
2. Typical Organic CTR by position
3. Organic CTR and SEO
4. Optimize CTR with Elements We Can Control
5. Don’t Be Scared to Change Your Titles
6. Running an Accurate CTR Test
7. Post-Test Analysis for CTR Data
8. How to Improve Organic CTR
9. Organic CTR Optimization: Your New Secret Weapon

What is Organic Click-Through Rate? (PPC vs Organic CTR)

Most hear the term Click-Through-Rate (CTR), and think of PPC or Paid Search ads. After all, CTR is a key metric involved with optimizing PPC ads, and something that’s largely under your control. Lots of testing goes into creating ads that resonate with searchers, ads that gain more click-share, and in the end, increase leads and sales.

Now, when people think of clicks in the organic search results, or the rate at which a user clicks an organic search result, they think this is all simply a byproduct of their current ranking position.  I rank #1, so my CTR is x%…. I rank #3, so my CTR is x%….

The reality is, CTRs can not only be optimized and improved in organic, but they can yield a massive amount of extra clicks if optimized properly. Read more →

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Recently, Google removed the Search by Location (‘Change Location’) feature.  I’m pretty sure this was only used by SEOs anyway, so I completely get why Google would remove a feature that normal users weren’t using.

According to a Google Spokesperson:

“It was getting very little usage, so we’re focusing on other features.”

At any rate, there are many digital marketers out there that are not happy with the removal of the geo-location feature, as this was a great way to monitor and analyze clients as they appear in the search results in their location.

Google Change Location Search Feature Removed

Google ‘Change Location’ Search Feature Removed

But don’t go nuts — it’s all good!  There’s still a way  to see your client’s results in a similar fashion.  In fact, there are multiple ways to monitor the local search engine results status for your clients.
Google Search by Location Feature Removed Read more →

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MadeLoud.com is an indie music site that started back in 2005.  The site has been a great resource for many unsigned artists to gain exposure over the years.

Unfortunately, it was hit by Google’s Panda Update, drastically reducing its organic search traffic for many months.

Panda was released by Google on February 23rd, 2011 in an effort to reduce the amount of “thin content” sites ranking in the search results.  Since that time, they have released numerous updates.  So, even if you escaped the wrath of Panda when it was first introduced, you can still get nailed by a later iteration.

Panda hit MadeLoud.com twice, once with Panda 3.5 (update #13) on April 19, 2012 and again with Panda Update #21 on November 5th 2012.Google Panda Recovery

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Have you witnessed a dip in organic traffic to your site?  It’s possible that you are being penalized for violating Google Webmaster Guidelines.

It’s important to keep in mind, Google doesn’t care whether you hired a sketchy SEO firm or tried to game Google yourself -– if your site is hit with a penalty, you’re the one that must deal with it.

Now, truth be told, there are many reasons why a decrease in organic search traffic can occur.  Before you go straight to penalization first consider these common causes of traffic loss…Is Your Website Penalized

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Google Plus and SEOA lot has been said about Social Media for businesses in the past couple of years.  Most business owners agree that Social Media Marketing can increase brand visibility, promote user trust/confidence, and even generate more leads.  But what about SEO (search engine optimization)?  Can these social media networks actually help with your website’s SEO?

 

If the SEO of your website is your main focus and you don’t have time to fiddle-fart around on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Vine, etc. etc. etc., then I would recommend choosing Google Plus.  A lot of businesses still aren’t using Google Plus, but it is in fact the most beneficial for SEO.  So if you only have time for one Social Media channel and your primary concern is SEO, then Google Plus should be your go-to.

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Today, Google announced a new feature for Google Webmaster Tools.  You can now go in and check to see if there has been manual action taken against your website for overly aggressive use of SEO (Search Engine Optimization).  If you or anyone on your team has been involved in attempting to artificially boost your rankings in Google by using methods that violate Google’s webmaster guidelines, then manual penalties can be, and might have already been, placed on your website.

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