Search behavior is fundamentally changing, as users become more savvy and increasingly familiar with search technology. Google’s results have also changed significantly over the last decade, going from a simple page of 10 blue links to a much richer layout, including videos, images, shopping ads and the innovative Knowledge Graph.
We also know there are an increasing amount of touchpoints in a customer journey involving different channels and devices. Google’s Zero Moment of Truth theory (ZMOT), which describes a revolution in the way consumers search for information online, supports this idea and predicts that we can expect the number of times natural search is involved on the path to a conversion to get higher and higher.
Understanding how people interact with Google and other search engines will always be important. Organic click curves show how many clicks you might expect from search engine results and are one way of evaluating the impact of our campaigns, forecasting performance and exploring changing search behavior.
Using search query data from Google UK for a wide range of leading brands based on millions of impressions and clicks, we can gain insights into the how CTR in natural search has evolved beyond those shown in previous studies by Catalyst, Slingshot and AOL.
Our methodology
The NetBooster study is based entirely on UK top search query data and has been refined by day in order to give us the most accurate sample size possible. This helped us reduce anomalies in the data in order to achieve the most reliable click curve possible, allowing us to extend it way beyond the traditional top 10 results.
We developed a method to extract data day by day to greatly increase the volume of keywords and to help improve the accuracy of the average ranking position. It ensured that the average was taken across the shortest timescale possible, reducing rounding errors.
The NetBooster study included:
- 65,446,308 (65 million) clicks
- 311,278,379 (311 million) impressions
- 1,253,130 (1.2 million) unique search queries
- 54 unique brands
- 11 household brands (sites with a total of 1M+ branded keyword impressions)
- Data covers several verticals including retail, travel and financial
We also looked at organic CTR for mobile, video and image results to better understand how people are discovering content in natural search across multiple devices and channels.
We’ll explore some of the most important elements in this article.
How does our study compare against others?
Let’s start by looking at the top 10 results. In the graph below we have normalized the results in order to compare our curve, like-for-like, with previous studies from Catalyst and Slingshot. Straight away we can see that there is higher participation beyond the top four positions when compared to other studies. We can also see much higher CTR for positions lower on the pages, which highlights how searchers are becoming more comfortable with mining search results.
A new click curve to rule them all
Our first click curve is the most useful, as it provides the click through rates for generic non-brand search queries across positions 1 to 30. Initially, we can see a significant amount of traffic going to the top three results with position No. 1 receiving 19% of total traffic, 15% at position No. 2 and 11.45% at position No. 3. The interesting thing to note, however, is our curve shows a relatively high CTR for positions typically below the fold. Positions 6-10 all received a higher CTR than shown in previous studies. It also demonstrates that searchers are frequently exploring pages two and three.
When we look beyond the top 10, we can see that CTR is also higher than anticipated, with positions 11-20 accounting for 17% of total traffic. Positions 21-30 also show higher than anticipated results, with over 5% of total traffic coming from page three. This gives us a better understanding of the potential uplift in visits when improving rankings from positions 11-30.
This highlights that searchers are frequently going beyond the top 10 to find the exact result they want. The prominence of paid advertising, shopping ads, Knowledge Graph and the OneBox may also be pushing users below the fold more often as users attempt to find better qualified results. It may also indicate growing dissatisfaction with Google results, although this is a little harder to quantify.
Of course, it’s important we don’t just rely on one single click curve. Not all searches are equal. What about the influence of brand, mobile and long-tail searches?
Brand bias has a significant influence on CTR
One thing we particularly wanted to explore was how the size of your brand influences the curve. To explore this, we banded each of the domains in our study into small, medium and large categories based on the sum of brand query impressions across the entire duration of the study.
When we look at how brand bias is influencing CTR for non-branded search queries, we can see that better known brands get a sizable increase in CTR. More importantly, small- to medium-size brands are actually losing out to results from these better-known brands and experience a much lower CTR in comparison.
What is clear is keyphrase strategy will be important for smaller brands in order to gain traction in natural search. Identifying and targeting valuable search queries that aren’t already dominated by major brands will minimize the cannibalization of CTR and ensure higher traffic levels as a result.
How does mobile CTR reflect changing search behavior?
Mobile search has become a huge part of our daily lives, and our clients are seeing a substantial shift in natural search traffic from desktop to mobile devices. According to Google, 30% of all searches made in 2013 were on a mobile device; they also predict mobile searches will constitute over 50% of all searches in 2014.
Understanding CTR from mobile devices will be vital as the mobile search revolution continues. It was interesting to see that the click curve remained very similar to our desktop curve. Despite the lack of screen real estate, searchers are clearly motivated to scroll below the fold and beyond the top 10.
NetBooster CTR curves for top 30 organic positions
| Position | Desktop CTR | Mobile CTR | Large Brand | Medium Brand | Small Brand |
| 1 | 19.35% | 20.28% | 20.84% | 13.32% | 8.59% |
| 2 | 15.09% | 16.59% | 16.25% | 9.77% | 8.92% |
| 3 | 11.45% | 13.36% | 12.61% | 7.64% | 7.17% |
| 4 | 8.68% | 10.70% | 9.91% | 5.50% | 6.19% |
| 5 | 7.21% | 7.97% | 8.08% | 4.69% | 5.37% |
| 6 | 5.85% | 6.38% | 6.55% | 4.07% | 4.17% |
| 7 | 4.63% | 4.85% | 5.20% | 3.33% | 3.70% |
| 8 | 3.93% | 3.90% | 4.40% | 2.96% | 3.22% |
| 9 | 3.35% | 3.15% | 3.76% | 2.62% | 3.05% |
| 10 | 2.82% | 2.59% | 3.13% | 2.25% | 2.82% |
| 11 | 3.06% | 3.18% | 3.59% | 2.72% | 1.94% |
| 12 | 2.36% | 3.62% | 2.93% | 1.96% | 1.31% |
| 13 | 2.16% | 4.13% | 2.78% | 1.96% | 1.26% |
| 14 | 1.87% | 3.37% | 2.52% | 1.68% | 0.92% |
| 15 | 1.79% | 3.26% | 2.43% | 1.51% | 1.04% |
| 16 | 1.52% | 2.68% | 2.02% | 1.26% | 0.89% |
| 17 | 1.30% | 2.79% | 1.67% | 1.20% | 0.71% |
| 18 | 1.26% | 2.13% | 1.59% | 1.16% | 0.86% |
| 19 | 1.16% | 1.80% | 1.43% | 1.12% | 0.82% |
| 20 | 1.05% | 1.51% | 1.36% | 0.86% | 0.73% |
| 21 | 0.86% | 2.04% | 1.15% | 0.74% | 0.70% |
| 22 | 0.75% | 2.25% | 1.02% | 0.68% | 0.46% |
| 23 | 0.68% | 2.13% | 0.91% | 0.62% | 0.42% |
| 24 | 0.63% | 1.84% | 0.81% | 0.63% | 0.45% |
| 25 | 0.56% | 2.05% | 0.71% | 0.61% | 0.35% |
| 26 | 0.51% | 1.85% | 0.59% | 0.63% | 0.34% |
| 27 | 0.49% | 1.08% | 0.74% | 0.42% | 0.24% |
| 28 | 0.45% | 1.55% | 0.58% | 0.49% | 0.24% |
| 29 | 0.44% | 1.07% | 0.51% | 0.53% | 0.28% |
| 30 | 0.36% | 1.21% | 0.47% | 0.38% | 0.26% |
Creating your own click curve
This study will give you a set of benchmarks for both non-branded and branded click-through rates with which you can confidently compare to your own click curve data. Using this data as a comparison will let you understand whether the appearance of your content is working for or against you.
We have made things a little easier for you by creating an Excel spreadsheet: simply drop your own top search query data in and it’ll automatically create a click curve for your website.
Simply visit the NetBooster website and download our tool to start making your own click curve.
In conclusion
It’s been both a fascinating and rewarding study, and we can clearly see a change in search habits. Whatever the reasons for this evolving search behavior, we need to start thinking beyond the top 10, as pages two and three are likely to get more traffic in future.
We also need to maximize the traffic created from existing rankings and not just think about position.
Most importantly, we can see practical applications of this data for anyone looking to understand and maximize their content’s performance in natural search. Having the ability to quickly and easily create your own click curve and compare this against a set of benchmarks means you can now understand whether you have an optimal CTR.
What could be the next steps?
There is, however, plenty of scope for improvement. We are looking forward to continuing our investigation, tracking the evolution of search behavior. If you’d like to explore this subject further, here are a few ideas:
- Segment search queries by intent (How does CTR vary depending on whether a search query is commercial or informational?)
- Understand CTR by industry or niche
- Monitor the effect of new Knowledge Graph formats on CTR across both desktop and mobile search
- Conduct an annual analysis of search behavior (Are people’s search habits changing? Are they clicking on more results? Are they mining further into Google’s results?)
Ultimately, click curves like this will change as the underlying search behavior continues to evolve. We are now seeing a massive shift in the underlying search technology, with Google in particular heavily investing in entity- based search (i.e., the Knowledge Graph). We can expect other search engines, such as Bing, Yandex and Baidu to follow suit and use a similar approach.
The rise of smartphone adoption and constant connectivity also means natural search is becoming more focused on mobile devices. Voice-activated search is also a game-changer, as people start to converse with search engines in a more natural way. This has huge implications for how we monitor search activity.
What is clear is no other industry is changing as rapidly as search. Understanding how we all interact with new forms of search results will be a crucial part of measuring and creating success.
Great article! I made the point to my team that writing excellent meta titles and descriptions can also give you a better chance of getting a click, even if you're not one of the top results. Like you wrote, "The prominence of paid advertising, shopping ads, Knowledge Graph and the OneBox may also be pushing users below the fold more often as users attempt to find better qualified results." You're not going to give yourself much of a chance to be the "better qualified result" unless you have compelling, unique, and relevant meta titles and descriptions.
Couldn't agree more with this! Titles and descriptions may seem like a very small insignificant thing but I think they can be insanely powerful driving CTR to your site.
I agree with this comment as well, and it is something that I believe a lot of companies have gotten lazy with. I see a lot of generic titles and descriptions that I'm sure are not driving optimal CTR's. Personally I see myself mining search results for pages that appear more "trustworthy" or sites that I have visited before as well, even down at the bottom of page 1.
I like the slight up lift in position #11 vs #10 in the results, almost seems to make being 11th more attractive. It's also encouraging to see possible evidence of people loosening their grip on their top 10 addiction. The challenge now is convincing clients that page 2 rankings could still be really important even if it is (just) 17%. :)
Thanks for the data.
Nice study but I am with Martin. Try telling my clients that page two is a good place to be! We have been trying to move our monthly reports from rankings to conversions and I might have to try to go after some broader keywords and see if I can bring in that extra 1-3% of clicks.
Totally understand the challenge there and clearly a majority of clicks are still to be found on the first page of results. From my perspective, it's about understanding the CTR beyond the first page of results so we can understand the exact uplift between positions 11-30 and the top 10. Looking at the value of those visits is also crucial though so I think combining ranking visibility, organic visits and conversion is a solid model.
The biggest advantage of Page 2 to my clients...is that it's knocking on the door of page 1! Totally appreciate the curve above and the increasing willingness of users to move "beyond the fold" to use an old print term...but people still love seeing themselves or their company on the first page. There's a psychological element to it for many of them. Great write up by the way!
I like how you 'sell' top of page 2 - 'knocking on the door'. Very clever.
It's interesting that 11 is above 10 but 21 is not above 20. Very strange!
As far as the long tail, I think it's always about the query. Think about this - you want a pizza place nearby? You're not going to page 2 & 3. Second scenario I'm diagnosed with some disease. I'm going home and clicking on every site in the top 300.
I think page 2 and 3 rankings importance really depends on the type of query aswel. For certain b2b terms people might want to spend more time finding the exact thing they need, opening a large variety of websites. While consumers just looking for a simple product might check out the first few listings and choose from tehre
Exploring click curves based on query intent is definitely something we are going to look at in our next study. In the meantime you might want to check out the long tail click curves in our whitepaper which explore the impact of query refinement on CTR.
The biggest way to increase CTR is by writing better ads or better Meta description. Google will use this to connect your ad and landing pages together. Higher CTR leads to lower CPC and better ad position. Google’s default setting is to optimize for clicks, but this setting will cause CTR to drop. Rotate your ads, then optimize for better clicks.
17% is a good number, and I'd like to put up another number: 1.7.
Yep, that's how many seconds you have until most users will either continue on or click away from your site. And when they click away they click back, going back down those rankings. If the top pick on the SERP is now gone, that 17% goes up, doesn't it?
Look at your competitors, figure out what they're doing wrong, and exploit that for your gain.
Thanks Adam. Couldn't agree more about writing compelling search snippets, it can make all the difference when it comes to CTR.
This really shines a light on how much user interaction with search engines have changed. I remember the days when I never went past the first page... Now I find myself doing it all of the time. I thought it was because I understand SEO and there may be results that haven't earned its way to the top yet... Glad to see that the mass public has shifted gears too.
In regards to big brands, smaller companies need to understand that ranking on the 2nd page isn't bad. A lot of business owners I speak with are under the impression that if they don't rank on page 1, they won't receive any traffic. Well, the proof is in the pudding.
It is all too unlikely for a new business, or even a moderately established company, to outrank huge companies with great brand awareness. Let's take the real estate industry, for example - companies like Zillow and Trulia have millions of links, millions of pages, etc. It is almost impossible to outrank these companies. However, the search volume for these keywords are huge. A term like 'homes for sale' gets about 450,000 searches per month. Even at a 0.5% CTR, that's ~2,250 potential clicks while ranking on the 2nd page.
Great post - thanks for the insight.
Well done, Gary.
You mentioned "We can also see much higher CTR for positions lower on the pages, which highlights how searchers are becoming more comfortable with mining search results."
Your reasoning seems logical to me. I would like to add that searchers may not be finding the answer to their search query, thus they're willing to mine for better results. Your data concludes people are mining for better results to their searches. That's good news for marketers as we have a better shot of scoring some eyeballs on our pages. But I'm wondering what is causing people to mine further?
Thanks Rich, I think this maybe down to some user dissatisfaction with the results but I think people are genuinely exploring below the fold and into the 2nd & 3rd pages in order to find better deals or information. It may be the case that some users are deliberately scrolling past PPC or shopping ads because they trust organic results more.
This is some interesting analysis that you've made. How about the paid adwords ads ? What CTR are they grabbing ? I'd love to see some interesting ctr analysis for paid search as well. Thanks though.
I'm hoping we can look at paid CTR and the interplay between organic and paid channels in the next study :-)
This is a very important post for SEO & thanks for the post.
Thanks for the research and tips. Much opportunity beyond page one.
This is a great piece of work!
It doesn't quite tie in with my own experiences though. When I rank top 3 for a localised search term that is a valuable lead generator for my business I'll easily get an enquiry a day. If I drop to 6 or 7 then this results in around an enquiry a week.
Nowadays there is no place for short keyword for bloggers . So we have to stick to long tail keyword
Very good article, I have been looking for more information on this topic and in this blog I have been able to find the most relevant information. thank you very much
Although the data in this post is two years old, I'm fairly certain that rankings are even more skewed to the top 3 results more than ever.
Gary, thanks for the write up.
Cheers!
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That's pretty great post! I have analysed that if you have made excellent meta descriptions and titles for your site than there will be big chance to get many clicks, it is not necessary to be popular to get clicks the important part is how you use your common sense. It's a fact that a user is not going to be more interested to click on a link if titles and descriptions are not according to his/her interest.
Nice job of breaking down the CTR and search changes based on Google Search. What is your opinion of the impact of social links and sharing in regards to touchpoints? Additionally, what are your thoughts about savvy searchers who go to the second and third page of Google results because they believe Google results are biased to certain sites starting with Google products and partners? As for understanding modern search better: I think we have to take into account that people tend to go down the path of least resistance that offers the most benefits even while using Google Search. Many Internet users block Google ads with ad blockers so they are often seeing only the results and surrounding white space. This means that their eyes immediately scan that first page for a result that matches the intent of their search without even sometimes looking at the URL or the name of the website. Of course, if necessary, they quickly narrow the search by content type.
Nice article! I also think that meta descriptions and titles can influence the results of very significant way. The fact that this is a SEO optimization to do is proof.
Long end keywords and phrases are essentially search phrase "phrases". By way of example: your search phrase: "golf" is not thought to be a new long-tailed search phrase. In contrast to "how to raise our tennis swing" can be. Long end keywords and phrases are great for rating with area of interest types in addition to pulling high quality visitors. for e.g academic paper writing websites [link removed]
Excellent research with graphs of visual part made it interesting. This study makes you think about the importance of SEO and the difference of the success that you might have according to the position you have is very impressive.
Gary Moyle, I had observed that long tail works in image descriptions and in content wise, but in better formation.
Nice Post.... Awesome Graphic experiment of clicks from SERPs positions.....Definitely SEO & Quality Content Flow (last post) Can Help's business website to come first page & generate more clicks from major search engines.....Thanks for Nice Experiment...GaryMoyle
Fascinating data. I completely agree--not everyone has the budget to fight for those high-competition keywords. Focusing on the long-tail keywords beyond the top 10 is key for many companies. And even page 2 has some value. It will be interesting to see how the paid adwords work (I saw you mentioned that above). Great article, Gary!
Great article & fascinating data
I didn't realize that pos. 11-30 was getting that mush traffic.. That really changes a lot from former user behavior imo.
Hi, Thanks for the article I will share it with my team with the meaning that we have to look further than the first page in search.
It's very important the title and metasdescriptions for CTR results. Many people don't know about this but you have described perfectly.
Yes I agree with you, Gary. The ranking is Not the key for the business right now. My customers are recently require the traffics increasing, sales volume increasing, and keyword ranking higher than competitors. If the SEO cannot help them earning money, the will fire us.
In China, the biggest search engine is not baidu, but it's taobao. That's the real meaning of the search engine -- People are searching products and services to buy. They are preparing the money follows. That will be the Google future challenge. Once Amazon can sell anything, Google stock price will absolutely drop.
SEO is a business method. The purpose of the SEO is helping people doing business. Who will help them, then people will go that places. If a website are so powerful, for example, Amazon can help people doing business easy. They attract Americans to search products, then SEO will be useless, and Google will out of the business too.
Thanks for sharing this interesting and informative post.