5 Ways to Increase Organic CTR

As we have seen, appearing on the first page of Google’s search results alone does not guarantee a high organic CTR. You need to target at least the first to third rank in Google search results. The first, second, and third ranks Google search results dominate organic CTR with figures of around 20.5 percent, 13.32 percent, and 13.14 percent respectively.

Here are five ways to improve your website’s organic CTR:

1. Understand Your Audience

The first and most common mistake made by website or blog owners is not understanding the intended audience. Often the writer determines the topic to be written based on subjective judgments, without considering what the reader wants.

This is where the importance of doing keyword research before creating content. Creating content without keyword research can have one of two things. First, no one searches for the topic that you write on Google.

For example, say you want to write about “how to make a computer”, but it turns out there are very few people who search for those keywords on Google. Should you write content with these keywords? If you expect high organic CTR, of course it is advisable to write another topic.

The second consequence of writing content without doing keyword research is that what you write doesn’t match the search intent of the searcher. Search intent is what most searchers want for a particular keyword. One keyword can be meant for two or more different things.

For example, when entering the keyword “keyboard”, the top page in Google’s search results is the keyboard for the computer, not the keyboard musical instrument. This can happen because most Google users search for the keyword “keyboard” intending to find a keyboard for the computer, not a keyboard musical instrument. So Google prioritizes web pages that match the search intent of the majority of users.

To get a more complete explanation of keyword research, you can read about it in article 9 How to Accurate Keyword Research for Websites and Blogs.

2. Improve Quality of Title and Meta Description

When Google users do a search, they only need a few seconds to determine which web pages to visit. This means you have very little time to attract the attention of Google users.

Based on Copyblogger’s research, only 20 percent of people read the title of the article and read the content, while the remaining 80 percent only read the title without reading it at all.

The above findings show how important a title is for an article. Moreover, Google’s search results only display the title of the content and a brief summary of website pages (meta description). So you should be able to attract the attention of prospective readers through the article title and meta description.

One effective trick for making attractive titles is to add numbers to the title. Like the title of this article, namely Increase Organic CTR in 5 Ways or 15+ Examples of Inspirational Personal Blogs and Websites.

People will be more interested in articles with the listicle model because they know how many important points will be obtained from an article. According to the Content Marketing Institute, blog article titles that use numbers produce organic CTR performance 45 percent better than those that don’t use numbers.

Not only utilizing numbers, interesting blog article titles must also meet several criteria. Find criteria and tricks for making other interesting article titles in 10+ Easy Steps to Make Interesting Blog Article Titles.

In addition to the title of the article, you also need to pay great attention to the meta description. The meta description is a short text that explains about your content in search results. This text is located just below the title and URL of the article.

The ideal length for a meta description is a maximum of 130 characters. More than 130 characters, Google will automatically cut off your meta description. You can change the meta description using the Yoast SEO plugin. Yoast SEO will give a warning if your meta description exceeds the capacity it should.

3. Take advantage of Structured Markup

When doing a search on Google, maybe you have ever found search results like the one below. In addition to the title, URL, and meta description, this website page also displays the rating.

The rating above is one form of structured markup. Structured markup or often also referred to as markup schema is code that you can add to content to improve the quality of search results. The structured markup code can display ratings, time of events, star reviews, to product prices.

You can easily add structured markup using a plugin. Some structured markup plugins that you can use are Schema Pro, WP Review, WP Product Review, and All In One Rich Snippet Schema.

4. Get Featured Snippets

You will also find the following search results:

This is the best way to increase CTR. The picture above is an example of featured snippets. Featured snippets are Google’s search results feature that displays short answers from keywords entered by the searcher.

The content of the featured snippet is taken from a summary of website pages that Google thinks is the most solutive and in accordance with what the searcher wants. In many cases, Google takes featured snippets from first rank content. However, it is possible that the featured snippet can be taken from the rank below if the content is indeed more solutive than the first rank content.

By getting featured snippets, you can bring in more organic CTR. According to Ahrefs research, 8.6 percent of organic CTR on the first page is taken up by content with featured snippets.

Unfortunately, featured snippets are not features that you can set yourself. There is no plugin or code that can add featured snippets for you. Google will determine unilaterally which content is eligible for featured snippets.

Even so, that does not mean there is no strategy to get featured snippets. Here are some tips for getting your content featured snippets:

First check the keywords that you want to target. Try searching for these keywords on Google and see if there is content that gets featured snippets for those keywords. If there is, the possibility to get featured snippets is greater.
Answer the searcher’s question clearly in your content. For example, one Niagahoster article discusses the notion of a plugin. In the content I clearly explain what the definition of the plugin and its function is so that I can get a featured snippet.
Maximize the use of headings (H1, H2, H3, and H4) in your content. Make sure your H2 contains focus keywords that you are targeting.
Create a structured content flow so that Google can understand your content easily.
Make the content as detailed as possible. More detailed and more complete content is more likely to get featured snippets.

5. Don’t Disappoint Your Readers

Low quality content will never get a high position in Google’s search results. Because not quality content will only disappoint the reader. Readers will find it difficult or even unable to find answers in low quality content.

If you are not satisfied with your content, readers will immediately leave your website so that it will increase the bounce rate. Bounce rate is the percentage of visitors who immediately leave a website after opening just one page (Google Analytics).

A high bounce rate indicates the quality of the content on the page is too bad so visitors are not interested in exploring other content. The higher the bounce rate, the worse the value of your website on Google and will certainly affect your organic CTR.

Therefore, you must satisfy the reader with quality content so that you like to read, even read other content on your website or blog. Here are some tips for creating interesting content for readers:

Divide your article into short paragraphs. Paragraphs that are too long will make the reader tired and have difficulty finding the main points of your article. We recommend that you make one paragraph no more than three sentences.
Add visual media to make it easier for readers to understand your content. There are various kinds of visual media that you can use, from illustrated images, photographs, infographics, or videos.
Make sure your content answers readers’ questions. People do a search on Google to get answers. If they do not find an answer in your content, of course they will move on to content from other websites that are more solutive.

Increasing organic CTR is not a process that can be completed overnight. It takes a long process, from keyword research to content monitoring, to get targeted organic CTR numbers.

If you just published content and don’t get high organic CTR right away, don’t give up. Evaluate and fix your content following the tips and tricks above. That way your content will be better quality and the possibility to get high organic CTR is greater.