CTR for Google Rankings

[bjenkins24]

I run a local business, and I'm working on ranking for keyword + city.  I currently rank on the first page for just about every keyword I'm working on, but only the top 3 for a little less than half.  Because the search volume is so low for each keyword (for most cities Google doesn't have an estimated monthly search volume) the grand total of a few searches a month for each keyword + city combination is where I get my traffic.

Although I seem to be getting consistently higher in the rankings, I am curious as to how much more traffic I can expect.  I read somewhere that sites that are ranked number one are clicked 50% of the time, number two 20% of the time, number three 15% and from there on it goes down fast.  Rank 7 and on is below 1%.  Probably around 30% of my keywords are ranked between 7-10 and probably about 20% are ranked 4-6.

Are the CTR numbers fairly accurate?  I understand that there are a lot of influences on CTR, such as title/description, but generally is that somewhat accurate?

If it is, I am missing out on A LOT of traffic.

I am pulling about 800 unique visitors a month from Google.  If I get in the top 3 for most of my keywords, can I expect significantly more traffic?  I ask the question because there are many other things I could be doing with my time to help the business aside from SEO.  I don't want to be working constantly on SEO if traffic is only going to increase very little.

[SteveOllington]

Most studies seem to contradict each other at least a little on this but they all give a general idea like this one... not sure how accurate it is, but I found it ages ago at

http://www.seoresearcher.com/distribution-of-clicks-on-googles-serps-and-eye-tracking-analysis.htm

organic-ctr.jpg

[EGOL]

If your competitor has exact match and I have exact match +  (kickass price or free shipping or top secrets or free beer) then who is going to get the clck?

[bjenkins24]

One last thing.  I would love to tack on a bit of my USP to the title of the pages such as: "Product + City | USP" but I worry that I would take a hit in rankings because my title is not an exact match with what most people are searching for.  Right now there is a close competitor that has pages for "Product + City" in their title, EXACTLY the same way that I do.  I think a bit of USP would help CTR soar above the competitor.  But if I do that and fall to the second page then it won't help at all.

Do you think this is something I should be worried about?

[LabadieAuto]

I did a little testing with the state but I was not concerned with state.  I figured that local people already assume the state.

What I did find about the state is that the google stats seem to show that people use the Mich abbreviation instead of MI.  My assumption is that these people are out of state and not sure if MI is Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi or Missouri.  So if I was targeting people outside of the state I would want to use Mich as the abbreviation.

I do know that exact matches typically rank higher than close matches.  Therefore I am testing the city+product to see if the ranking increase.  In theory I should get better rankings, more traffic and more sales.

[bjenkins24]

Thanks for the thoughtful answer!  In my case what I have found is opposite a little actually.  My service is available throughout my entire county.  I am trying to not be spammy in my seo but It's just too difficult right now to make 100% original content for each city I am ranking for.  Whereas sites that are ranking above me seem to have less back links and authority but they actually have a physical location and are only offering services in one or two cities.

Is it possible to outrank the smaller websites for their cities if I gain even more trust with the search engines?  Right now I just began my linking campaign, and I don't have a whole lot.

[bjenkins24]

Thanks for the answer.  I am curious about one thing.  In your testing did you use the state along with the city name ever?  I am convinced that in searches most people do not use the state abbreviation, but I want to show up for those who do.  I doubt that using the state in the title/h1's/links etc would make too much of a negative impact, but perhaps it is lowering the weight of the more important keywords ie. product+city as to lower rankings.  Do you have any experience with this?

[LabadieAuto]

One way to get a better number is using Google Webmaster Tools.  To test how people search for my product + city I created a few separate sites.  Then playing with all the major SEO elements of the pages on the sites.  The sites contained a product+city name in the domain.  I made sure the site wasn't spammy but contained good product information.

After running the test I found a few things:
1.  The google estimated traffic was pretty close to the test numbers (impressions in /webmasters)
2.   People were searching for stuff I would have never guessed and finding my pages.
3.  People were searching for city+product more than product+city

I am now in the process of creating some pages with city+product in the key elements and see if the placements and numbers increase.

[MarieHaynes]

When I first started my main site I set my goals on a particular keyword.  I just knew that if I got the #1 position I would be swimming in hits (and cash).  After a lot of hard work and some successful linkbait I have managed to achieve the #1 position for this keyword.  My traffic for this keyword has increased but not dramatically.  My conversions are up but only slightly.  It was a real disappointment.  According to the Adwords Keywords tool I should have had tens of thousands of visitors each month for this keyword.  I know now that it just isn't accurate!

I think that every keyword is different.  For some keywords, being #1 could change things dramatically.  For others it may have only a minor effect.

[EGOL]

If you move up in the rankings you will almost be guaranteed a higher CTR.  So, moving up will bring you a return.

But will that return make a profit?

I believe that it is important to consider who is above you.  If you are a tiny local business at #4 with 22 backlinks and the three positions above you are Goliath Brands at #1 and #2 with 1,000,000 backlinks and Major Publisher at #3 with 900,000 backlinks then you might be attacking the US Navy with a slingshot.

In those situations, all is not lost... you still have your title tag that can be used as a lethal weapon. What is your value proposition?....

-- offer a kickass price in the title tag

-- offer immediate free shipping in the title

-- tell them you have the "Secrets to Success"

-- tell them you have "Free Beer"

These will get potential customers onto your website.

If you have something to brag about you should be using the kickass title tag all of the time... but it is especially important if you want to elicit clicks away from the site that ranks above you and that you have little hope of beating.

[LegacyMaine2013]

The estimated number of keyword searches is just that, an estimate and is not accurate at all but its all relative.

With that said, this recent blog post has some very useful information on CTR:

http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/110421-092523

So yes, you will end up with a lot more traffic when you move up to the #3 and then #2 and hopefully #1 spot.