Does the title attribute affect CTR?

[benmarshall]

I've been trying to find some research or studies regarding the title attribute on links and if it affects CTR or perhaps another benefit to using it. I know that it's not a factor in search engines and there's some problems with the compatibility of it in various devices and browsers, but looking for any stats that show using could affect your CTR. Would love some actual studies versus opinions, but haven't found any.

[crackingmedia]

With that sort of sample per month you should be able to get some interesting data from tracking the clicks from links that have a title and comparing to links that don't.

Peter

[benmarshall]

Yea, that's what I was afraid of since it is such a minor thing. Was hoping someone may have given it a go to see what it would do. Maybe I'll run my own study on the impact of CTR and see what I come up with. Getting around 600,000 visits a month so hopefully that will be a big enough audience to come up with some good stats.

[crackingmedia]

Hi Ben,

I don't know of any specific studies. From a usability point of view there is no question the Title attribute could have an impact on CTR. A well written and helpful title could encourage visitors to click a link the title is associated with, and a badly written one could dissuade them.

As such a small part though of a page and often not used at all, I doubt there are any studies.

There is an older blog post on Moz discussing them though which you may find useful:

http://moz.com/ugc/link-tilte-attribute-and-its-seo-benefit

I hope that helps,

Peter