Do you want to increase your CTR in Google SERPs?

Silly question, who doesn’t?

Everyone wants to get more traffic from Google. That’s why we all are trying to rank our posts on the first page of Google.

Having your post on the first page is one thing and getting clicks on it is another thing. The rule is, “The higher you rank, the more click you get.”

But it’s not easy to get the first rank in Google. What we can do is, optimize our Search Listings to attract more clicks.

And it’s not tough. A simple tweak can make a huge difference. In fact, it can increase your rankings. There is some evidence that Click-through Rates (CTR) is a ranking factor.

Whether it’s a ranking factor or not, we should make our search listing attractive to generate more clicks.

In this post, I’ll be sharing some optimization tips that will improve your organic CTR in Google.

1. Click-Worthy Title Tag

Title Tag is like an advertisement for your post. The more attractive it is, the more click you get.

The very first thing a searcher notice is your Title tag. 80% of the chances of getting the clicks depend on the Title Tag.

So it’s very crucial to make your Title Tag attractive. It’s not just about a good headline. It’s about writing a Title Tag that gets searchers’ attention.

Here are few things you can do to make your title tag attractive to increase CTR.

1. Try to keep the main keywords at the beginning of the title tag.
2. Use Numbers (Like Top 10, 7 Best, etc.)
3. Use Brackets (Like (Free & Premium), [2017 Edition], etc)
4. Use Time (Like 2017, June 2017, etc.)
5. Use Modifier Adjectives (Like Best, Free, Simple, Affordable, Amazing, etc.)
6. Use Call To Action (Like Now, Try, Buy, Listen, Check, Read, etc.)
7. Use “How To” if needed.
8. Consider using different titles for readers and search engines.
9. Keep the title length from 50 – 60 characters.
10. Get ideas from Google Ads in the search. They are highly optimized.

You don’t have to do all these things in a single title. Just make sure your title is click-worthy and do some A/B tests.

However, never use over-promising post title.

2. Good Meta Description

Meta Description is a little description of the post that Google shows with every listing. You can specify the description by using Yoast Plugin. But there is no guarantee that Google will show the specified description.

Most of the time it depends on the search term. If the search term matches with the meta description, Google shows it. But you should write a good meta description for every post.

Here are few things you can consider while writing a meta description.

1. First of all, it should be a unique description of your post. So don’t copy a part of your blog post and use it as meta description. Write a unique one.
2. Consider it as a summary of your blog post.
3. It should contain the main keywords.
4. Try to keep it within 150 -160 characters.
5. It should be relevant. Don’t add any false information to get clicks.
6. Add call to action words like Check, Read, Try, etc.
7. Tell about the benefits.
8. Avoid same words.

So spend some times to write a good meta description tag. It helps you to improve CTR in Google search.

3. Optimized URL & Breadcrumbs

Google Shows URL or Breadcrumbs between the Title Tag and Meta Description. Showing URL or Breadcrumbs depends on the nature of your site.

Most of the eCommerce sites prefer showing breadcrumbs. On the other hand, blog sites prefer URL in the SERPs.

If your blog post URLs are short, I’d recommend you to show the URL in the search listing.

URL & Breadcrumbs Optimization Tips:

• URL: Short, Contain the main keywords, Avoid stop words.
• Breadcrumbs: Clean, Relevant, Organized Navigation.

So keep your URL or Breadcrumbs clean to grab searchers’ attention.

4. Last Updated Date

People tend to click on those search results that have latest dates.

Normally, Google shows the published date of the post on the SERPs. It’s OK to have the published date on the SERPs if your contents are mostly topical (seasonal).

But if you have evergreen contents, you can do two things – Showing the last updated date of the post or just not to show the date at all.

Showing the ‘Last Updated Date’ is a good idea when you frequently update your old posts. You can do it by using Last Modified Timestamp plugin. However, Thrive Themes has a built-in option for displaying last updated date.

But if you have a lot of un-updated evergreen contents, you can consider removing the date from Google search results.

5. In-Page Navigation Link Or Internal Link

This is something that Google has started showing a long ago. Google shows navigation link under the Meta description or under the URL (Jump To Links).

In some cases, Google also shows internal links in the SERPs.

There is no surefire way to add those links in the search results. Especially, the internal links.

But you can use “Table of Content” to show the in-page navigation link in the Google Search Results. Google normally shows it for the long content.

So start using “Table Of Contents” for long content. A link can make your listing stand out on Google SERPs.

Check: Best Table Of Content WordPress Plugins

6. Rich Snippets

Using Rich Snippet is the another great way to increase CTRs in Google search. Snippets show additional information in the SERPs to help users to find the information quickly.

Here are some of the Content Types that support Rich Snippets:

• Reviews
• Events
• People
• Products
• Recipes
• Software Applications
• Videos
• Music etc.

You can use All in One Schema.org Rich Snippets to show Rich Snippets in the search results.

For reviews, We use WP Review Pro by MyThemeShop.

Check: Best WordPress Plugins To Show Star Ratings In Google Search

7.  Featured Snippet

You might have already noticed those featured boxes in the SERPs. These are called Featured Snippets.

Featured Snippets in search are increasing rapidly. Getting featured on those boxes can increase your CTR dramatically. But it’s still a mysterious thing in SEO industry. There is no guaranteed way to get featured on Featured Snippets.

However, you can do few things to increase your chances on getting featured.

• Try to answer the questions of searchers in best ways.
• Using Tables in the blog post.
• Show step by step process on “How to” posts.
• Use “Lists” on the post.
• Use heading tags properly.

Also Read: How To Optimize Old Posts For Google Featured Snippets

Conclusion

So these are the things that you can optimize to increase your CTRs in Google SERPs.

Now go to Google Search Console and find the low CTR posts with good rank. And then optimize those posts to improve CTRs.

Now I’d like to hear from you. What do you do to increase Click-through-rates in Google SERPs?