SEO CTR stats to inform your 2022 SEO strategy [SERP trends] (2024)

Keyword research data reveals the SEO CTR rewards for top of SERP rankings in Google. Inform your SEO marketing strategy with the latest trends

You often hear company owners saying “I want to rank top” for their target keywords. Although this may be an unrealistic hope, they’re right to say this since they realize that claiming the top position in the SERP (Search Engine Results Page) drives up your SEO click-through rate CTR like nothing else.

2022 data from firstpage.com demonstrates that ranking #1 generates a typical CTR of 39.6%. That's more than double the CTR for 2nd position, 18.4%, and nearly 4x the CTR for 3rd position, 10.1%.

Savvy marketers understand that establishing a strong organic ranking for your content runs rings around CTRs for paid ads! So, if you're not already, 2021 is the right time to invest in your organic marketing strategy.

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SERP layouts Vs Safeguarding your organic clickthrough rates

We've all noticed the changing layouts seamlessly integrating into our search journeys. with zero-click searches are becoming increasingly common mobile. But what does this mean for our organic reach in 2022? It seems that, for search engine marketers, 'search volume alone isn’t the decisive figure' anymore.

In fact, snippets and panels in 'position zero' take up valuable real estate on the SERP, often at the cost of organic entries beneath. In the chart below, by Sistrix, we can see that when a SERP includes a featured snippet, the SEO CTR for position one drops by an average of 5.3%.

SEO CTR stats to inform your 2022 SEO strategy [SERP trends] (3)

If you are currently defending a top-ranked organic keyword, or would like to increase your reach, why not check to see if there is a featured snippet in the SERP? And while you're at it, why not find out how to win SERP features for your site too?

SEO CTR stats to inform your 2022 SEO strategy [SERP trends] (4)

Purely organic keyword strategy

That's not to say that purely organic results aren't still your bread and butter. In fact, even in the midst of all these user-friendly innovations, it is still the case that 'the more you work into the long-tail, the greater the proportion of purely organic SERPs'.

Any SEO worth their salt will tell you it's long-tail keyword territory where you can make the biggest incremental gains - we shall be looking into the numbers that still back up this theory in 2022 later in the blog.

So, for your reference (and reassurance), here is the handy table which Sixtrix has produced demonstrating the SEO CTR for a purely organic SERP in blue against the average (across many different formats of SERP).

SEO CTR stats to inform your 2022 SEO strategy [SERP trends] (5)

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Keyword SEO CTR uplift - average rankings by SERP position

Depending on your resources, there may be keywords where realistically you aren't competing for the top spot and it's good to acknowledge that - particularly for the more generic terms where competition can get quite fierce.

In this case, studying average clickthrough rates by SERP position is useful since you can estimate uplift in visits with improved visibility rankings. Using the query data from Google Search Console and Search Console Insights, will enable you to perform a gap analysis for which keywords to improve in SEO. This exercise will help you prioritize a mammoth task and can also be handy to justify time and resources dedicated to keyword uplift.

Download our Business Resource – SEO gap analysis Excel spreadsheet

This spreadsheet will show you how to create a comprehensive target keyword report and review performance to identify new SEO and content marketing strategies.

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The best open source for this data today is the Advanced Web Ranking organic CTR research which we share here, so you can check out the different CTR analysis it gives.

This data is from US traffic on all devices in December 2021. We will look at 3 examples of how CTR varies by position depending on different searcher intent.

1. SEO CTR for brand vs non-branded keyword intent

It's well known that clickthrough rates for branded or navigational keywords are higher - the blue curve shows this well. Here branded CTRs are selected by AWR when part of the string in the domain name appears in the search indicating a brand name.

This first chart depicts organic CTRs for branded vs non-branded keywords on all devices, globally.

The red, non-branded curve shows a steady decline in organic CTRs down the SERP. Generally, non-branded terms will have more competition with paid ads, which show up first on the SERP, which explains the lower organic CTR for non-branded.

The chart clearly shows the value of being in the top 3 keywords, with organic CTRs at 26% and 36% in the first position decreasing to 9% in the third position. In the lower positions of 11 onwards, CTR has fallen to a paltry sub 1%.

Marketers who have a search term that is monopolized by a particular device may also want to check for device-specific trends.

2. SEO CTR for generic vs long-tail terms

Generic searches for products are typically 1 or 2 words. Long-tail terms are 4 or more. This chart shows a similar pattern of decline to above, but, after the top spot, a higher level of CTR for more keywords.

In highly coveted SERP positions 2-5, the (4 word) long-tail SEO technique outranks generic (1 word) search by 3 to 6%. Typically this will be because long-tail searches occur further down the sales funnel so users are more discerning at this stage.

Plus, there is less competition (organic and paid) as searches get more niche. So, when considering the ever-evolving SERP layout features, SEOs in 2022 must recognize the benefit of targeting long-tail keywords from their gap analysis.

3. SEO CTR variation based on intent type

We see a similar decline here, but with slight variations according to intent type. For example, comparing brandeed and research intent, we can see the higher CTR of any intent in the first position for branded searches, whereas researchers seem to favour the 2nd position.

Moreover, commercially minded marketers understand that for targeting those with transactional intent - the best plan is to get your keyword in the top position and keep it there.

4. SEO CTR based on SERP features

We see a similar decline here, but the overiding trend is that SERPS with more features result in a lower CTR for the top organic ranks.

With this knowledge, mareters may want to shift the priorities of their keyword targeting activities, or adjust their content strategy to compete for for video/featured snippets/people also ask features.

Understanding and applying the latest SEO CTRs in your marketing strategy empowers marketers and managers to review and optimize their paid, owned, and earnt media strategies.

Whatever your focus, we've got resources to help your plan your marketing activities. If you haven't already, why not get started as a Free Member with our free digital marketing plan template?

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SEO CTR stats to inform your 2022 SEO strategy [SERP trends] (2024)

FAQs

What are the SEO trends for 2022? ›

Here are 10 SEO trends that we have seen dominating so far in 2022:
  • Core Web Vitals. MORE FROMFORBES ADVISOR. ...
  • 2. ' People Also Ask' ...
  • EAT. As search engine algorithms evolve, so does the quality of content. ...
  • High-Quality Backlinks. ...
  • Video. ...
  • AI Content. ...
  • Long-Form Content. ...
  • Schema Markup.
5 May 2022

What is a good CTR for SERP? ›

A good CTR for organic searches is anything above 3%.

This means that out of 100 people who see a website's page in the SERPs, 3 people will click on it. Keep in mind that CTR can vary depending on a business's industry and what products or services they sell.

What is the best SEO strategy in 2022? ›

From quality content to user experience, below are five strategies to start exploring now.
  • Create quality content. ...
  • Leverage ethical link-building practices. ...
  • Optimize all images. ...
  • Improve the user experience. ...
  • Repurpose your content.
21 Jan 2022

How are you structuring your SEO strategy in 2022? ›

SEO Content Strategy
  • Make a list of topics.
  • Make a list of long-tail keywords based on these topics.
  • Build pages for each topic.
  • Set up a blog.
  • Create a consistent blogging schedule.
  • Create a link-building plan.
  • Compress media files before uploading them to your site.
  • Stay up-to-date on SEO news and best practices.
15 Feb 2022

What is SERP in SEO? ›

Search Engine Results Page (SERP) The page that a search engine returns after a user submits a search query. In addition to organic search results, search engine results pages (SERPs) usually include paid search and pay-per-click (PPC) ads.

What are the most important factors influencing SEO in 2022? ›

Top 5 SEO Ranking Factors for 2022
  • 1) Quality Content. 'Quality content' sounds pretty vague, but we're going to do our best to help break it down. ...
  • 2) User Experience. ...
  • 3) Mobile Friendliness. ...
  • 4) Page Speed. ...
  • 5) Backlinks.

What is a good CTR for Google Ads 2022? ›

Clickthrough rate (CTR) shows how often people click your ad vs how many times it's shown. This metric is a good indicator of how well your keywords match your advertisement. The average CTR for Search Ads is 3.17%, while Google Display Ads have an average CTR of 0.46% across industries.

Is 20% a good CTR? ›

tend to have higher CTR than B2C newsletters. In either case, a good click-through rate for email is between 10% and 20%. However, highly targeted emails (personalized messages, behavior-based campaigns, etc.) can often attain click-through rates above 20%.

Is 50% a good CTR? ›

So, CTR is a ratio displayed as a percentage. The average CTR for Google Ads should fall somewhere between 3 and 5% – most marketers consider that good. However, many companies have their average CTR for Google Ads much higher. A few rare businesses even have a CTR of 50% or more.

What are the top 3 SEO strategies? ›

The number of SEO strategies your business requires depends completely on your business goals, where your campaign currently stands, and your budget.
  • Content production. Content marketing is one of the most popular marketing strategies today. ...
  • Keyword optimization. ...
  • Multimedia.

What are the 4 important stages in SEO? ›

Phases of our SEO campaigns
  • Phase 1 – Onboarding, Site Assessment, Strategy Development.
  • Phase 2 – Onsite Optimization.
  • Phase 3 – Off-Site Optimization, Citation Submission & Clean up.
  • Phase 4 – Ongoing & Advanced SEO: Link Building, Tracking, Updates.
26 Sept 2016

What makes a good SEO strategy? ›

technical SEO: How well your content can be crawled and indexed. content: Having the most relevant and best answers to a prospect's question. on-site SEO: The optimization of your content and HTML. off-site SEO: Building authority to ensure Google stacks the deck in your favor.

What is SERP example? ›

SERP features are elements that appear on Google's search engine results page that go beyond the traditional “10 blue links”. Common examples of SERP features include Featured Snippets, Knowledge Panels, video carousels and image packs.

Is SEO and SERP the same? ›

SEO is an acronym for Search Engine Optimisation, whereas SERP is an acronym for Search Engine Results Page. They are two different things, but very closely related.

What are the 3 most important on-page SEO factors? ›

Top 6 Most Important On-page SEO Factors
  1. Quality content – the most important on-page SEO factor. The content you post is the most important part of SEO. ...
  2. Title tag. ...
  3. Meta description. ...
  4. Proper formatting – very important on-page SEO factor. ...
  5. Image use for on-page SEO. ...
  6. Well-composed URL.
18 Jun 2019

Is SEO still relevant in 2022? ›

The fact that SEO works perfectly fine even in 2022 as a method of delivering improved commercial outcomes for business websites and their owners, combined with the need for ongoing research into what works, makes it still relevant as a digital marketing method, but even more so as a valuable service and a rewarding ...

Is SEO still a thing in 2022? ›

Is SEO still relevant in 2022 (or 2022)? Absolutely. It's gotten more sophisticated, its focus has changed (from keyword stuffing to user intent), and it's harder to rank in the Google SERPs.

What's the most searched thing on Google 2022? ›

The winner of most popular keyword is Facebook, with over 1,102,800,000 searches per month. This is closely followed by YouTube, Amazon, and the weather, or "weather" for short.

What are the new trends in SEO? ›

SERP Layout & Functionality Changes

Instead of having multiple pages on a topic, why not have an entire page dedicated to that particular topic. Cindy Krum, CEO & Founder, MobileMoxie, believes that Google identifying and ranking passages will be a huge SEO trend in 2021.

Does SEO last forever? ›

SEO Requires Ongoing Maintenance

The flip side of this is that if you stop doing SEO, competitors can and will take back the traffic you acquired from them just as easily as you took it from them in the first place. Meaning, when you stop spending on SEO, that flow of traffic begins to drop off.

How long will SEO last? ›

Most professionals expect to see results in as low as 2 months, but SEO can take as much as 12 months to work. While every company's SEO strategy differs, most businesses can expect to see considerable results in 6 to 12 months.

Why SEO is important for your business in 2022? ›

SEO is important to marketing because it helps you reach your target audience online. It's also a great way to improve your brand awareness and build trust with customers. SEO can also be a great way to improve your website's conversion rate.

How can I improve my SEO strategy? ›

Follow these suggestions to improve your search engine optimization (SEO) and watch your website rise the ranks to the top of search-engine results.
  1. Publish Relevant, Authoritative Content. ...
  2. Update Your Content Regularly. ...
  3. Metadata. ...
  4. Have a link-worthy site. ...
  5. Use alt tags.

Is SEO really worth it? ›

SEO is worthwhile if you have the right strategy in place and work with a partner that knows how to get results. About 93% of online experiences begin with a search engine, and the close rate of SEO leads is much higher than that of traditional marketing. So, SEO provides an impressive return on investment (ROI).

How can I improve my Google SEO? ›

  1. Make your site interesting and useful.
  2. Know what your readers want (and give it to them)
  3. Act in a way that cultivates user trust.
  4. Make expertise and authoritativeness clear.
  5. Provide an appropriate amount of content for your subject.
  6. Avoid distracting advertisements.
  7. Use links wisely.

What is the number 1 most searched thing on Google? ›

youtube

What is the #1 searched thing on Google? ›

We removed all NSFW queries from this list.
...
Top 100 Google searches in the U.S.
#KeywordSearch volume
1facebook144,000,000
2youtube143,000,000
3amazon119,000,000
4weather95,300,000
96 more rows
5 Oct 2022

What is the most searched question on Google ever? ›

It might be quite surprising to know that the most asked question in the world is “what is my ip”. There are a little over 3 million people who ask this question every month on Google and that's just one variation of the question. There are more who ask, “what is my ip address” and similar. So that is interesting!

What are the top 3 SEO strategies? ›

The number of SEO strategies your business requires depends completely on your business goals, where your campaign currently stands, and your budget.
  • Content production. Content marketing is one of the most popular marketing strategies today. ...
  • Keyword optimization. ...
  • Multimedia.

What are the 3 major trends? ›

There are three main types of trends: short-, intermediate- and long-term.

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