First up – if this page title makes little sense to you – lets explain it. SEO is Search Engine Optimisation – the process used to help websites to be found easily in google for appropriate searches. CTR is Click Through Rate; how many people who see the search result in google; actually click through to the website. Obviously the higher this is, the better.
There is a perception that the process of SEO is a simple one – but it’s actually very complex and it’s certainly is a lot more than technical fixes and backlinks (links from other sites to your site). One of the important elements relates to good copywriting; you want copy that encourages Google to prioritise your content in the results – and that encourages your target market to click through to your product or service.
A core element of that copy from Google’s perspective is the title – and it’s not just about stuffing a keyword in for Google. You need to think about it from the user’s perspective (your target audience) – what would make them click?
This is particularly relevant if the results of a search all look the same – what can you do to grab the attention of the searcher? Btw the search engine results page is called SERP for SEO.
Ranking on Page 1? But Not Standing Out?
This was the case for one of our clients recently. They were on page 1 for a high intent keyword (the type of keyword that would likely bring leads and business). But it was hovering around position 7 or 8. All the other results on the SERP looked much the same too. All were using standard industry text, with the main keyword stuffed in there.
The search results were a sea of sameness.
If you are in position 1 that’s probably ok – you’ll get click throughs but if not, how do you distinguish yourself from the other results? This is crucial because if you are not in position 1 – the CTRs get lower the further down the results you are – as you can see on this table which shows CTR’s by Ranking position here.
So we decided to experiment by altering the title in the search results. Something to make it stand out and pop – with the aim of increasing clicks and the CTR. Besides the benefit of leads, if the CTR is good enough over time – Google will likely bump the page up the rankings, increasing your visibility in Google. And earning You more clicks.
So what happened?
As you can see traffic went up a massive 36%! And the CTR went up by 17% too.
What’s more, the target keyword we originally focused on – is now at position 1!
A better title leads to more clicks – which then leads to a jump in the rankings.
We didn’t change anything in the content. We didn’t do anything technical. We didn’t earn any extra links.
We simply wrotye a better page title to make it stand out more for the reader. Copywriting 101.
The Moral of the Story?
If your are on Page 1 in Google and not in positon 1 – have a look at the page title. And when you see yuor page in the results of a google search – does the title grab the attention? Does it stand out from the other results generated?
If not, get creative and consider a title edit.
