A good clickthrough rate for the websites ranked first on desktop in the Careers industry is on average 23.5% in Q4. However, for the same position in the News market, a 41% CTR is considered the benchmark. And these values are constantly changing from one quarter to another.
The following CTR changes analysis will provide helpful information on the traffic fluctuations you might notice, even if your website’s rankings and impressions remain steady.
Clickthrough rate in 2023 vs. 2022
Just before kicking off our quarterly analysis, let’s have a glance at the Year over Year changes, by comparing the average CTR values for each position in 2023 vs. the ones in 2022.
While on desktop there wasn’t much of a difference, the websites ranked in the second position on mobile registered a 1.24 pp drop in CTR.
Now let’s look at how user behavior shaped the organic CTR values in the fourth quarter of the year compared to the previous one.
Methodology
We calculated the CTR averages for each position for Q4 2023 (October-December interval) and compared them against the ones retrieved for Q3 2023 (July-September). All significant changes were included in this analysis and expressed as percentage points (pp).
The data set is international and comprises all the available markets such as the US, UK, etc.
Since clicks and impressions go hand in hand when projecting estimated traffic, we also correlated these CTR changes with search demand data at an industry level.
Search intent
The websites ranked in the first two positions for location queries (containing words such as near, from, nearby, directions, maps, etc.) were affected on both mobile and desktop. On mobile, the decrease in CTR equaled a combined 3.23 pp, while on desktop, the descending trend was even higher, recording a 4.58 pp drop.
Drops in clickthrough rate values were recorded for commercial queries (containing words such as buy, price, etc.) as well. Here, the websites ranked first on desktop recorded a 1.54 pp decline, while those ranked in the third position experienced a 1.12 pp drop.
As for the informational queries, the fluctuations occurred on desktop only. Surprisingly, while the websites ranked first weren’t quite influenced by the changes, those ranked in the second position registered a 1.23 pp drop in CTR, and those ranked in the third position lost, on average 1.02 pp.
Keyword length
Here, while there was no real change on shorter queries, the CTR values for the websites ranked on searches containing four or more keywords experienced some significant drops. More exactly, the websites ranked first on mobile recorded a 1.26 pp loss in CTR. On the other hand, the decline affected the websites ranked in the first two positions on desktop, which recorded a combined 2.36 pp drop in CTR (1.26 pp for those ranked first, and 1.10 pp for those ranked second).
Industries
At this stage, we will integrate search demand data into our research to identify the root causes of potential traffic fluctuations within each industry, even when the rankings remain stable.
When there is a concurrent increase in clickthrough rate for a website's positions and a growth in search demand for its industry, it is likely to lead to a surge in traffic. Similarly, a decrease in both CTR values and search demand may result in a decline in traffic.
This section will be divided into two distinct parts based on the evolution of search demand.
A. Industries where the search demand increased
The websites ranked in the first three positions in the Hobbies & Interests market experienced a combined 6.13 pp loss in CTR on desktop (2.37 pp for those ranked first, 2.40 pp for those ranked second, and 1.36 pp for those ranked in the third position). As for the mobile queries, the changes affected the websites ranked in the first two positions only, which witnessed a combined 2.21 pp drop in CTR (1.03 pp for those ranked first, and 1.18 pp for those ranked in the second position).
At the same time, the industry’s search demand grew in this fourth quarter of the year compared to Q3 (+9.85%).
As for the Personal Finance category, websites ranked first recorded a 1.53 pp drop in CTR on mobile, while the industry’s search demand increased by +3.16%.
The clickthrough rate and search demand values went in opposite directions this time around in the Health & Fitness industry. The CTR for the websites ranked first on mobile decreased by 1.31 pp, while the industry’s overall impressions increased slightly by +1.12% in Q4 compared to Q3.
The highest increase in impressions (+21.54%) recorded by our search demand tool was for the Arts & Entertainment industry. Nevertheless, the CTR values went in the opposite direction, with the first two positions on desktop registering a combined 4.25 pp drop, while on mobile the changes affecting the websites ranked first only, which witnessed a 1.55 pp decline.
And now let’s jump to the industry with the highest decrease in clickthrough rate for a single position: Education. Here, the CTR for websites ranked first on queries made from desktop devices dropped, on average, by a remarkable 4.13 pp, while on mobile, the changes reached a 4.76 pp decline. However, the industry’s overall impressions grew by +7.03% in Q4 compared to Q3.
The websites ranked in the first two positions in the Society category experienced a combined 2.86 pp increase in CTR on desktop (1.66 pp for those ranked first, and 1.20 pp for those ranked second). The ascending trend was even higher on mobile, where the website ranked in the first two positions witnessed a combined 5.18 pp growth in CTR (3.81 pp for those ranked first, and 1.37 pp for those ranked in the second position).
Coupled with a growth of +5.74% in search demand, it’s highly probable that the websites ranked in those two positions noticed a spike in organic traffic.
Here’s a visual recap of the changes mentioned above:
B. Industries that experienced a drop in search demand
With no major changes since Q2 2023, the websites ranked in the first two positions in the Technology & Computing industry recorded a combined 2.53 pp decline in CTR on desktop (1.04 pp for those ranked first and 1.49 pp for those ranked in the second position). At the same time, the overall industry’s impressions decreased by -4.02%.
In the Real Estate industry, the websites ranked second on desktop registered a 1.28 pp increase in clickthrough rate. As for the mobile queries, the CTR changes went in the opposite direction and affected the websites ranked first, which recorded a 1.71 pp drop. Here, the search demand decreased by -5.66%.
Despite recording a decline in search demand (-5.65%), there’s still a glimmer of hope for the websites in the Careers industry. Or, at least for the websites ranked first which recorded a 2.68 pp growth on desktop and a 1.63 pp boost on mobile in clickthrough rate.
The Automotive industry closes out the year with losses on all fronts. With a global -2.49% decrease in search demand, websites ranked first recorded a 2.28 pp decline on desktop and a 1.16 pp drop on searches made from mobile devices.
It’s time to turn our attention to the industry with the highest increase in clickthrough rate for a single position: Law, Government, & Politics. While the websites ranked in the first position weren’t quite affected by the changes, those ranked second experienced an impressive 4.56 pp boost in CTR on desktop devices.
On the other hand, the mobile queries experienced contrasting changes this time. More precisely, the websites ranked first witnessed a 1.22 pp loss, while those ranked in the second position experienced a 1.21 pp growth.
Simultaneously, the industry’s overall search demand recorded a decline of -6.46%.
The clickthrough rate and search demand values went in the same direction this time around in the Home & Garden industry. The CTR for the websites ranked first on desktop decreased by 1.23 pp, while the overall industry’s impressions declined by -13.93%.
A similar trend occurred in the Sports industry, where just like in the Home & Garden market, the very same websites were affected negatively, while the impressions dropped. Here, the websites ranked first on desktop recorded a 1.23 pp decline in CTR, while the industry’s search demand decreased by -22.65%.
The websites ranked in the first two positions in the News industry experienced a combined 3.41 pp loss in CTR on desktop (1.85 pp for those ranked first, and 1.56 pp for those ranked second). Coupled with a drop of -25.97% in search demand, it’s highly probable that the websites ranked in those two positions noticed a slight loss in organic traffic.
Being the industry to record the highest increase in clickthrough rate in the previous quarter, the Travel industry got on the falling slope this time. Here, the websites ranked second witnessed a 1.86 pp loss on desktop, while people’s interest in traveling decreased by -13.18%.
The highest decrease in impressions (-30.98%) was recorded by the Science industry. As for the CTR values, massive drops were registered for the top six ranked websites on desktop: no less than 9.57 pp combined loss. On a more positive note, the websites ranked first on mobile queries witnessed a 1.97 pp growth in CTR.
Desktop and mobile CTR values went in opposite directions this time around in the Pets market, for the websites ranked first as follows: on desktop, the drop was 1.22 pp, while on mobile, the growth equaled 1.01 pp. Concurrently, the number of impressions for this industry declined by -17.14%.
One last market where the search demand dropped (by -6.93%) is Food & Drink. Nevertheless, the CTR values went in the opposite direction, at least on desktop, where the websites ranked first registered a growth of 1.79 pp.
Here’s a graphical representation of the changes in the twelve industries mentioned above:
That’s it for…the fourth quarter
It’s time to conclude the Q4’s clickthrough rate analysis and with that, close the previous year’s chapter and look forward to a new one.
As you can see, there was a lot of movement in the CTR evolution this quarter also, and that’s why you’ll need to reassess this metric regularly.
Benchmarking your website against your industry’s values is only going to benefit you and help you understand where you might try and improve your click rates.
And, of course, since the results pages have different compositions for each of your keywords, you can always go further with your analysis and measure your organic CTR for SERP features.
See you with the analysis of the first quarter of the new year compiled against this one. Stay safe and healthy!
Article by
Dan Popa
Dan Popa is an Online Marketing Strategist at Caphyon. He is passionate about both Online and Offline Marketing and he's always looking for new ways of applying the basic principles of marketing in the fast-evolving SEO field. He's always in the mood to chat about new creative ideas for campaigns, so you can find him on Twitter.
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