WMT Now Shows ALL Keywords - with CTR and Position

[mahidhar]

Not sure if this is the correct forum.

Just noticed new interface for top search queries in WMT. It displays all the key words (previously it used to display only top 100 queries), impressions and click throughs. Impressive, I like it.

Does any one else see this?

[elsewhen]

Yes, I am seeing it, and the amount of data they are releasing is impressive. they are providing CTRs based on position in the SERPs. ie, when your results was 1st you got a 40% CTR, and when it was 2nd, you got a 28% CTR.

this is going to take a long time to digest.

[denisl]

Wow - a huge amount of info

The click through for different positions is interesting too
One phrase shows
#1:72%
#2:20%
#3:5%

[BillyS]

The most interesting webmaster information published to date.

You get to see impressions, and clickthroughs for each position you were in the SERPS. We have 5,700 key phrases too. Wow!

Shhh... should we be talking about this?

[TheMadScientist]

Shhh... should we be talking about this?

Yeah, I think you've got a good point... But, WOW! Cool info.

I know we're not supposed to, but I'd like to give a huge shout out and big thanks to the likely 'soon to be' former G employee who erroneously published this data... Even though you probably don't have a job any longer, we, the webmasters, appreciate your sacrifice! Hopefully you wrote the bug deep enough into the code it takes your successor weeks, months, or even years to find and correct.

There's no way they really gave us access to this on purpose is there?

[BillyS]

I'm going to start taking some screen shots... just in case. :)

Uh, for those of you that never signed up for WMTs, we're really just kidding. This is just a real yawner we're trying to play up.

[Reno]

but I'd like to give a huge shout out...

I want to join TMS in this declaration, with the consolation thought to this generous soul that thousands of webmasters are today singing your praise! If good vibes were money, you'd be rich :)

.............................

[confuscius]

It is nice to be able to see 'SITE WIDE' instant penalties in action where the site either gets or does not get traffic from one day to the next.

Also the variations on positions show that Google is basically shuffling its pront page results.

IF YOU ARE NOT IN THE TOP 3 RESULTS THEN YOU ARE NOT GOING TO SEE MUCH TRAFFIC, PERCENTAGE WISE.

Intersting stuff that shows that Google just owns you.

I cannot believe that this topic is not front page news already.

[mahidhar]

TheMadScientist, interesting. You think this data is published by mistake.

That might be true given that there is no announcement regarding this. However, I believe it might not be case because it doesn't look like a simple mistake like pushing the wrong button. It's more like a new feature rolled out without any announcement. There is also a trending graph with impressions and CTR. You think one has to do this deliberately or make several mistakes simultaneously.

[mahidhar]

Also the variations on positions show that Google is basically shuffling its pront page results

Variations might also be because of personalized and location based search.

[gouri]

Announcement from Google:

[googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com...]

[TheMadScientist]

Uh, for those of you that never signed up for WMTs, we're really just kidding. This is just a real yawner we're trying to play up.

Yeah, BillyS, it's actually beginning to only show on an initial load in my account...
It's starting to act like the fading home page in reverse... LOL.

Anyway, go ahead and move along people... Nothing to see here... Go back to whatever you were doing and don't even worry about it... Temporary glitch... Ignore the announcement... Move along... Nothing to see... Keep moving...

[edited by: TheMadScientist at 11:10 pm (utc) on Apr 14, 2010]

[mahidhar]

It is official, now I can stop taking screen shots.

This data motivates me to optimize titles and meta descriptions to increase CTR.

[M_Bison]

Awesome new feature for two reasons:

-shows how long the "long tail" really is.
-shows any effect that personalised SERPs have on your ranking.

I am rather skeptical about the click-through numbers though. They seem to be a lot lower than what my analytics are reporting.

[internetheaven]

Isn't showing us that we keep moving around in SERPs, and then combining that information with CTR, going to give some people the impression that rankings are linked to CTRs?

[jdMorgan]

Ever since the "cd=1&url=" referrals started showing up from G search, I've assumed that CTR *is* a ranking factor... They're collecting click data, and I doubt they'd collect it if they didn't use it.

Jim

[gouri]

The CTR I believe is a big factor in determining the quality score of an Adwords advertisement so maybe Google is now going to start using the CTR to a website in the organic SERP as an indicator of its content, and, thus, a ranking factor.

[dazzlindonna]

I just wish the numbers were accurate. I've never been able to really believe the rankings they show. No matter how many ways I view the SERPS, or from where, or with what turned on or off, or any other variation including asking people all over the world to check for me, the rankings they state in wmt just never really jive with what I (or anyone else I ask) ever sees. *shrug*

[Sgt_Kickaxe]

Most excellent, with this information I can finally rule the world!

Seriously, A++ move on Google's part.

[1script]

Wow, the amount of data is staggering, if only it were correct. Impressions are definitely off. Do you guys also have your impressions capped off at 6,000/day?

Anyways, even if it's a limited selection of the overall data, it can prove useful for so many tasks, very impressive.

There are also some questions: I have many keywords that show within the same month time frame to have occupied all these slots:

2
3
4
5
6 to 10
2nd page
3rd page +


Same keyword on 7 different positions in SERPs in one month?
What do you guys make of it? Everflux results, personalized search, gradually sliding up/down? Never seen this much movement in just one month.

[AnkitMaheshwari]

This is really some good info.

[msantore]

Holy god that is amazing...

[tkwg]

Goodbye Analytics! Although the impressions on long tails really do seem low to what I've been watching in analytics...

[alahamdan]

Yes i don't believe they published those info

But i think what made this possible or helped in making it faster, is what Alexa ranking show now!

Alexa now show a lot of keywords with important info, i think Google noticed what Alexa done and that's why they published such info.

[alahamdan]

Impressions are the number of times that your site’s pages appeared in the search results for the query. Clickthrough is the number of times searchers clicked on that query’s search results to visit a page from your site

This is monthly or daily or what?!

[internetheaven]

the rankings they state in wmt just never really jive with what I (or anyone else I ask) ever sees. *shrug*

I'd imagine the data is taken from all search engine variations (.com, .co.uk, .de, .ca) and across all data centers ... and then throw in advanced searches, logged in searches etc. etc. etc.

Unless you have hundreds of friends in all different countries each hitting different data centres and each checking the results not logged in and not using any filters of their own ... then okay. But believe me, there are dozens of SEOs in India typing in your keywords every day!

Sure it's highly "rounded" data, but still!

[hugh]

Am I missing something, where have the links to the SERPs gone?

[neildt]

Great insight into website visitors and trends. As I'd predicted - unless you are top 1-4 positions your traffic click through percentage is going to be very low.

Of 8,100 impressions on a popular keyword phrase that we rank position 6 we only get 3% click through...

Maybe we need to make our snippets even better to attract those clicks

[vivalasvegas]

Most excellent, with this information I can finally rule the world!

So can your competitors:)

[Jessica]

I'm not seeing the positions for keywords anymore (keyword ranks).

What's going on?