CTR incredibly low on Google SERP

[eric1981]

I've never seen such things happening before.So please can any body help me?

Normally,the CTR for positions 2-10 would be around 4.8%.And it can't be lower than 1% for a top 10 listing in G SERP.

Mine:0.3%.

The search volume for the keyword I am ranking for is 200k per month.Which would mean daily impression of 66k.And according to GWT,the impression is ok.

But I am getting clicks of no more than 20 per day.That's roughly 0.3%.

I don't think the title and description would affect that much,do they?

[Simsi]

I don't think the title and description would affect that much,do they?

It could do if your competitor's titles/descriptions are so much better targetted for the search term. Being on Page 1 is useless if the "Call To Action" doesn't do it's job. Even if the % CTR was low for that term, a good Title/Desc could help you exceed the average for the position.

I saw a good example of this the other day. I searched for "Play the Widget Game". The 2nd result had the description "We tell you where you can play the Widget game...". All the ones around it were sites that had the Widget Game! So why would I want that site when I already know?

Definitely worth a look either way and perhaps getting some friends to comment on what they think of yours? Can't do any harm.

[eric1981]

It could do if your competitor's titles/descriptions are so much better targetted for the search term. Being on Page 1 is useless if the "Call To Action" doesn't do it's job. Even if the % CTR was low for that term, a good Title/Desc could help you exceed the average for the position.

I saw a good example of this the other day. I searched for "Play the Widget Game". The 2nd result had the description "We tell you where you can play the Widget game...". All the ones around it were sites that had the Widget Game! So why would I want that site when I already know?

Definitely worth a look either way and perhaps getting some friends to comment on what they think of yours? Can't do any harm.

Partly agree.But the reason I said "I don't think the title and description would affect that much" is that previously good or bad copy of titles and descriptions would range from 2% to 4%.I have data to support my claim.

Do you have any data?

[indyank]

If you are reporting what you see on Google's webmaster tools, forget them. None of their tools are useful anymore or they have all been intentionally broken. The avg. raking positions they report are all horribly wrong for several months now.That has been my experience.

The ranking position of a page varies by location, time (sometimes changes for every alternate search), personalization and so on.But irrespective of whether you page is on the first or second page of their SERPS, they are all counted towards the impression count.

[eric1981]

@Indyank,no I was not quoting Google's average ranking.I know that is not useful.
What I was referring to was the IMPRESSION that my site is getting by ranking top 10.
And yes,I understand the impressions could be counted whether you are top or not.And it could be affected by location,instant,personal preference,etc.I know them.
What I was saying:I get normal impressions (200k search per month means roughly 7k per day,and I got that number,so it is normal),but extremely low clicks from that impression.
I hope that clarifies.

To update,my ranking was just removed by Google to 2nd page,which I doubt may caused by the low CTR.Any thoughts?

[indyank]

Eric, the difference between page 1 and page 2 is huge and what I am saying is it is almost impossible for us to know the ranking position, as there are so many factors that influence it these days. I have listed a few of them.

It is only the traffic which can give us a sense whether the page had been ranking consistently well. There aren't any stable positions assigned by google anymore. Moreover, the keyword's nature and competitiveness influences the volatality.

[eric1981]

Guys,just now I was told the site mentioned in my first post got attached.Could that be the cause?

[tedster]

What kind of attack?

[eric1981]

some kind of trojan.and malicious regitering.

[tedster]

It sounds like an important part of the mix - definitely something you will want to guard against.

[eric1981]

that i know.but does this affect my CTR?how does google know?

and to update,my ranking dropped to 50+

[tedster]

Possibly you were getting impressions but instead of shoing a regular snippet Google was serving a warning message - so almost no one clicked?

[eric1981]

i checked GWT,and there is no warning against malware or the kind.does that mean Google has not detected the trojan (or whatever)?

yes i can say almost no one (0.3% CTR)