A recent Google leak has confirmed the something IMPORTANT about your website.
Your site’s Click Through Rate (CTR) on Google іs very important to how well you rank. The click through rate is the number of people that click onto your link in the search engine once they have searched for a term.
And the most important CTR is your brand CTR.
What is Brand CTR?
When someone searches your brand by specific name on Google (example “Jordan’s Feather Factory”) and then your brand name appears in the Google search jordansfeatherfactory.com, it is VERY important that at least 50% of the people click that link and not a competitors site. This is called brand click through rate because the web user did a web search specifically for your brand (the name of your company) and not a service you offer (web design).
Google is looking to see that your brаnd name has а СТR rаtе оf at least 50%.
It’s reported anything less than this could be a red flag which triggers a review or even a penalty. Why? Because Google is trying, like always, to keep people from gaming the system.
If your business doesn’t have a brand click-through rate of 50%, you are losing rankings. That is money that should be yours.
But don’t fret:
How can you make sure you have at least 50% CTRs on your branded search?
1. Have a strong benefit statement description on your meta description snippet in Google.
Typically this is the snippet that shows your site name in a Google search is editable in a field within your CMS (like WordPress) or a site SEO plugin like SEO Ultimate Plus or YOAST SEO plugin,
Tell people in the Google search result the BENEFIT they will receive from clicking to your site.
2. Have a Google My Business Page set-up.
This increases the chances of it auto-populating to the right when people search your brand specifically. (see the picture below)
3. Own the front page of Google with your own brand!
Create enough properties on Facebook, LinkedIn, About.me, and any other site so that NO competitor shows up on the Google page one of a direct brand search. (see the picture below)
You can see all three at work in our Moon and Owl Marketing search results. (click the pic to enlarge it)
CLICK TO ENLARGE
When you own the homepage like this, no one is going to click a competitor’s link when they do a branded search for “your company’s name.”
We can even make these platforms a syndication network. When you publish a new blog, that content gets sent “automagically” to each of the platforms. This makes your site and subsequent platforms rank higher.
One final killer tip…
4. Get a Moon & Owl SEO Program working for you.
We can up your count of branded CTR in a way that is above board on Google. It is a family recipe and it is delivering HUGE results for our agency and clients’ CTR on branded search (and also increasing their Time On Page –how much time a visitor spends on your page once they click there–another important ranking factor.) Our comprehensive search engine optimization (SEO) programs go well beyond brand click through rates.
P.S. Google is also looking to see if your long-tail keywords are getting a 60% CTR.
An example of a short-tail keyword is “social media marketing.” A longer tailed keyword would be “social media marketing with cyberdust in 2015.” It is easier to rank for the long-tailed keywords, but once you do, have great content that compels the reader to click through and stay on the page.
By the way, our secret SEO sauce recipe helps you here, as well.
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