Are there any recent studies of organic CTR vs. PPC CTR?
-
Pretty much the title. I am putting together a "game plan" for my CEO, where I would like to touch on the difference in CTR between SERP organic results and SERP PPC results. I've found a few blog posts that talks about PPC being responsible for 15% of all clicks, where 1-5 organic results are responsible for 68ish % and the rest being on 6-10 and page 2/3. However, I do not see any sources in these articles, which begs the question, where are these numbers taken from? Any suggestions?
My own gut feeling (and SERP behaviour) tells me that these numbers might actually be super accurate, but since my business plan will most likely end up in the hands of our board of directors, I would very much like to back up my action points for growth, with actual sources.
Thanks in advance.
-
It's not always about CTR. My 1-3 results still get 650% better conversions than anything I do with Paid. Google are certainly taking clicks from top positions and I'm seeing my number one positions getting less clicks. interestingly this is not having any effect whatsoever on the bottom line.
What I do see is when I overtake my competitors they start advertising like mad in the Top Ads for those keywords. But this also doesn't seem to have much of an effect on revenue.
I am trialing something new on the mobile. If you think about it when you type in a query on the mobile you're always going to see the number one ad result first. It's different from desktop where you can kind of completely ignore the ads and look straight at the map for local or the first organic position. But for Mobile 100% of searches see that number one position and there's nothing else on the screen.
So I'm putting together a 'branding' exercise where I focus on getting that number one position for all my keywords and seeing how this affects conversion rates.
I wouldn't get too obsessed with click through rates. Especially with google messing with the layout of the serps so much. Focus on the bottom line and ROAS. And I can tell you for nothing that getting in those 1-3 positions is pure gold no matter what the naysayers say about reducing click through rates.
Organic is also 100% the best way you can spend your time and effort and budget. There's been some big changes recently with (I believe) rolling out previously collected rankbrain data. I don't think it's real time learning. I think google collect data, test it and roll it out. And they recently did that so sites with real quality are now picking up a great deal more search. So the playing field is levelled against the little guys.
Ads will always have their place for offers and immediate stuff - although since you can get a quality page indexed in 3 minutes these days and change a title and meta in a couple of days, I think ad words is still only a moderately good way of spending your budget. But i'll report on how my mobile thing progresses. I have great hopes for it.
-
I think that the CTR varies wildly.
It depends upon the skill of the person writing the ads and the title. It depends upon the topic they are working with and who they are promoting. It depends how clickbaity, smutty or deceptive they are willing to be. Depends if they are offering free stuff.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Seeking Critique on PPC Campaign Gameplan
Background: We're a home service business with potential for recurring clients. In the past, I've run PPC campaigns for a much larger company, and was profitable, but the business model was vastly different. The campaign also took place during their busy season, allowing flexibility I won't receive here. Campaign Details: AdWords only SERPs only (not partner network) Desktop users only Data Available: Lots of past data was incomplete, prompting my best estimates and judgment calls. For past leads data, I'm using Google as lead source (organic + local pack rankings), generated specifically from our quote form. Since our quote form doesn't render on Mobile/Tablet, I omitted those visits from our Analytics data, and only target Desktop in the campaign. I wound up with the following statistics: Organic (any web search), Desktop visitors who viewed our quote form page: Number of overall pageviews Number of overall leads generated from our quote form Number of overall leads which converted to sales And for our sales/numbers end of things: % our clients choose targeted package Revenue of initial sale on that package Profit generated from sale on that package Using these numbers, I calculated the % of clickers likely to bounce, complete the form, convert to clients, etc. Using our sales records, I calculated revenue/profit expected from each. And with that, I calculated the highest CPC to break even (unacceptable, obviously), as well as the projected ROI from lower, more reasonable CPCs. Notes: We're a home service business. Not all homes are created equal. Through data, I found our clients average home size and the average estimate for that home. Due to incomplete records, I can't know which Google _clients _are specific to our quote form. Some likely called through the local pack or manually dialed and said "Google" if our staff asked. To combat this, I found the % of Google _leads _who completed the quote form vs. phone call, email and applied it to clients for a reliable estimate (our system removes the quote form identifier upon lead to client conversion). I'm not factoring in the % of clients who become recurring customers as I don't have this data. Given that it's much higher than 0%, I think this allows a LOT of breathing room on my estimates. Many of our clients have stayed with us for years. If only a small number convert to long-term status, the current ROI shoots WAY up. Similar to above, I'm also not factoring in the % of clients who don't choose the initial package, but instead choose a lesser package. Again, I think this provides breathing room. Any PPC campaign will have a plethora of variables, especially intangible issues (damages, refunds, etc). I feel I have the important things down, but I'm far from an expert. I'd love to receive any advice or things I'm overlooking. Thanks.
Paid Search Marketing | | kirmeliux1 -
High CTR, high CPC?
In a lot of my campaigns, the keyword with the highest CTR also has the highest average CPC. I'm not sure if I should lower or raise my bid. For example, right now the Adgroup Max CPC is $0.50 and the keyword with the highest CTR/CPC is at $1.60 with a QS of 7. I'm not sure whether to lower or raise this bid? It actually has the lowest amount of impressions as well. I'm not sure what to do
Paid Search Marketing | | howlusa0 -
Does sitewide SEO affect PPC Quality Score?
When evaluating a PPC landing page for Quality Score, does Google evaluate the other pages that the landing page is linked to? For example, if we have a well optimized page on the site for "Widgets", can it outscore a well optimized PPC landing page that is isolated in a "disallow" directory with no links into or out of the page? I'm not sure if I am making myself clear...
Paid Search Marketing | | CsmBill0 -
PPC Keyword Phrases and Options
Sorry in advance.... I've used search on the SEOMoz site and Google but not found an exact answer to my question. I am looking at starting PPC campaign - do I need all variations of these keywords or is google clever enough to work on dashes etc... I want the keyword phrase to come up with loads of different locations. Do I need to input them all separately like I have below? 1. Keyword Sample Phrase 2. Keyword-Sample Phrase 3. KeywordSample Phrase 4. Keyword Sample Phrases 5. Keyword Sample Phrase Location 6. Keyword-Sample Phrase Location 7. KeywordSample Phrase Location 8. Keyword Sample Phrases Location Thanks in advance....
Paid Search Marketing | | JohnW-UK0 -
PPC : Do I have to create differents Adwords account for my 2 companies?
Hello Mozers, I have 2 small companies in 2 different fields (tourism and IT). Do I have to create 2 different accounts for my Adwords campaigns? Is it the good way of proceeding? Thank you for yours answers guys, Jonathan
Paid Search Marketing | | JonathanLeplang0 -
Starting Out With PPC, Need Some Advice
We are starting out with PPC for our site. I wanted to know what the best starting point is for our site. First, some basic info: We sell thousands of products from a large number of manufacturers We can offer the same prices as competitors, but we can't beat their prices Here are my questions: What would be my USP if my prices are the same, and we have the same store policies as competitors? Is it best to start with product pages (as opposed to keywords)? Meaning, setting up a feed via MC and connecting to our adwords account. Any advice is appreciated 🙂
Paid Search Marketing | | inhouseseo0 -
PPC Keyword Ranking
The SEOmoz PRO tool shows how keywords rank in the organic part of the SERPs. Does anyone know if there is another tool out there that shows the same thing for ranking in the ads section of the SERPs? Also, does anyone know the winning lottery numbers (any lottery will do, I'm not fussy!). Thanks Neil
Paid Search Marketing | | mccormackmorrison0 -
Http://www.springmetrics.com/ vs SEOMOZ.org
We are a pro member of SEOMOZ. I know that we have not used it to its full potential. Now our marketing department is considering using http://www.springmetrics.com/ I need to have a comparison and contrast of SEOMOZ vs springMetrics. Also, can you include how google real time fits into this.
Paid Search Marketing | | Darden0