Search engine optimization is built on the premise that improving your rankings in search results is a panacea of sorts for online brands. By being more visible, more traffic will come to your website and this will lead to more engagement, sales or other forms of conversions. However, SEO is just the beginning of a greater process designed to boost brand reach and overall success. Some brands have found themselves in the situation of ranking prominently in search results – but falling short when it comes to actual clicks. Your CTR is absolutely essential to success: we’ll discuss today how you can boost this metric and bring more traffic to your pages.

Optimize Title Tags

When your clickthrough rates are not producing ideal results – despite decent ranking in SERPs – then the first place you’ll want to look is the title tag. The title tag is the area that people click on in search results, and can have a profound impact on your CTRs. You’ll want to check each title tag for issues relating to keywords, action words and syntax. Additionally, make sure that each title tag does a great job of summarizing the content of the page in a relevant fashion. Otherwise, you’ll improve clickthrough rates but might risk increasing your bounce rates, which can lead to lower rankings.

Modify Your URLs

In some cases, site URLs can negatively impact clickthrough rates. We all know that pinging URLs can affect search engine rankings in terms of the structure of each URL, but it can also impact how people view your website when quickly glancing at it in search. Each URL should be structured to reflect the title of each page in some capacity, whether its in entirety or partially. In the latter case, be sure to include the best keywords in the URL structure for maximum SEO results. If your URLs have numbers, random characters or other elements that do not relate to the topic or page, get rid of them. The subconscious impressions that these elements make on those who see them can lower your clickthrough rates.

Include Meta Descriptions

Last but definitely not least, you need to include meta descriptions for each page. These are shown in search below your links and indicate what each page provides in terms of content. While this element may not directly impact your broader SEO efforts, it does impact the number of clicks you’ll receive. Think about it: are you more likely to click on a link that offers a preview of the content, or one that merely offers the link with no explanation? It is essential to remember that people using search engine want as many details as possible in the shortest time possible. By including a description of what your page is about, you are more likely to generate clicks and attract ideal visitors who will come back to your website again and again.

If you’re pinging URLs to search engines, don’t just focus on SEO. Be sure to remember that there is a human element. By optimizing title tags, URLs and meta descriptions, you can easily improve clickthrough rates in no time at all.