There are hundreds of metrics and considerations to make when evaluating the success or failure of your current SEO strategy. The same can also be said about any paid marketing campaigns you’re currently operating. Many of these elements can be found in both situations, with one of them being your click-through rates (CTRs). In short, CTRs determine how many people found your content, links and other elements relevant to them. There are many benefits to improving your CTRs in organic results and situations, with one of them being gradual SEO improvement. Today, we’re going to share with you three solid tips for boosting your organic CTRs in search and beyond, so that you can increase  your traffic and/or sales.

Use Lists and Numbers

When people are browsing search engines for answers to their questions, they tend to gravitate toward certain formats. One of these formats involves lists and numbered items. In essence, people prefer to click on headlines that tell them how many solutions or benefits they can expect from the content. For instance, creating a blog post labeled “Seven Unknown Facts about Email Marketing” will likely get more clicks than “Unknown Faces about Email Marketing”. By pinging users with titles that clearly address these elements, you can more effectively convince a greater share of people to click on your links rather than someone else’s.

Customize Your URL Structure

Search engine users are incredibly intuitive – even when they don’t know it. Whenever a set of search results pop up, we see the page title, the page URL and the meta info all in one. Our brains subconsciously process all of this information and render a verdict to us on whether we should click on the link or not. In order to add a bit of professionalism to your site and really hammer home the point of what your title conveys, be sure to customize your URL structure. You can customize each page individually or you can optimize it to be structured based on the page’s title. Either way, this will provide you with two opportunities to convey keywords and information rather than just one.

Use Facts and Intrigue Where Possible

Your page title is the first thing people see when searching for solutions: make the most of it. Intriguing and useful tidbits can make the difference between a click and a cold shoulder. For instance, sharing the fact that “Brands Gain 40% More Traffic with Three Simple Changes” as your page title can generate much more interest than a vaguely-worded title that promises traffic increases. By sharing this information up front, you pique the interests of readers and improve the odds that they’re going to read, share and apply your content. Ultimately, SERPs are a competition against other brands, all of whom are trying to convince you to do more than window-shop. By pinging users with an alluring taste of what they’ll receive, you’ll sweeten the deal for them to click.

By optimizing your page titles to include intriguing facts, using lists and numbers and customizing your URL structure, you can make your listings in organic results appear more appealing to those who see them. This will definitely help improve CTRs with time and will enhance any existing SEO strategies.