In the recent patent that google has filed, there is a reference to CTR, wherein google determines the CTR to a site and ranks it accordingly for a certain query, it also says that google might vary ranking according to seasons, such that a site about winters would rank low in summers and vice versa. Does any body thinks its really happening or is google playing tricks with us.
From my experience, no, CTR does not help nor hurt organic listings...especially if you are sandboxed... Fryman, I like the old avatars more, you look like a cross between an eel and a sea otter
LMAO! Guess its time to change my avatar... but I can't get my crummy scanner to work. Avoid HP! They suck!
Yes, they are trying to do so : [0093] According to an implementation consistent with the principles of the invention, information corresponding to individual or aggregate user behavior relating to a document over time may be used to generate (or alter) a score associated with the document. For example, search engine 125 may monitor the number of times that a document is selected from a set of search results and/or the amount of time one or more users spend accessing the document. Search engine 125 may then score the document based, at least in part, on this information. [0089] In one implementation, search engine 125 may compare the average traffic for a document over the last j days (e.g., where j=30) to the average traffic during the month where the document received the most traffic, optionally adjusted for seasonal changes, or during the last k days (e.g., where k=365). Optionally, search engine 125 may identify repeating traffic patterns or perhaps a change in traffic patterns over time. It may be discovered that there are periods when a document is more or less popular (i.e., has more or less traffic), such as during the summer months, on weekends, or during some other seasonal time period. By identifying repeating traffic patterns or changes in traffic patterns, search engine 125 may appropriately adjust its scoring of the document during and outside of these periods.
CTR does not matter at all *yet* on Google. I have a top 10 ranking for a keyphrase that I optimized for in the past. Now, I still have a top10 ranking for it (targeting a different keyphrase), but get veryyyy few clicks (compared to before) because now the page is different. The ranking stays the same. I bet my page has the poorest CTR of all the top 10 pages
At some point in the past, I seem to recall Google SERP's doing a redirect so they could track click-throughs. It's been a long time, so maybe I'm mis-remembering. Does anyone else remember this? LC88
I remember reading another thread where someone said that they do this *sometimes* (randomly), I guess for sampling purposes. (Sorry, no hard and fast data on this.)