Does Google use CTR when determining your search engine position?

I was wondering if CTR played a small role in determining your position in the search results. I know it does when using Adwords but the main search results is another story.

 

When it does effect in case of PPC then I guess , it must be in natural results too..

 

I've seen this theorised before. The reality being that nobody could really know either way. I generally ask myself if it would make sense for Google to impliment something like that.

While it may make sense to A/B test two different results to see if there is any marginal increase in CTR, I'm pretty sure they would rate other factors as being more important, so even if it is used, I believe effects would be marginal.

 

Considering this theory is TRUE, then one SEO technique that is really important is having really catchy meta descriptions and titles.

 

I believe it does matter. Interesting huh?

 

I always wondered why some of my websites slowly moved up and down with their position for certain keywords and now I might have figured this out. It's like one day I'll be #5 and the next day I'm #7 in the results. Then out of the blue I'm back in my original position.

 

You'll want to have these either way, even if increased CTR doesn't help your SERP position, it'll still maximise the traffic you get from the position that you are in.

 

That's almost certainly just down to differences between datacentres.

 

I believe that it does have an impact on SEO and I am glad someone brought this issue up to discuss. I wonder what impact it really has on SERP.

 

Probably the same impact it has with sponsored advertisements through Adwords. First comes on-site optimization then comes CTR. Of course the quality of your back-links also has an effect on your position.

 

Google's simply not gonna tell us, and it's a very hard metric to test. I would suggest you always use appealing meta descriptions and titles to attract visitors. Whether or not Google is counting CTR, I know I am, and who doesn't want more people to find your page title/description clickable?

 

I guess I should start treating my titles and meta descriptions like I would a sponsored ad.

 

Treat them like gold, and they in turn will do the same for you

 

Are you guys talking about ctr on the SERP? if thats the case how do you figure google knows whats site is clicked? its not like the links go through a script first like yahoos for example.

 

How do you figure they "don't" know?

Last time i checked, Google actually owns Google.com and considering they are one of the best companies in the world at data collection it's pretty safe to assume they know what links are being clicked on their own site. Not to mention the millions of users sending toolbar data back every URL they visit, and the millions of pages running Google products like Analytics, Adsense etc.

Wow.. Just wow, that's the best one i've heard all week.

 

If they track your CTR through Adwords then they can track your CTR through their main search results. I think a billion dollar company would have the resources to enable those features on their site.