seoClarity published a study on 750 billion impressions and more than 30 billion clicks, which is the largest CTR study ever. Large-scale research has produced a variety of insights into Google search click-through rate behavior that can benefit today’s online marketing strategies.
Data analysis is broken down by equipment, industry, country, and seasonality, revealing surprising details that may not be known.
Click-through rate for the top 10 locations
The average click rate of the top 5 search results on desktop is 17.16%, while that on mobile is lower, with an average of 15.54%.
The data shows that with an average of 17 billion keywords, desktop searchers are more likely to click on the top five search results than mobile searchers.
It is not a huge leap between the two, but there are still differences.
Conversely, mobile users are more likely to scroll down to click on the bottom of the search results, positions 6 to 10.
This is a significant difference between the two.
The total average is:
- Desktop click-through rate position 1: 8.17%
- Mobile click-through rate ranking 1: 6.74%
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The regression pattern of the top 10 search positions, that is, how much the click-through rate drops between positions 1 and 10, is the same between desktop and mobile devices.
But the top three click patterns on mobile and desktop are quite different.
seoClarity observes:
“Although the regression pattern on both devices is the same, it shows (in a large data set) that ranking in a lower position on page 1 is actually better for your organic traffic on mobile devices than on the desktop .
Presumably, the familiarity of scrolling on mobile devices plays an important role in the organic click-through rate. “
Click-through rate per country (all devices)
seoClarity reviewed the click-through rate differences between the countries/regions with the most data and found surprising differences.
There are significant differences in click-through rates in different countries/regions. Compared with users searching in the United Kingdom, Canada, India, or Japan, users in the United States are less likely to click on the first position.
Google search click-through rate by country
The percentage below is the sum of the top 20 positions.
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Top 5 click-through rates for Google search ranking 1 by country
- India 14.88%
- Japan 13.94%
- Canada 11.30%
- United Kingdom 10.48%
- United States 9.13%
Ranking first is important in every country, but it is especially important in India and Japan.
seoClarity noticed that the lower ranking pages have an interesting click-through rate pattern:
“Another interesting observation is the click-through rate for positions 17 to 20. In all 5 countries analyzed, the average click-through rate for these positions is higher than positions 11 to 16.
We believe this reflects browsing and scrolling behavior. “
Click-through rate by seasonality
From a 12-month period, the click-through rate has not changed much and is quite stable.
The highest click rate was in July, which was 2.29%, and the lowest was in May, which was 2.12%. This is a variance of 0.17.
Although this may not seem like a difference, there is actually a very different point to be aware of, and another fascinating insight.
In December, when people expected a rise in CTR, it was actually the second lowest CTR in the SERP, and May was the month with the lowest CTR. The highest click-through rate is actually in July.
This is the click-through rate in graphs:
Seasonal fluctuations in clickthrough rates
seoClarity observes:
“Compared to other times of the year, traffic in December and Christmas, including sales in January, are very’average’ months.
This may be because users are turning more to “shopping” lists instead of clicking organic lists or increased competition between pay-per-click lists. “
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I agree with seoClarity’s view that the jump in summer hits may be due to vacationers researching what to do and where to go during the holidays, so they click on websites more than usual.
Broken down by device, the overall click-through rate of mobile devices is always higher than desktop devices, and both show the same seasonal highs and lows.
Seasonal click-through rate patterns on desktop and mobile devices
Click-through rate by industry
Querying the industry has a great influence on click-through rate and whether more clicks come from mobile devices or desktop devices. Although it is important to have a quality website experience regardless of the device used, knowing which device has a higher click-through rate can give marketers important insights into their sales and positioning.
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Click-through rate in the apparel and fashion industry
Clicks related to fashion search queries are higher on the desktop. Although there will definitely be differences by age group, in general, fashion queries have a much higher click-through rate on the desktop compared to mobile devices.
Click-through rate in the beauty and personal care industry
The search volume of mobile devices (331m) is larger than that of desktop devices (118m).
However, in terms of click-through rate, there is a huge difference between desktop and mobile devices, and it is incredible that there is a huge gap in click-through rate between them.
The number one website in the Google Desktop search results received 6.65% of all clicks, while the number one website on the mobile site received 4.74% of all clicks.
As a reminder, these are not direct percentage measurements of clicks (for example, a location that gets XX% of clicks), but the average of all clicks, as described above.
Click-through rate in commercial and industrial sectors
The results in the commercial and industrial sectors are a bit shocking, because there are more commercial content searches on mobile devices than on desktop computers.
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According to seoClarity:
“Somewhat surprisingly, most searches in the commercial and industrial sectors come from mobile devices (1b impressions), which is 54% higher than searches on desktops (649 million times).”
In addition, compared with desktop devices, the CTR of mobile devices is less concentrated in the first position, which means that the CTR of mobile devices is more widely distributed than the SERP of desktop devices, and the click volume of desktop devices tends to be concentrated on the top.
Google SERP ranked first
- Mobile phone: 6.66%
- Desktop: 8.60%
No. 2 in Google SERP
- Mobile phone: 3.79%
- Desktop: 4.44%
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Google SERP ranked #3
- Mobile phone: 2.41%
- Desktop: 2.55%
Compared with users on desktop devices, more searchers on mobile devices clicked on the sites listed in positions 5 to 10 (except for position 6).
Consumer electronics products
The click-through rate trend similar to that of commerce and industry is also reflected in the consumer electronics field. Compared with desktop devices, there are more searches on mobile devices, but fewer clicks are concentrated in the top three positions.
The top 3 click-through rates dominate desktop devices over mobile devices
Compared with mobile devices, the trend of the top 3 clicks concentrated on desktop devices is reflected in almost every market segment, except finance In the top three industries, desktop and mobile device click-through rates are basically tied.
Top 3 industries that dominate desktop SERP
- Apparel and fashion
- Beauty and personal care
- Business and industry
- Consumer electronics products
- healthy
- Home and garden
- Work and education
- Sports and fitness
- Vehicles and cars
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Top 3 industries that dominate mobile SERP
- real estate
- Retail and e-commerce
- travel
Why is the top SERP not so popular in mobile devices?
seoClarity speculates that mobile users are accustomed to scrolling, which is why they tend to scroll the top three to five search results more frequently than desktop users.
Compared with desktop devices, mobile devices may also have more context and additional search intent.
Mobile device personalization may affect why mobile device users scroll through the top three to five search results.
seoClarity research is now available
Read the full 53-page report on seoClarity to learn about other insights that can improve and enhance your marketing strategy, because this article covers only a few insights found in this research, which is the largest of its kind.
Download the research paper here:
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