Click-through rate (CTR) is believed to be one of the most important factors Google’s algorithm considers when determining how to rank search results – if it’s done properly.

And by properly, I mean:

• Having real people do the clicks (not bots or VPNs)
• Having them geo-targeted (by Country)
• Getting natural-looking engagement (i.e. not everyone follows the same pattern of engagement with your website)

We can provide you with real people, performing randomized engagement clicks that can help move websites up (or down) in Google search results.

Skip to our Click-Through Rate Case Studies for online reputation management or for search engine optimization.

What Is Click-Through Rate?

Click-through rate (known as CTR) is the rate at which users “click through” to your website after performing a search in Google.

If the click-through rate for your website is higher than expected based on the current ranking position of your website, it is likely that Google will move it up in search results.

The super simple version of this is, if you Google something like: “how to make spicy thai sauce” and click on the 2nd result more often than the 1st result, it only makes sense that Google would move up the 2nd result, given the data that more people are clicking on it.

Video: Understanding Clicks and Click-Through Rate

Rand Fishkin explains click through rate and why it’s so important to have real humans doing the search+click+engage in the video below.

I recommend watching all 11 minutes, but my quick highlights are below.

What to watch:

4:00 to 4:37 – He explains how click through rate can improve your search ranking.

4:37 to 5:01 – He explains that you must have “real” searchers and enough of them.

6:56 to 7:51 – He shares that real human beings searching provide much better results than bots/proxies doing automated searches.

8:13 to 8:37  – “Manipulation is going to be very tough…If you don’t get real searchers…and real patterns that looks like …. they are real, normal people searching….this stuff is not going to work.”

That quote pretty much says it all. You’re not going to get results using bots and proxies – you need real people.

I’d add that public crowd source sites are also not going to give you a reliable result because many of the people on those sites are overseas workers using VPNs.

Our Click-Through Rate Case Studies For Suppressing Negative Links In Google

All case studies below have been redacted to preserve the anonymity of our clients. Rankings are tracked using Serpbook and all screenshots are taken from Serpbook.

#1 Click-Through Suppression For Company in 2018-2019

Overview: This company is a global brand in the healthcare industry.

Goal: Promote positive links in white shown below above the negative links shown below in yellow.

Strategy: 2 month campaign, 200 clicks/month to each of 7 positive links.

Results:

• 1 negative link dropped 4 positions
• 5 of 7 positive links improved a total of 19 positions
• 1 of 7 positive links dropped 3 positions
• 1 of 7 positive links disappeared

#2 Click-Through Suppression For Company in 2018-2019

Overview: This company is in the make money niche.

Goal: Promote positive links in white shown below above the negative links shown below in yellow.

Strategy: 7 month campaign, 100 clicks/month to each of 10 positive links.

Results:

• 2 negative links dropped a total of 13 positions
• 4 of 10 positive links improved a total of 19 positions
• 3 of 10 positive links dropped a total of 16 positions
• 3 of 10 positive links stayed the same

#3 Click-Through Suppression For Attorney in 2018-2019

Overview: This is for an attorney.

Goal: Promote positive links in white shown below above the negative links shown below in yellow.

Strategy: 7 month campaign, 87 clicks/month to each of 8 positive links.

Results:

• 2 negative links dropped combined 26 positions
• 6 of 8 positive links improved a total of 31 positions
• 2 of 8 positive links dropped a total of 4 positions

#4 Click-Through Suppression For Educator in 2018-2019

Overview: This is for an educator.

Goal: Promote positive links in white shown below.

Strategy: 3 month campaign, 25 clicks/month to each of 10 positive links.

Results:

• 6 of 10 positive links improved a total of 65 positions
• 4 of 10 positive links dropped a total of 9 positions

#5 Click-Through Suppression For CEO in 2019

Overview: This is click-through rate campaign is for a CEO.

Goal: Promote positive links in white shown below.

Strategy: 2 month campaign, 100 clicks/month to each of 6 positive links.

Results:

• 2 of 6 positive links improved a total of 5 positions
• 3 of 6 positive links remained the same
• 1 of 6 positive links dropped a total of 7 positions
• 1 negative link dropped 7 positions

#6 Click-Through Suppression For Company in 2019

Overview: This is click-through rate campaign is for a company.

Goal: Promote positive links in white shown below.

Strategy: 3 month campaign, 180 clicks/month to each of 5 positive links.

Results:

• 4 of 5 positive links improved a total of 21 positions
• 1 of 5 positive links dropped a total of 3 positions
• 1 negative link dropped 1 position

#7 Click-Through Suppression For Entrepreneur in 2019

Overview: This is click-through rate campaign is for an entrepreneur.

Goal: Promote positive links in white shown below.

Strategy: 2 month campaign, 100 clicks/month to each of 6 positive links.

Results:

• 2 of 6 positive links improved a total of 12 positions
• 1 of 6 positive links remained the same
• 3 of 6 positive links dropped a total of 11 positions
• 1 negative link improved 2 positions

#8 Click-Through Suppression For Entrepreneur in 2019

Overview: This is click-through rate campaign is for an entrepreneur with two versions (mike, michael) of his first name; that’s why you see some domains duplicated below.

Goal: Promote positive links in white shown below.

Strategy: 4 month campaign, ~100 clicks/month to each of 12 positive links.

Results:

• 7 of 12 positive links improved a total of 21 positions
• 1 of 12 positive links remained the same
• 4 of 12 positive links dropped a total of 15 positions (note the chronicleweek.com was not found at the time of this screenshot, sometimes links will “disappear” for a couple weeks then come back)

#9 Click-Through Suppression For Retired Doctor in 2019

Overview: This is click-through rate campaign is for a retired doctor.

Goal: Promote positive links in white shown below.

Strategy: 3 month campaign, 100 clicks/month to each of 5 positive links.

Results:

• 3 of 5 positive links improved a total of 19 positions
• 2 of 5 positive links dropped a total of 144 positions (note the inspirery.com website dropped due to a Google manual penalty, if/when the penalty is lifted, we hope the site will bounce back. We believe the drop in ranking has nothing to do with click-through)

#10 Click-Through Suppression For Student in 2019

Overview: This is click-through rate campaign is for a student.

Goal: Promote positive links in white shown below.

Strategy: 2 month campaign, 100 clicks/month to each of 3 positive links.

Results:

• 3 of 3 positive links improved a total of 11 positions
• 2 of 2 negative links dropped a total of 15 positions

#11 Click-Through Suppression For Surgeon in 2019

Overview: This is click-through rate campaign is for a surgeon.

Goal: Promote positive links in white shown below.

Strategy: 2 month campaign, 100 clicks/month to each of 6 positive links.

Results:

• 4 of 6 positive links improved a total of 31 positions
• 2 of 6 negative links dropped a total of 38 positions
• 1 of 5 negative links remained unchanged
• 4 of 5 negative links dropped a total of 20 positions

Our Click-Through Rate Case Studies (SEO)

#1 Keyword Ranking Improvements – Local Business SEO in 2019

Overview: This is for local businesses.

Goal: Promote client website for targeted keywords shown below.

Strategy: 3-5 month campaign, 100 clicks/month for each of 15 local keywords.

Results:

• 13 of 15 positive links improved a total of 117 positions
• 1 of 15 positive links dropped 2 positions
• 1 of 15 positive links disappeared

#2 Keyword Ranking Improvements – Local Business SEO in 2019

Overview: This is for local business who is an attorney.

Goal: Promote client website for targeted keywords shown below.

Strategy: 3 month campaign, 25 clicks/month for each of 2 local keywords.

Results:

• 2 of 2 keywords improved a total of 34 positions

#3 Keyword Ranking Improvements for SEO Agency in 2019

Overview: This is for local business who is an attorney.

Goal: Promote client website for targeted keywords shown below.

Strategy: 3-5 month campaign, 25 clicks/month for each of 12 national keywords.

Results:

• 10 of 10 keywords improved a total of 65 positions

#4 Keyword Ranking Improvements – Individual SEO in 2019

Overview: This is for two individuals who wanted to move up specific search results upon Googling their names.

Goal: Promote client-specific web page for their name.

Strategy: 4 month campaign, 25 clicks/month for each of 4 individual’s names.

Results:

• 3 of 4 keywords improved a total of 25 positions
• 1 keyword disappeared

Click-Through Rate Summary

If you reviewed the case studies above, you can see that click-through rate is not a magic bullet. It doesn’t work all the time.

If you’re doing online reputation management suppression work, click-through rate can be a helpful tool when trying to promote positive search results for yourself or your client.

Since CTR is not a magic bullet, I still recommend creating great content and doing consistent, quality link building in conjunction with click-through work for best results.

For SEO, I’d still follow all the basics for great on-page optimization to give your web page the best chance of ranking for your targeted keyword.

Then use click-through rate as a way to improve your search rankings in Google.

• Also note, that in the dozens of click-through rate cases we’ve handled, the longer you run the campaign, the better results you get. You should plan on a 3 month minimum for any campaign.

Whatever your specific needs are, I am here to help, and as long as you understand our click-through rate services do not GUARANTEE a result, they do work more often than they don’t.

Fill out the form for a quote; I’ll need that info before I can quote you.