Marketing

Which Keywords Have the Worst Click-Through Rates?

By Tinuiti Team

Keeping track of CTR brings understanding about which keywords are successful and which deserve to be tossed. Quality keywords depend on what you’re advertising as well as where your advertisements are displayed. Keywords with high CTRs are usually good indications that searching with such keywords is leading consumers to desirable content.

On the other hand, this phenomenon might indicate that search results aren’t satisfying enough based on a keyword. Therefore, unhappy consumers keep clicking through search results to find the content they are looking for. But you can avoid this issue, at least, to some degree.

Keep this search marketing strategy in mind. The more your keywords relate to one another as well as to your business, the more likely a consumer is to click on your ads tied to keyword searches, according to Google.

A recent study discovered some interesting information about popular keywords and their CTRs. Read on to discover the insight.

A New Study About Click-Through Rates

According to a new study by Siege Media, not all searches are created equal regarding CTR. This study revealed the average CTRs of 42 top keyword terms. Furthermore, it was about figuring out which keywords gained a high number of clicks and which keywords didn’t make the cut.

This information came from the average searches and clicks data recorded by Ahref’s Keyword Exploration tool. The data was averaged out over the top 50 keywords and gathered into multiple stem averages.

The Best Click-Through Rates?

Let’s start with the high-performing keywords. Keywords such as recipes, coupons, vacation rentals, jokes, and jobs were on the high side. When representing clicks as percentages of searches, each term averaged over 100 percent.

What would cause these terms to gain high CTRs? Maybe they indicate consumers are increasingly looking for content that satisfies tangible tastes. In other words, people appear to be looking more for distinct experiences. Consider factoring this into your search marketing strategy.

For example, if you work on behalf of a retail fashion company, using a keyword such as “retail fashion coupons” could improve your CTR if you don’t already use this. And it could lead to an enjoyable shopping spree for a consumer.

Click-through rates

The Worst Click-Through Rates?

Now, it’s time for the low-performing keywords. Keywords with the worst CTRs include translation, population, definition, and stock price. These search terms could more easily lead to concrete answers.

For instance, searching for a definition of a fashion term would likely lead to a list of top general reference sources on the first page. These sources are highly trusted, making it easier to find helpful content. In other words, people don’t click as much. The percentages of these keywords each averaged below 50 percent.

Certain keywords were surprisingly low, such as “how to” search terms. These terms center more on advice a variety of people have given for the same topic, so it’s more challenging to find useful search results. But there’s also websites driven to provide the know-how to consumers, such as WikiHow, eHow, and How Stuff Works. This could be a good reason for such terms being closer to the bottom than the aforementioned.

This study data shows that most searches don’t result in a lot of clicks. It also reveals people are engaging in more image searches, particularly with Google. Apparently, the saying that a picture is worth a thousand words is what many people are taking to the heart during their search.

Want more search marketing insight on Google? Feel free to read How Feed Quality Affects Google Shopping.

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