How to Improve Organic Click Through Rate in WordPress (12 Tips)

Do you want more people to click on your website from Google and other search engines? Improving your organic click through rate (CTR) is key to getting more search traffic and higher rankings.

In this comprehensive guide, we‘ll share 12 proven tips to boost your WordPress website‘s click through rate from search results.

What is Organic Click Through Rate?

Organic CTR refers to the percentage of search engine users who click on your listing after seeing it in the search results.

For example, if your site shows up 100 times in Google search results for a keyword and 5 people click on it, your CTR for that keyword is 5%.

Search engines like Google use click through rates as one of the top ranking factors. Pages with higher CTR tend to rank better because Google interprets it as a signal of relevancy and user satisfaction.

As a website owner, keeping an eye on your organic CTR can help you understand user behavior and optimize your content for higher click through rates.

How to Check Your Website‘s Organic CTR

Before improving CTR, you first need to find out what your current click through rate is. Here‘s how to do it:

1. Connect Google Search Console

The easiest way to view your organic CTR data is through Google Search Console. This free tool from Google provides key insights into your website‘s performance in search results.

First, you need to verify your website ownership in Search Console using either a meta tag, HTML file, or TXT record. Our guide covers the step-by-step process to get started.

2. Add CTR as a Metric

Next, go to the Performance report in Search Console and click Add Metric. Select Click-through rate to add it as a column.

You‘ll also want to add Average position to see the relationship between CTR and ranking position.

3. View CTR by Keyword and Page

In the Search Analytics section, you can view a detailed breakdown of CTR performance.

The Pages report shows CTR for individual URLs on your site. Sort by CTR to quickly find top and underperforming pages.

The Queries report displays CTR by keyword along with impressions, clicks, and average position. Sort by CTR to see which terms are getting the most clicks.

Now that you know how to monitor organic CTR, let‘s go over some tips to improve it.

12 Ways to Increase Organic Click Through Rate

Here are 12 proven strategies to get more clicks from Google and other search engines:

1. Optimize Titles and Headlines

Your title is the first thing users see for your listing in search results. An engaging, informative title that fires curiosity can pique interest and drive more clicks.

Some best practices for optimizing titles:

• Include your target keyword near the beginning
• Keep titles under 60 characters
• Use emotional triggers like "How to" or "Best"
• Add numbering like "10 Tips for…"

You can test different versions and compare CTR scores in Search Console. Tools like CoSchedule‘s Headline Analyzer can also help fine-tune your titles.

2. Write Compelling Meta Descriptions

The meta description gives users more context about what your page is about. Well-written descriptions can boost CTR by enticing users to click.

Follow these meta description tips:

• Summarize what the page is about
• Include keywords naturally
• Use 120-156 characters
• Add a call to action

Keep testing different meta descriptions to see which ones perform best.

3. Create Keyword-Rich URLs

Your URL structure also impacts click through rates. URLs with relevant keywords tend to perform better in search results.

For example:

example.com/keyword-rich-url 

Is better than:

example.com/?p=123

Create descriptive slugs, use dashes to separate words, and avoid excessive keywords.

4. Get Featured in Rich Results

If you can get your content to appear in rich results like featured snippets or knowledge panels, you can expect a significantly higher CTR.

According to Moz, featured snippets gain an average CTR of 36.4% compared to 10.5% for ranking #1 in normal search results.

To optimize for rich results, focus on creating comprehensive, detailed content that answers users‘ queries and includes relevant structured data.

5. Implement Schema Markup

Schema markup enables search engines to understand your content and display it in rich formats. This can make your listing stand out more and boost CTR.

Some common schema types include:

• Article
• HowTo
• LocalBusiness
• Product
• Review

Popular WordPress SEO plugins like Yoast and RankMath make it easy to add schema markup to your site.

6. Improve Your Local SEO

If you run a local brick-and-mortar business, optimizing your local SEO can drive more calls, walk-ins, and conversions.

Start by creating a Google My Business listing and adding your business information like address, phone number, opening hours.

Then use tools like Moz Local and Synup to boost local citations, reviews and other local ranking factors.

7. Refresh Older Content

Blog posts and pages that are more than a year old likely need some freshening up. Older content that hasn‘t been updated tends to gradually lose rankings.

Look for posts that used to perform well but have dropped off and give them new life by:

• Adding more stats, data, examples
• Including related new information
• Updating broken resources
• Injecting new backlinks

This can help boost engagement and click through rates.

8. Fix Keyword Cannibalization

Keyword cannibalization happens when you have multiple pages targeting the same term and competing against each other. This diffusion of signals can confuse Google‘s algorithms.

Look for keywords where you have multiple ranking pages. Consider redirecting secondary pages into one primary page for that term.

Consolidating value into one comprehensive resource can help improve rankings and click through rate.

9. Speed Up Your Site

Page speed is a ranking factor, but it also impacts user experience. Slow loading sites lead to higher bounce rates. Users will click away if your site takes too long to load.

Some tips to improve site speed:

• Optimize images
• Enable caching
• Minify CSS/JS
• Upgrade hosting

Use PageSpeed Insights and WebPageTest to measure improvements. Faster page speed means better click through rates.

10. Engage Users with Internal Linking

Bounce rate is a sign of how engaging your content is. High bounce rates mean you‘re not giving users enough reason to click deeper into your site.

An effective way to keep visitors engaged is through internal linking:

• Link relevant posts within content
• Promote related posts
• Use contextual text links

This gives users more opportunities to click on your site.

11. Promote User-Generated Content

User-generated content like comments, reviews and forum discussions help add social proof and value for visitors.

When you have related UGC, look for ways to highlight it:

• Display recent comments
• Link to discussion threads
• Show Facebook comments
• Embed relevant tweets

Promoting UGC helps demonstrate that others have found your content useful, driving more clicks.

12. Add Clickworthy Calls-to-Action

Calls-to-action (CTAs) urge visitors to take a desired action like download, signup, comment, etc. Clickworthy CTAs can effectively boost engagement.

Some types of action-driving CTAs:

• Download guide buttons
• "Click here" contextual text links
• Comment section
• Email signup forms
• Social share icons

Strategically place CTAs in areas likely to capture attention. Test different styles, placements and copy to maximize CTR.

Tools to Improve Click Through Rates

Here are some handy tools to help analyze and increase your organic CTR:

• Google Search Console – View click through rates by page and keyword.
• Optmyzr – Run split tests on titles and meta descriptions.
• ClickFlow – See click through rates in real-time Google SERPs.
• MOZ Bar – Check click through rates for competitor pages.
• CoSchedule Headline Analyzer – A/B test headlines and improve copy.
• BuzzSumo – Analyze headlines and introductions for top content.
• Leadfeeder – Identify company websites clicking on your site.

Key Takeaways

• Organic CTR is the percentage of search users clicking on your listing. Higher CTR signals relevance.
• Monitor click through rates in Google Search Console for insights.
• Optimize titles, URLs, meta descriptions, speed and UX to boost CTR.
• Get featured in rich results like snippets to significantly improve CTR.
• Use internal links, fresh content and calls to action to engage users.
• Tools like Optmyzr and CoSchedule can help test changes.

Driving more clicks from search engines takes insight and testing. Apply these tips to analyze your current click through rates and start improving your CTR.