The Ridiculously Smart Guide to Increasing Your Organic Search CTRs [Infographic]

Whether you’re new to digital marketing or an ol’ veteran, it’s likely you consider this your Moby Dick.

That one mythical beast that no matter how hard you try, you can’t conquer. Yes, I'm talking about organic search.

With Google’s ever-changing algorithm and its increased focus on pay-per-click, organic search has become many modern marketers’ “Great White Whale,” but that doesn’t make it insurmountable.  

There are hundreds of experts both here and abroad who have dedicated their lives to doing the leg work on search engine optimization so that you don’t have to.

Two of the leaders in this movement are Brian Dean of Backlinko and WordStream founder and CEO of Mobile Monkey, Larry Kim.

Last month, the two put their heads together and compiled what Larry dubbed a “can’t miss collection of little known and sometimes counterintuitive click-through rate (CTR) hacks.”

These actionable, data-backed tips for improving your CTR in Google’s search results are not only going to help you get more qualified, interested eyes on your content, but make them more compelled to click-through onto your site.

Click-throughs in Google’s SERP aren’t just about keywords.

Keywords simply tell the search engine what your page is about and help you get seen. Once the result is in on the page, however, it takes more than just that familiar term to truly “click” with a user.

In the infographic below, Larry and Brian share their 11 “ridiculously smart” tips to help you do just that!

1. Identify your lowest CTR content
2. Dump excessively “keyword heavy” title template formats. As I mentioned, this won't truly resonate with your audience and inspire clicking. 
3. Get emotional. Emotions are more influential than cold facts.
4. Get relatable. Write your headline as one of these four personas: 
   • The Bearer of Bad News
   • The Comedian
   • The Hero/Villian
   • The Good friend
5. Use a numbered list. Research shows numbers boost CTRs by 36%.
6. Bring it all together with this proven headline template:

Format + Emotional Hook + Content Type + Your Subject

7. Add “power words” to your description tag. I repeat, strike an emotional chord!
8. Use descriptive URLs. Microsoft found descriptive URLs get 25% more clicks than generic ones.
9. Try out many, different headlines
10. Audition headline ideas on Google AdWords
11. Test headline ideas using Facebook Posts. The same emotions that make people click social posts will make them click your search results.