Many factors influence search engine ranking, some direct (like links) and some indirect (like social media endorsements by celebrities). One often overlooked factor that impacts Google’s arcane algorithm is organic click-through rate.

Google plays its algorithm cards close to the vest, but a couple of Google engineers, under duress, have admitted click-throughs do affect rankings.

According to former Google engineer Edmond Lau, “any reasonable search engine would use click data on their own results to feed back into ranking to improve the quality of search results. Infrequently clicked results should drop toward the bottom because they’re less relevant, and frequently clicked results bubble toward the top. Building a feedback loop is a fairly obvious step forward in quality for both search and recommendations systems, and a smart search engine would incorporate the data.”

Udi Manber, Google’s former chief of search quality, testified before the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, “The ranking itself is affected by the click data. If we discover that, for a particular query, hypothetically, 80 percent of people click on Result No. 2 and only 10 percent click on Result No. 1, after a while we figure out, well, probably Result 2 is the one people want. So we’ll switch it.”

The exact amount of impact CTRs have on search ranking remains a mystery, but maximizing organic clicks couldn’t hurt, right?

To go about that, Wordstream’s Larry Kim recommends doing these four things.

Optimize pages with low “organic Quality Scores.”

Visit the Google Search Console and download all query data for the site you’re trying to rank. Prioritize the pages with the lowest CTRs.

Combine SEO keywords with emotional triggers.

Playing to emotion is one of the best ways to get humans’ attention. With everyone trying to one-up each other with optimized title tags, adding an emotional punch to your page titles could give your site a boost.

Improve other user-engagement metrics.

CTRs don’t stand alone. Just seducing clicks isn’t enough. An increase in CTR accompanied by an increase in bounce rate will not impress Google.

Increase search volume.

Social media and remarketing “can generate serious awareness,” according to Kim, who suggested bombarding your audience with Facebook and Twitter ads to raise brand awareness.

“People who are familiar with your brand are two times more likely to click through and to convert.”

Facebook and Twitter advertising isn’t possible for most adult businesses, but upping the volume of helpful, engaging chatter is.

“Our research shows that above-expected user engagement metrics result in better organic rankings, which results in even more clicks to your site,” Kim noted.

Image © Palto