Assuming you achieve a position in the SERP you need to convert that position into a click. Here is the secret ingredient:
Meta Description
- A call to Action
- 150 characters packed with good keywords
The Meta Description is used by search engines for the text in your SERP (natural search results page) listing – its the black text that people read when they see your website listing in the SERP. If you don’t use a Meta Description tag, the SEs will take whatever 150 characters of text on your page seems relevant and use it for the text description of your website. Here is a good example of a page which is probably missing a meta description or its just a poor choice because it has no Call to action. Why would I click on that jumble of words?
Now here is a good example of a Call to Action and it fits into the 150 characters allotted.
Here’s the tough part: have 150 characters of relevant information/keywords in your Meta Description tag, AND a call-to-action in those same 150 characters. This must compel the search-user “why should I click on this link rather than that one?”.
Test this hypothesis; take your top search term and observe how many listings in the SERP lack these two basic ingredients to optimal CTR.
And that’s where Click Distribution comes in; on the Call-to-Action. That’s what people see. Clicks go where the eyes see something interesting, not entirely where the listing is on a page.
Few websites are optimized to include a well designed Meta Description tag. Using a well-crafted Meta Description will get you ahead of 98% of your competition. I’ve seen increases in traffic (CTR) of 30% using a good call-to-action in the Meta Description.