Low CTR, even when #1

So there is a group of keywords that I've been ranking #2 and #1 for nearly two years now that have always bothered me. I've seen the Google CTR on these keywords go as low as 4% on some days, to 14% on it's best days.

I'm tried 10 different titles/desc over this time, and I have never seen any improvement from a different title/desc.

It's upsetting to be ranking #1 and #2 for these terms but only grabbing small fractions of the customers.

Here are the stats for these keywords on Sept 26:



My biggest competitor is Offers.com, and we trade spots back and forth. So these keywords are coupon related.

I rank for hundreds of other terms in other niches and do pretty well with my title/desc, but for some damn reason, I'm stuck in this situation.

For anyone experienced in the coupon niche, would you be able to share any tips to improving the title/desc?

How many searches does the keyword have?
Also, maybe there is something in the title/description of the link that offers.com has better than you?

se900se said:

How many searches does the keyword have?
Also, maybe there is something in the title/description of the link that offers.com has better than you?

Click to expand...

Well, you can tell somewhat from the screenshot. It's between 2k-3k for each of those three keywords.

Nope, Offers.com has a very generic looking title/desc.

Forgot to mention that there are no featured widgets for these keywords. BUT, the brand is in the #1 ad spot with their coupon, then offers.com is in the #2 ad spot with their coupon, and then sometimes the brand's competition is in the 3rd ad spot.

MoneyValue said:

Well, you can tell somewhat from the screenshot. It's between 2k-3k for each of those three keywords.

Nope, Offers.com has a very generic looking title/desc.

Forgot to mention that there are no featured widgets for these keywords. BUT, the brand is in the #1 ad spot with their coupon, then offers.com is in the #2 ad spot with their coupon, and then sometimes the brand's competition is in the 3rd ad spot.

Click to expand...

If not mistaken - screenshot is from the GA, that’s why I ask about the actual search volume.
Sometime description like ‘free shipping’ or ‘$1off’ make huge difference if amount of clicks and sales.

I was in a similar situtation before with one of my pages that wasn't performing as well as I'd have liked even though it was ranked in position 2. After looking at the other search results on page 1, 8 out of the 10 had a star rating in the rich snippet. Whilst I had a review score on the page itself, I didn't actually have a plugin that would show this. Lo and behold, after adding the star rating directly to the search results, the CTR increased dramatically.

This might not be the case for you, but ideally it'll help you out. As an aside, I used WP Review (free plugin) to get this information showing in the serps.

Agreed, star ratings adds a trust factor. And the relevancy of your meta desc to the search term is probably important too.