New Study Reveals That the First Organic Result in Google Search Has an Average CTR of 28.5 Percent

A study of billions of search results revealed that over 25% of users click the first organic result in Google Search. According to a recent study, the first organic search result in Google Search has an average CTR (click-through rate) of 28.5%. The study was published by Sistrix which analyzed more than 80 million keywords as well as billions of search results to understand how users engage with Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).

The study revealed that after the first position, the average click-through rate sharply falls. The second organic search result in Google Search has an average click-through rate of 15%, while the third positions have an average click-through rate of 11%. The click-through rate continues to fall after the first position, and the 10th position in Google Search has an average click-through rate of 2.5%.



It is well-known that people rarely venture into the second page of search results in Google Search. However, what is less known are the huge differences in clicks among the first ten organic results in Google Search. The latest study published by Sistrix aims to further the understanding of click-through rate within the first search result page of Google Search.

Here, we will discuss more key findings from the study, and information on what could be the factors that may cause the click-through rate for position 1 to swing between 12.7% and 46.9%.



SEOs need to understand how the click-through rate of Google Search results can be affected. The jobs of many SEOs involve ranking content of a website on the first page of Google Search. Driving traffic to those webpages is more crucial than ranking those pages on the first page of Google Search. What is the benefit of ranking content on the first page of Google if no one clicks on it?

That is where Sistix’s study comes in, as the study reveals that the amount of traffic generated by each position on the first page varies wildly. For instance, a search result in the second position of the first page on Google Search results will generate an average of 3X more clicks as compared to a search result in the sixth position of the first page on Google Search results.

According to this study from Sistrix, a result in the first position generates a click-through rate over ten times higher as compared to a ranking at the tenth position of the first page on Google Search results. You may also note that search results on the 2nd page of Google Search have a click-through rate of less than 1% for each position. The study also discusses some of the factors that can influence the click-through rate of each position on the first page of Google Search results.

The Search Engine Results Page (SERP) layout is the greatest factor that impacts the click-through rate of Google Search results. Although the majority of queries generate the traditional 10 blue links Search Engine Results Page (SERP) layout, specific queries also generate other types of SERP layouts.

A sitelinks extension in results boost click-through rate as a result in the first position with a sitelinks extension will generate a click-through rate of 46.9%. Likely, it is because Google displays sitelinks when a user searches for a particular website. Search Engine Results Pages with featured snippets have a CTR that is 5.3% below average which indicates that there is no benefit to a page showing a featured snippet in results. The study reveals that second and third positions have an above-average CTR if the first result returns a featured snippet.

SERPs with knowledge panels also receive fewer clicks because users get the answers they require in the knowledge panel. If the top of the SERP if full of Google Ads, CTR falls below average for all positions on the first page. Google Ads reduce the CTR by 10%, while Knowledge Panels reduce by 12 percentage points.

These are only a few of the different Search Engine Results Page layouts examined by this study. Overall, the new study proves that keyword search volume is not the only factor that needs to be considered while evaluating potential clicks.

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