Google: If CTR Drove Search Rankings, The Results Would All Be Clickbait

Nov 5, 2021 - 7:41 am 8 by

Google Ctr Rankings

Google is constantly, for years and years, saying it does not use click through rate (CTR) for search ranking purposes. John Mueller of Google was asked this again and he said "if CTR were what drove search rankings, the results would be all click-bait." He said he does not see Google using CTR as a ranking signal, he said "I don't see that happening."

John said on Twitter the other day "If CTR were what drove search rankings, the results would be all click-bait. I don't see that happening."

Here are those tweets:

Yes, Google wants the title links in the search results to be representative of what the content is about but it does not want the titles to be used in a way where people would drive clicks above and beyond so that it influences rankings.

Forum discussion at Twitter.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Search Video Recaps

 
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: December 12, 2025

Dec 12, 2025 - 10:00 am
Search Video Recaps

Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google December 2025 Core Update, Discover Alignment To Rankings, Search Console Features, AI Mode Updates & More

Dec 12, 2025 - 8:01 am
Google Maps

Google Gemini Local Results In Visual Formats

Dec 12, 2025 - 7:51 am
Google Ads

Google On AI Max Inferred Intent vs Raw Text

Dec 12, 2025 - 7:41 am
Google Maps

Google Maps Share Button Drops X For Reddit & Facebook

Dec 12, 2025 - 7:31 am
Google

Google News AI-Powered Article Overviews Go Live For Some Publishers

Dec 12, 2025 - 7:21 am
 
Previous Story: Google Hiring A Spam Fighter For Search