We tested the influence of small-scale click-through-rate on position of two pages on two new domains in Google. Two freshly registered domains (A & B) were used.
What did our test involve?
1. Search Google for “keyword”
2. Click on domain B in results.
Test Length: 2 Weeks
Participants: 100
Both domains were manually checked on a daily basis for position in Chrome incognito mode by the same user and location.
Here’s what we saw:
Alpha domain was indexed faster and they generally moved up and down in tandem, until day 10 which is where Beta domain took lead (with one sudden drop). The main movements are likely to major forces at play where as more subtle ranking changes could be due to CTR difference. At this point we conclude that small-scale CTR difference makes no significant impact, and the difference in rankings is likely due to a random link or reference appearing elsewhere.
We intend to repeat this experiment with more participants and longer period of time, if anyone else wants to join in or run one in parallel please let us know.
Position Table:
| Alpha | Beta |
| 72 | 300 |
| 64 | 65 |
| 70 | 71 |
| 71 | 73 |
| 171 | 179 |
| 69 | 71 |
| 66 | 71 |
| 64 | 69 |
| 116 | 115 |
| 115 | 76 |
| 121 | 79 |
| 113 | 287 |
| 124 | 79 |
Dan Petrovic, the managing director of DEJAN, is Australia’s best-known name in the field of search engine optimisation. Dan is a web author, innovator and a highly regarded search industry event speaker.
ORCID iD: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6886-3211