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Sistrix CTR study: how SERP layout changes position-1 clicks

Sistrix analyzed 80 million keywords and found position 1 averages 28.5% CTR, ranging from 13.7% to 46.9% depending on the SERP layout.

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Written byAdam HafezUpdated
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Key takeaways

  • Sistrix's study of more than 80 million keywords reports an average click-through rate of 28.5% at position 1, 15.7% at position 2 and 11% at position 3.
  • Position 10 averages only 2.5% click-through rate in the Sistrix data, so position 1 earns more than ten times as many clicks.
  • Position 1 click-through rate ranges from 46.9% with sitelinks to 13.7% when Google Shopping results appear on the page.
  • Sistrix concludes that SERP layout determines how many potential clicks an organic result can get for a keyword.
  • A single average CTR curve is a poor forecasting input, because the same position earns very different click shares under different layouts.

Most CTR-by-position charts show one smooth curve. The Sistrix study, written by Johannes Beus and first published on 14 July 2020, is worth reading because it shows how much that curve moves once you account for what else is on the results page. Surfil did not run it.

What did Sistrix measure?

Sistrix analyzed more than 80 million keywords and billions of search results, joining cleansed Search Console data with information about each page’s layout. Its average curve is steep: 28.5% at position 1, 15.7% at position 2, 11% at position 3 and 2.5% at position 10. Position 1 earns more than ten times the clicks of position 10, and the largest single step is from position 2 to position 1, worth 12.8 percentage points.

Sistrix argues that earlier CTR studies were mostly built on desktop behavior, while mobile searches now outnumber desktop in almost every country, so this study uses mobile data. To keep the comparisons clean, it restricted itself to single-feature results, where one SERP feature appears alongside the organic listings, and left combinations out of the article.

Why position 1 CTR varies

Because the layout around the result differs. Sistrix’s position 1 figures run from 46.9% with sitelinks and 34.2% for pure organic results down to 23.3% with a featured snippet, 18.8% when ads are present and 13.7% when Google Shopping appears. Sistrix’s own summary is that layout decides how many potential clicks an organic result can get. In general, it finds, the more elements and integrations a results page carries, the lower the organic click rates.

What happens below position 1?

The layout effect runs down the page, and it does not always hurt. When a featured snippet appears, position 1 loses clicks while the next results gain: position 2 rises from the 15.7% average to 20.5%, and position 3 from 11% to 13.3%. Sitelinks do the opposite. They mark searches for one specific website, so position 1 takes almost every second click and position 3 falls to 5.6%, less than half its average. Sistrix notes that on these searches the user is only ready to click the site they are looking for.

How reliable is this study today?

It is a 2020 study, with a page modification in July 2025, and it covers mobile data. The layout effect is the durable lesson; the exact percentages are not a current benchmark. Layouts have changed since, most visibly with AI Overviews; see the study of AI Overviews and click-through rate for newer evidence. For newer trackers and how their numbers differ, see the report on organic CTR by position.

How should you use it?

Sistrix’s conclusion is that search volume, as the sole measure of potential clicks, “has had its day”: only search volume combined with SERP layout gives a realistic estimate of visitors. Before forecasting traffic for a keyword, look at the live results page and note which features appear.

Then check your own numbers rather than a published curve. Search Console’s Performance report defines CTR as the click count divided by the impression count, and average position as the average position of the topmost result from your site. Grouping by query and filtering by device and search appearance shows where your own click rate departs from the averages above, and which layouts are likely behind it.

The evidence

Sample
80+ million keywords, billions of results, mobile

Hypothesis: Sistrix set out to better understand click rates in Google Search, and the study tests whether a single average click-through rate per position describes real behavior, or whether the layout of the results page changes how many clicks an organic result receives at the same position.

Method: Sistrix combined cleansed Search Console data with information on SERP layouts across more than 80 million keywords and billions of search results. The study covers mobile device data on the first results page. Sistrix says the Search Console data needed intensive cleanup before it was usable, and it compared click rates for pure organic results against results where a SERP feature such as sitelinks, a featured snippet, a knowledge panel, Google Shopping or ads was present. Surfil did not run this study; this piece summarizes the method as Sistrix published it.

Findings

  • Across all results, Sistrix reports an average click rate of 28.5% at position 1, 15.7% at position 2, 11% at position 3 and 2.5% at position 10.
  • Position 1 CTR depends on the layout: pure organic results 34.2%, sitelinks 46.9%, featured snippets 23.3%, knowledge panels 16.7%, Google Ads present 18.8%, Google apps 16.3% and Google Shopping 13.7%.
  • Sistrix's stated conclusion is that SERP layout determines how many potential clicks an organic result can get for that keyword.

Limitations: The study was first published on July 14, 2020, and Sistrix marks the page as modified in July 2025, so the absolute numbers predate AI Overviews and other current SERP changes. The page covers mobile data only, Sistrix itself notes the Search Console data required intensive cleanup, and the underlying keyword data is not published, so the figures cannot be independently reproduced. Treat the layout gaps as a directional finding, not a current benchmark.

Sources

  1. 1.Why (almost) everything you knew about Google CTR is no longer valid - SISTRIX, July 14, 2020Primary
  2. 2.Performance report (Search results) - Search Console HelpPrimary

About the author

Adam Hafez
Adam Hafez

Founder, UpgradIQ FZC LLC

Adam Hafez works on technical SEO and search measurement: how pages get crawled, indexed, ranked and now quoted by answer engines. He founded UpgradIQ, which reads Google Search Console and GA4 to tie ranking movement back to the changes that caused it. He publishes what the data supports and states the limits of it.

  • Technical SEO
  • Search Console and GA4
  • Answer engine optimization
  • Structured data

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