Estimate click-through rates by SERP position using industry benchmarks. Calculate expected traffic from rankings and search volume.
Enter a keyword's SERP position and its search volume, and the tool applies an industry-benchmark CTR curve to estimate how many clicks that ranking should generate per month. The curve, drawn from studies aggregating millions of impressions, assigns each position a share of clicks: roughly 28.5% at position 1, sliding to about 3.7% at position 10. The expectation most users get wrong is precision: the curve describes averages, not your keyword. Navigational brand queries, SERPs carrying featured snippets or ads above the fold, and strong brand recognition all push real click-through far away from the benchmark.
A concrete input and expected output from the current implementation.
Input
keyword: composting for beginners search volume: 10,000 position: 3
Expected output
Estimated CTR at position 3: 11.0%. Expected clicks: ~1,100 per month. For comparison, the same keyword at position 1: ~2,850 per month (28.5%).
The tool multiplies monthly volume by the benchmark CTR for the entered position: 10,000 x 0.110 = 1,100, and 10,000 x 0.285 = 2,850. Both figures follow directly from the same curve, which is why the contrast between them is the most useful part of the output.
Expected clicks equal monthly search volume multiplied by the benchmark CTR for the position entered. The default curve follows a widely cited Google CTR study: 28.5% at position 1, 15.7% at 2, 11.0% at 3, 8.6% at 4, 7.2% at 5, 6.1% at 6, 5.4% at 7, 4.6% at 8, 4.1% at 9, and 3.7% at 10. You supply volume and position; the tool applies the matching rate and returns expected monthly clicks.
The curve falls fastest between positions 1 and 3: moving from position 2 to position 1 roughly doubles expected clicks (15.7% to 28.5%), while climbing from 9 to 8 adds only a few tenths of a percent. That shape lets you price ranking improvements - a one-position gain near the top is worth many times the same gain near the bottom of page one.
No. It is an aggregate from a large study spanning many queries and sites. Your keyword's real CTR can sit far below or above it, driven by intent, competing features on the SERP, and brand trust. Use the estimate as a baseline, then compare it with your own Search Console click data, which is the only figure that describes your pages.
Per this benchmark, yes: position 4 pays 8.6% and position 2 pays 15.7%, so expected clicks rise about 83%. Real results vary with the factors above, but the direction and rough size of the effect - large gains from top-three moves, small gains below - is the most dependable part of the model.
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