You've spent months obsessing over keywords. You've tweaked your meta descriptions until you're cross-eyed. But then you look at your Search Console data and realize the numbers don't make any sense. One day you're drowning in traffic, the next you're staring at a flatline that looks like a ghost town. Honestly, figuring out how many clicks does a website get is less about a single magic number and more about understanding the chaotic tug-of-war between "Intent" and "Interest."
Google Search is a librarian. Google Discover is a newsstand.
When someone asks how many clicks they should expect, they usually want a tidy percentage. They want to hear that ranking #1 on page one guarantees a 39.8% click-through rate (CTR). But that's a bit of a lie, or at least a very thin slice of the truth. If you’re ranking for "buy red sneakers," your CTR is going to look wildly different than if you're appearing in someone's Discover feed because they happens to like footwear.
The reality is messy.
The Search Reality: Why Ranking #1 Isn't What It Used To Be
Let's talk about the traditional blue links. Back in the day, if you hit the top spot, you were the king of the mountain. Now? You're lucky if the user even sees your link before scrolling past three ads, a "People Also Ask" box, a local map pack, and maybe a featured snippet that answers their question so well they don't even need to click.
📖 Related: Convert to US Dollars from Canadian: How to Avoid Getting Burned by Hidden Fees
Zero-click searches are the silent killer of SEO. According to data from SparkToro and Similarweb, over 25% of desktop searches and a staggering 17% of mobile searches end without a single click to a non-Google property. People get their answer and leave. So, how many clicks does a website get in this environment?
If you are in that coveted #1 spot, a study by Backlinko found the average CTR is roughly 27.6%. But that number plummets faster than a lead balloon. By the time you hit position #10, you’re looking at a measly 2.4%. It's basically crumbs.
- Position 1: ~28%
- Position 2: ~15%
- Position 3: ~11%
But wait. If there's a "Featured Snippet" (that box at the top), it steals the show. If you own the snippet, you might get a massive boost, but if someone else owns it, your #1 organic link might actually see fewer clicks than the #2 spot usually would. It's weird. It's frustrating. And it depends entirely on the "search intent." A "how-to" query might have a high CTR if the person needs a long guide, while a "what is the capital of France" query will get almost zero clicks because Google just tells them "Paris" in big bold letters.
Google Discover: The Wild Card of Traffic
Discover is a whole different beast. It’s not about what people are searching for; it’s about what Google thinks they want to see. This is the "push" vs "pull" dynamic. Because Discover relies on a user's personal interests, the volume can be astronomical—literally millions of impressions in a few hours—but the stay-time is often lower.
A site appearing in Discover can see a CTR ranging from 5% to 10% on average, which sounds lower than search, but the impression volume is what changes the game. While a niche search term might get 1,000 searches a month, a Discover hit can put your article in front of 500,000 people in a single afternoon.
The click behavior here is impulsive.
People click on Discover because of a provocative headline or a stunning image. It’s "boredom" traffic. If your article about "The Best Coffee Grinders" hits Discover, you might get 20,000 clicks in 24 hours. Then, 48 hours later, it drops to zero. It’s a spike, not a plateau. This makes answering how many clicks does a website get incredibly difficult for businesses trying to forecast revenue. You can't bank on Discover. It's a bonus, not a strategy.
The Intersection: When You Rank and Discover Simultaneously
This is the holy grail. When an article is technically sound for Search and emotionally resonant for Discover, the synergy is massive.
Imagine you write a piece on "Small Business Tax Loopholes for 2026."
- Search Clicks: You rank #3 for "business tax loopholes." You get a steady stream of 50 clicks a day from people actively looking for help. This is high-intent, high-value traffic.
- Discover Clicks: Google’s AI notices that people interested in "entrepreneurship" are engaging with the post. It pushes it to the Discover feeds of 100,000 small business owners. You get 8,000 clicks in one day.
In this scenario, the "total clicks" is a combination of a reliable baseline and a volatile explosion. Most high-performing websites see about 70% of their total traffic from Search and 30% from Discover/Social, though news sites often see that ratio flipped entirely.
Why Your CTR Might Be Lower Than Average
If you're looking at your stats and wondering why you aren't hitting that 28% mark for your top keywords, check for these "click-thieves":
- Weak Title Tags: If your title sounds like a robot wrote it, humans won't click. Even if you're #1.
- The Sitelink Effect: Sometimes Google gives you a massive listing with 4-6 sub-links. This is great, but it can actually spread your clicks out across multiple pages.
- Irrelevant Content: If you rank for a term but the snippet Google shows doesn't actually promise the answer, people will skip you.
- Mobile vs Desktop: CTR on mobile is generally lower because the screen is crowded with more "Google-owned" features.
Practical Ways to Actually Get More Clicks
Stop worrying about the "average" and start optimizing for the "actual."
First, look at your Search Console. Sort your queries by "Impressions" but low "CTR." These are pages where people are seeing you but choosing someone else. Usually, the fix is as simple as making the headline more "human." Use words that trigger emotion or curiosity without veering into clickbait territory.
Second, pay attention to your images. For Discover, the image is 80% of the battle. Google recommends large, high-quality images that are at least 1,200 pixels wide. If you use a boring stock photo of two people shaking hands, your Discover clicks will be non-existent. Use something vivid, something that tells a story.
Third, speed matters. If a user clicks from Discover and the page takes 5 seconds to load, they are gone. Google tracks this "bounce" or "dwell time." If people click but immediately leave, Google learns that your page isn't worth showing, and they will stop giving you those impressions.
The Long Game of Clicks
At the end of the day, how many clicks does a website get depends on your ability to provide the "Best Answer" (for Search) and the "Most Interesting Story" (for Discover).
Search clicks build your business's foundation. They bring in the people who are ready to buy or learn. Discover clicks build your brand's reach. They bring in the people who didn't know they needed you yet. You need both to survive in 2026.
🔗 Read more: 200 Euro to Dollars: How to Avoid Getting Ripped Off on Your Next Exchange
The most successful sites don't just chase rankings; they chase "click-worthiness." They make sure that when a human eye lands on their result—whether in a list of ten links or a personalized feed—that human feels compelled to tap.
Actionable Next Steps to Increase Your Click Volume
- Identify your top 10 pages by impressions in Google Search Console that have a CTR below 3%.
- Rewrite the Meta Titles for these pages to be more descriptive and less "keyword-stuffed." Try using a "hook" or a specific benefit.
- Update the featured image for your top-performing blog posts to a high-resolution, 1200px wide original graphic to increase the chances of a Google Discover "re-entry."
- Check your Core Web Vitals to ensure that once a user clicks, the page loads fast enough to actually count as a "successful visit" rather than a bounce.
- Monitor the "People Also Ask" sections for your primary keywords and ensure your content explicitly answers those sub-questions in short, punchy sentences that Google can easily "snippetize."