{"id":914258,"date":"2026-09-29T16:26:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T16:26:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/914258\/"},"modified":"2026-09-29T16:26:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T16:26:13","slug":"google-desktop-ctr-fell-in-q2-while-mobile-rose-data-shows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/914258\/","title":{"rendered":"Google Desktop CTR Fell In Q2 While Mobile Rose, Data Shows"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Q2, Google\u2019s desktop clickthrough rates at the top organic positions experienced a dip, but mobile rates increased, according to Advanced Web Ranking\u2019s CTR report for Q2 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I covered the Q1 report<\/a> back in June, highlighting how desktop rates were improving while mobile CTR declined at the top.<\/p>\n

In Q2, we see the reverse, in data spanning the end of a Search Console logging error that the report doesn\u2019t mention.\u00a0Google explained<\/a> that this error affected impressions and CTR.<\/p>\n

What Changed From Q1<\/p>\n

The Q2 report shows changes in average international click-through rates by position from April to June compared to January to March.<\/p>\n

Across all searches, desktop CTRs in the top spots one and two saw a combined decline of 5.27 percentage points, while mobile CTRs in those same spots grew by a combined 6.59 points.\u00a0Keep in mind, these figures add together changes from several positions and don\u2019t reflect any single site\u2019s change.<\/p>\n

For single-word queries, desktop CTR at position one dipped by 4.15 points, but mobile increased by 7.42 points.\u00a0All top 20 desktop branded query CTRs dropped between 1.47 and 3.08 points each, yet mobile position one saw a positive rise of 1.40 points.\u00a0For informational, commercial, and location queries, desktop CTRs also saw a decrease, but mobile CTRs performed better.<\/p>\n

Industry results mostly followed the split. Arts & Entertainment was an exception, gaining 2.40 points at desktop position one. Law, Government, & Politics gained at desktop positions two and three and had the largest single-position increase among industries, with mobile position one up 17.31 points. The largest single-position drop was 13.31 points, at desktop position one in Style & Fashion.<\/p>\n

How AI Overview Pages Compared<\/p>\n

The Q2 report looks at how CTR varies with the presence of an AI Overview, focusing on U.S. data only.<\/p>\n

On desktop, the combined CTR for positions one and two was 29.05% on results pages without an AI Overview, while it was 10.04% on pages that included one. The resulting 19.01-point difference was 6.03 points larger than in Q1, according to the report.\u00a0On mobile, position one had a 35.95% CTR without an AI Overview and 8.51% with one.<\/p>\n

The company\u2019s monthly CTR figures<\/a> put U.S. desktop position one at a 1.96% CTR on AI Overview pages in April and 10.23% in June, a spread the quarterly figures don\u2019t show.<\/p>\n

The Comparison Crosses The End Of A Search Console Error<\/p>\n

Google\u2019s Search Console help page<\/a> explains that a logging error caused impressions to be reported inaccurately from May 13, 2025, to April 27, 2026.\u00a0This issue affected the CTR and average position, but it didn\u2019t impact the number of clicks.\u00a0I covered this in April<\/a> when Google announced the problem.<\/p>\n

Additionally, AWR points out that its free CTR tool<\/a> uses data from Search Console, and their Q2 report credits its tables to that tool.\u00a0This suggests that all the data from Q1 was within the error range, while most of the Q2 data came after the fix.\u00a0Since CTR is calculated by dividing clicks by impressions, it depends on the impressions Google says were misreported.\u00a0The report doesn\u2019t specify whether the figures were updated after the error was fixed.<\/p>\n

Why This Matters<\/p>\n

AWR\u2019s reports show that desktop and mobile CTRs split once more, this time in reverse.\u00a0Remember, data from just one quarter isn\u2019t enough to confidently predict CTR by device.<\/p>\n

You might see the same break in your own Search Console comparisons, since Google\u2019s impression error<\/a> persisted until April 27.\u00a0Keep this date in mind as a possible measurement break, rather than a sign of people clicking differently.<\/p>\n

Looking Ahead<\/p>\n

AWR mentions that its Q3 report will determine if the device split seen in Q2 is \u201ca permanent trend or a temporary seasonal spike.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since Q3 covers July to September, it occurs entirely after Google\u2019s correction.\u00a0When analyzing or comparing Q3 and Q2 data, either in the upcoming report or your own review, keep in mind that most of April is still included, and the error continued during that time.<\/p>\n

Featured Image: Golden Dayz\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In Q2, Google\u2019s desktop clickthrough rates at the top organic positions experienced a dip, but mobile rates increased,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":914259,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[49,48,61],"class_list":["post-914258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/914258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=914258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/914258\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/914259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=914258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=914258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=914258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}