Do users who move the mouse and click on a button more likely to convert into a transaction or an ad click? How often do these button clickers – as opposed to those that navigate with just the keyboard, convert into various transactions? This is the question that this study delves into.

Before we proceed, let us look at the methodology here:

Study Methodology

This study was done using data from the Chitika network. Chitika analyzed millions of impressions from its ad network looking into the referring google searches.

By analyzing the referring domain and the pattern of queries, this study and insights were extracted. Read more about the methodology here.

Key Findings

People who search by clicking the button on Google’s homepage are fifty percent more likely to go on to click an ad than people who search by any other Google means, according to this online study by Chitika Insights.

“People who search by clicking the button on Google’s homepage are 50% more likely to go on to click an ad than people who search by any other Google means” – Chitika Insights

The study, which looked at just over 11 million impressions, shines a light on the possibility and importance of being able to predict web users’ activity.

When comparing the different types of traffic that come through their advertising network, the researchers at Chitika compared the different types of Google traffic:

  1. people who click on the “Google Search” button
  2. people who search by hitting the enter key
  3. people who search from browser toolbars, etc.

The overall clickthrough rate for the entire Google-searching sample was 0.95%

However, in a key finding, people who searched by clicking on the search button at Google.com clicked ads at a 1.56% rate – so almost 50% higher.

Raw Data

The table below shows the numbers of impressions for each group along with the associated CTR – which is a good indication of post-search transaction activity.

Type Impressions Clicks CTR
All Google Searches 10,307,849 97,440 0.95%
Google Button Clicks 767,209 11,934 1.56%

But the question becomes, why such a high disparity?  Why are people who type in their query and hit “Enter” so much less likely to click on an ad than someone who performs a search differently through the same website?

“Sophistication is my guess,” says Rand Fishkin, SEO guru and CEO of SEOMoz.org.  “Hitting enter means you’re not moving your hands away from the keyboard and likely indicates a more tech-savvy (and hence, click-sensitive) individual.”

“Sophistication is my guess, Hitting enter means you’re not moving your hands away from the keyboard and likely indicates a more tech-savvy (and hence, click-sensitive) individual.” – Rand Fishkin, SEO guru and CEO of SEOMoz.org

So it appears that advertising click rates are inversely proportional to the “tech-savviness” of the people receiving the ads.

By defining a user’s tech-savviness, it’s possible that ad networks going forward will be able to target better and better, driving revenue for websites while showing less ads.

This insight also indicates the importance of optimizing your CTA buttons. The most valuable users are the ones who are clicking on these buttons – as opposed to clicking “Enter” on your forms.

And in case you are curious, our new company, Poll the People, will be doing lot more studies like this. And you can A/B test your own CTA buttons on real people in less than 60 mins – with our new service. Free Signup included.


Sign up for free to test on Poll the People and help us create checkout pages that are easy to use and fast. With your help, we can make sure that everyone has a great experience when shopping online.