First let's look at how Google's algorithm organically ranks your webpage for any given keyword. Paying particular attention to the click through rate of your organic listings AFTER you start running Google ads.

For a page targeting a particular keyword, think of Google's system as evaluating several layers:

1. Relevance to the search query

Google first tries to determine whether the page actually answers the searcher's intent.

For example, if your page is targeting:

“T-Shirt delivery Toronto”

Google looks at things such as:

• Page title
• Main heading/H1
• Body content
• Related terminology and entities
• Product/service information
• Internal links and anchor text
• Image context and alt text
• Structured data where applicable
• Overall topical relevance
• Whether the page satisfies the intent behind the query

Importantly, Google isn't simply counting how many times the exact phrase appears.

A page that naturally covers Toronto T-Shirt delivery, same-day delivery, T-Shirt, delivery areas, pricing, ordering, local T-Shirt, etc. can be more relevant than a page that repeats "T-Shirt delivery Toronto" 30 times.

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2. Content quality and usefulness

Google wants to determine whether the page is genuinely useful.

Signals can include:

• Originality
• Depth
• Accuracy
• First-hand information
• Clear answers
• Helpful organization
• Whether the page provides something substantially useful compared with competing pages
• Whether the content appears primarily created for people rather than search engines

This is where a page can sometimes outrank a technically better-optimized competitor because the content actually satisfies the searcher better.

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3. Authority and reputation

Google also evaluates how trustworthy and authoritative the site/page appears.

This can involve:

• Links from other websites
• Quality and relevance of those links
• Your site's reputation within its subject area
• Brand/entity recognition
• References and mentions around the web
• The overall authority of the domain

For a local business, this can also intersect with Google's local systems and signals such as:

• Business information
• Reviews
• Local relevance
• Prominence
• Location

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4. Page experience and technical factors

These generally aren't the reason a mediocre page suddenly becomes #1, but they can matter.

Google can consider things such as:

• Mobile usability
• Page speed
• Core Web Vitals
• HTTPS/security
• Intrusive interstitials
• Crawlability
• Indexability
• Canonicalization
• JavaScript rendering
• Duplicate content
• Site architecture

A technically excellent website doesn't automatically outrank a competitor with better content.

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Now, the interesting part: CLICKS

This is where SEO discussions often get misleading.

Suppose Google shows:

Your page: position #4
Competitor: position #3

For 10,000 searches:

Your page is getting dramatically more clicks despite ranking lower.

Does Google simply say:

"Wow, more clicks. Move them to #3."

Not necessarily.

Google has said that clicks and similar user interactions can be used in some systems, particularly for evaluating search results, experiments and ranking-related signals, but there isn't a universal ranking formula where your organic CTR directly increases your position.

However, clicks can still matter indirectly.

Imagine your listing consistently gets significantly more engagement than competing results.

That can indicate that your result is particularly attractive or relevant to users.

But Google has to account for position bias.

Someone searching for something will naturally click #1 more often than #8 simply because they see #1 first.

So Google can't reasonably conclude:

"#1 gets more clicks than #8, therefore #1 is better."

That would create a feedback loop where ranking #1 generates clicks, clicks cause #1 to remain #1, and lower-ranked pages never get an opportunity.

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CTR is nevertheless VERY important to SEO

Here's where I'd separate Google's ranking algorithm from your SEO performance.

A high CTR can be incredibly valuable even if Google isn't using your raw CTR as a direct ranking signal.

Imagine:

10,000 impressions

Page A:

5% CTR × 10,000 = 500 visitors

Page B:

12% CTR × 10,000 = 1,200 visitors

Page B gets 700 additional visitors without gaining a single ranking position.

Those additional visitors can produce:

• Sales
• Leads
• Brand searches
• Bookmarks
• Links
• Reviews
• Social mentions
• Returning visitors
• More searches for the brand
• More conversions

Those things can have much greater SEO value than simply increasing CTR.

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And rankings can fall even when your page hasn't changed

This is one of the most important things to understand.

Your page could remain exactly the same while going:

#2 → #5 → #8

because the competitive landscape changed.

For example:

Month 1

Your page:

#3

Competitor A:

#1

Competitor B:

#2

Month 3

Competitor B improves its content.

Competitor C earns 50 excellent backlinks.

Competitor A publishes a much better page.

Google reassesses the results.

Now:

#1 Competitor C
#2 Competitor A
#3 Competitor B
#6 You

You didn't necessarily do anything wrong.

The relative quality/relevance/authority of the competing pages changed.

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There is also search-intent matching

This is increasingly important.

Suppose someone searches:

“best T-Shirt Toronto”

Google may determine that most people want recommendations/comparisons.

But your page is:

"Order T-Shirt online — $59"

Even if you have excellent SEO, Google may prefer an article such as:

"10 Best T-Shirt in Toronto"

because it better matches the intent behind the search.

This is why simply optimizing a page around a keyword isn't enough anymore.

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Google also personalizes and contextualizes results

Two people can search the exact same keyword and receive somewhat different results.

Factors can include:

• Location
• Language
• Device
• Search context
• Freshness requirements
• Previous search context
• The type of search being performed

For a local query such as:

“T-Shirt delivery near me”

location can be enormously important.

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A simplified ranking model

You can think of Google's process approximately like this:

Query

What does the searcher actually want?

Which pages are relevant?

Which pages appear useful/trustworthy/authoritative?

Which page best satisfies the intent?

How should the results be ordered?

How do users interact with those results?

Google continually evaluates and improves its systems

The critical point is that there isn't one "Google ranking score."

Google has many ranking systems and signals that work together.

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What happens when your ranking gets clicks?

Here's the scenario I'd pay attention to if you're doing SEO for Shopify sites.

Suppose you have:

Keyword: "same day T-Shirt delivery Toronto"

Your page reaches:

Position #7

You improve the title from:

T-Shirt Delivery Toronto

to:

Same-Day T-Shirt Delivery Toronto | Local T-Shirts Delivered

Your impressions remain roughly the same.

But:

CTR increases from 2.5% → 6%

Now you're getting substantially more organic traffic.

If the page also satisfies those visitors, you can potentially see further positive effects over time through Google's broader evaluation of the page/site.

But I would not describe it as:

"Google saw my CTR increase and therefore moved me from #7 to #4."

That's too simplistic and isn't supported by Google's public description of its systems.

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Where I think SEO gets particularly interesting in 2026

There are really three separate things to optimize:

1. Ranking

Get the page into Google's visible results.

Content + relevance + authority + technical SEO

2. Getting the click

Once you're visible:

Title + description + SERP appearance + brand recognition + intent matching

3. Getting the conversion

Once they arrive:

Landing page + product/service + trust + pricing + UX + checkout

And this creates an important SEO metric that many businesses overlook:

Revenue per organic impression

For an ecommerce site, I'd much rather have:

10,000 impressions → 800 clicks → $12,000 sales

than:

50,000 impressions → 1,000 clicks → $1,000 sales

even though the second site appears to have "better SEO."

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One particularly useful SEO strategy

If you're looking at a Shopify site in Google Search Console, I'd identify pages where:

Average position = 4–15
Impressions = high
CTR = relatively low

Those are often SEO opportunities hiding in plain sight.

You don't necessarily need to create a new page.

You may be able to improve:

SERP title → CTR → traffic → conversions

while simultaneously improving the page's content and intent match.

And pages sitting around positions 4–10 are particularly interesting because relatively small improvements in relevance, authority, content quality and SERP attractiveness can sometimes produce substantial traffic changes.

Matthew's Final Thoughts

Knowing how Google ranks pages organically with heavy weight on CTR, and the data it collects from that action, Google Ads will cannibalize your organic search traffic!

Particularly when you are already ranking well for the same keywords and Brand keywords (on the first page). When a paid ad appears above your organic listing, some users who would have clicked the natural result may click the ad instead. The result is that you can end up paying Google for clicks you may previously have received for free. Google’s own research confirms that paid and organic search can overlap significantly, although Google also states that spending on Ads does not directly lower your organic ranking.

I say ads cannibalize your organic search by dropping the organic listings' CTR, in turn dropping your organic rankings, not immediately, but over time; 1-2 months. Why would google tell you this if you are paying them? Best to have a professional remove all keywords from your ads you rank on the first page for, including your Brand variances before starting any google ad campaigns. Once those 1st page natural rankings drop a lot, because of lack of engagement, they ain't comin' back.