Mobile vs. Desktop click-through rates
A recent study done by seoClarity has shown that there are significant differences when analyzing click-through rates versus page ranking positions between mobile and desktop users. Data for click-through rate (CTR) versus page ranking for desktop users are shown in the following figure:
The results follow from what one can logically expect; the highest ranked page has the highest CTR, and the CTR declines as the page rankings increase. The CTR’s also start to level off at higher rankings. However, these results do not entirely match up with the results of the same data, but for mobile users:
Immediately, one notices that the CTR’s for mobile users begin leveling off sooner than for desktop users. The decline from the first ranked page to the second is also much more drastic. The actual CTR of the first ranked page is significantly higher for mobile users than desktop users (27.7% compared to 19.3%). In addition, the drop-off from the first-ranked page to the second-ranked page is over twice as large for mobile users versus desktop users (18.5% compared to 7.9%). For pages outside of the top 4 or 5 pages, there is no significant difference between mobile and desktop results. This means that the platform used for searching really only affects the CTR of the top few pages. It appears that when mobile searches are taken into account, the top page ranking should be even more valuable relative to the other slots.
In my opinion, these results make sense when one thinks about the experience of searching on a mobile device as compared to a desktop device. On a desktop, there is a larger screen and many links are all on the screen simultaneously. In addition, the user is likely sitting and willing to spend more time reading more links before selecting one. On mobile devices, the screen is smaller, so less results can be seen immediately when a search is done. Also, users on a mobile device are more likely to be attempting to find an answer quickly, just performing a quick search to find some information. It makes sense, then, that sites should consider raising their perceived value of the first ranking relative to other slots to take into account the fact that many searches are now conducted on mobile devices rather than desktops.
Source:
http://www.seoclarity.net/mobile-desktop-ctr-study-11302/