Four months after launch, with $0 spent on ads or backlinks, AIToolsRecap had 4.95M Google impressions but only 4,540 clicks. July alone brought 71% of all clicks, as comparison pages took over from explainer pages that Google answers in the results. One explainer: 398,000 impressions and a click rate that rounds to zero. One comparison page: 6%.
01The problem
Huge Google impressions that weren't turning into visits.
02The experiment
Pat launched AIToolsRecap, an AI tools site, in March 2026 and published hundreds of pages without paying for ads or backlinks.
Google's July summary: 1.26M impressions and 3,230 clicks (0.26% click rate), against 4.95M impressions and 4,540 clicks since launch (0.09%). Average position stayed around 7 the whole time; what changed was which pages got the impressions.
Explainer pages answering questions Google shows directly in the results faded; comparison pages took their share. One explainer at position 5.7 had 398,000 impressions and almost no clicks. One comparison page at position 4.7 got a 6% click rate — about 150× more, one position apart.
03Results
| Metric | Result |
|---|---|
| Comparison page click rateat position 4.7 | 6% |
| Explainer page impressionsat position 5.7; click rate “rounds to zero” | 398,000 |
| Google clicks since launch4.95M impressions; 0.09% click rate | 4,540 |
| Google clicks in July1.26M impressions; 0.26% click rate — 71% of all clicks | 3,230 |
| Customers | Not disclosed |
| Spend | $0 |
“Not disclosed” means the source doesn't say. We never estimate or fill in missing numbers.
04What worked — and what didn't
What worked
- Comparison pages: a 6% click rate at position 4.7.
- New pages kept getting indexed: 383 got their first impressions in July.
What didn't work
- Explainer pages for questions Google answers in the results: 398,000 impressions, almost no clicks.
05Lessons
Pick queries where the searcher still has to decide (X vs Y), not questions Google answers on the results page. Impressions alone are a vanity number.
“One position apart, about 150× the click rate.”
06Source & evidence
- View original
Originally shared on Indie Hackers · Aug 4, 2026
71% of every click I've ever gotten happened in July
Public source. Extracted from publicly available content by the founder.
Want to try this?
Copy this experiment
A checklist built from what Pat actually did. Their numbers are a reference, not a promise.
- 1
Pick the channel and tactic
SEO — Comparison (X vs Y) pages over explainer pages.
- 2
Set a budget cap
Pat spent $0. Decide your own cap before you start.
- 3
Set an end date
Pat ran it for 4 months. Put your review date in the calendar now.
- 4
Copy what worked
From Pat's experience:
- ☐Comparison pages: a 6% click rate at position 4.7.
- ☐New pages kept getting indexed: 383 got their first impressions in July.
- 5
Avoid what didn't
Where it went wrong:
- ☐Explainer pages for questions Google answers in the results: 398,000 impressions, almost no clicks.
- 6
Track the same numbers
So you can compare like for like:
- ☐Comparison page click rate
- ☐Explainer page impressions
- ☐Google clicks since launch
- ☐Google clicks in July
- ☐Customers
- 7
Compare, then share what happened
Pat's headline result: 6% comparison page click rate. Yours will differ — that's the point. Win or flop, the result is worth sharing.
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