Short answer
Ranking position and click-through rate are related but separate — a page can rank near the top and still get skipped if the title/description don't stand out, a featured snippet or ad sits above it, or the query itself has low click intent (informational searches Google answers directly on the results page).
An overall CTR figure can hide huge variation between individual queries — one term might convert clicks well while another, ranking just as high, gets almost none. Once you connect Google Search Console in Illumae, its Search Console insights view shows clicks, impressions, CTR, and position broken down by individual query and page, which is the level of detail needed to actually diagnose this.
A featured snippet, a "People also ask" box, ads, or a knowledge panel sitting above your organic listing can all absorb clicks that would otherwise go to your result, even from the #1 organic position. Searching the term yourself and looking at what's actually on the page above your listing is a fast way to see whether this applies.
Some informational searches are fully answered by Google directly on the results page (a definition, a quick fact, a unit conversion), meaning even a top-ranking page for that term can expect a naturally lower CTR regardless of how good the snippet is — the searcher's question was already answered before they'd click anything.
A generic, vague, or overly similar-to-everyone-else's title and description gives a searcher no specific reason to click your result over the others on the page. Writing a title and description that clearly promises something specific and relevant to the query, without keyword-stuffing, tends to outperform a technically "optimised" but generic one.
Expected CTR naturally declines sharply as position drops (position 1 gets far more clicks than position 5, even for an identical snippet), so a seemingly low CTR might actually be normal or even above-average for that specific position. Comparing your CTR at a given position against typical benchmarks for that position gives a fairer read than judging the number alone.
From your own Google Search Console account, once you connect it in Integrations. Illumae doesn't independently measure clicks or impressions — it surfaces the real data Google Search Console already collects, broken down by query and page.
Not always — some queries are inherently low-click by nature (fully answered on the results page itself) regardless of title quality. It's most worth investigating for high-impression queries where the CTR looks clearly below what similar-position queries are getting.
Often yes, particularly when the current one is generic or vague — but remember Google sometimes rewrites titles/descriptions itself regardless of what you set, which is worth checking isn't the reason a change didn't move the number.
Position is generally the single biggest factor in expected CTR, but the snippet still meaningfully affects performance relative to what's typical for that position — two pages ranking #3 for similar queries can have quite different CTRs based on how compelling their titles and descriptions are.
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