CTR: definition, formula and benchmark click-through rates

Definition

CTR, click-through rate, measures the share of displays that lead to a click. It is the most direct indicator of how appealing an ad or a search result is.

Formula

CTR = clicks divided by impressions, multiplied by a hundred.

Worked example

An ad is displayed 40,000 times and gets 1,400 clicks: CTR is 3.5%. If average CPC is €1.20, the campaign spent €1,680. Doubling CTR without changing CPC would double traffic on the same budget only if budget is not already the limiting factor.

Orders of magnitude

On the Google Search Network, CTRs of 3% to 8% are common on intent-driven queries, higher on brand queries. On Display and on Meta, you often drop below 1%. In SEO, CTR depends mostly on position: first place captures a share of clicks nothing like third. These landmarks shift with the sector and with changes to the results pages.

The most common mistakes

• Comparing CTR across networks. Search, Display and social do not command the same attention: a 0.8% CTR can be good on one and poor on another.
• Reading CTR without position. In SEO as in paid search, a falling CTR while visibility widens is normal: new, less qualified queries are coming in.
• On Meta, confusing the two CTRs. All-clicks CTR includes reactions and text expansions, inflating the figure without any extra traffic.

Where to find the metric

In Google Ads, the CTR column, available at every level. In Meta, two columns: CTR (link) and CTR (all). In LinkedIn Ads, the CTR column. In Search Console, the Performance report, CTR column, calculated on organic impressions.