What is Click Through Rate?

Click through rate, often referred to as CTR, is an important performance metric in digital marketing measuring the effectiveness of your ad, email, or page. It is calculated by the number of people who click on your link per the number of people that see it.What is click through rate? - BrightEdge

Click through rate is an essential part in determining whether or not your content is successful. It’s helpful to note that a high CTR doesn’t always mean your content is successful, though. If your CTR is high but you’re not seeing purchases from your campaign, it could mean you’re targeting the wrong audience with your ad.

What is a good click through rate?

There isn’t a universally accepted “good CTR” as all industries and content types will differ. For years, PPC marketers have targeted a 2% CTR as a benchmark of a well-performing campaign but the same cannot be said for display advertisers. Study your market and your own performance and strive to hit a CTR that’s above the median.

Google found that when your site ranks high organically, it will also do well for PPC ads when both results appear in the same SERPs, thus a better CTR. Having a strong relationship between SEO and PPC will lead to better CTR and overall performance for your site.

How do I calculate click through rate?

In order to calculate click through rate, take the number of clicks your content received and divide it by impressions. If you received 20 clicks from 100 impressions, your CTR is 20%.

CTR is commonly reported in analytic tools including GSC and Google Analytics. BrightEdge’s Customizable Click Curves allows you to find CTRs for desktop, tablet, and mobile organic search results.

How to increase CTR?

In order to increase CTR, make your content as relevant and unique as possible. Use relevant keywords and copy, target the appropriate audience, and customize content. For example, leveraging countdowns in an ad can help increase the sense of urgency users feel when they view your ad. This urgency leads to more clicks and a higher CTR because the user thinks they’re running out of time before the ad expires.

You can also increase CTR by working on your messaging. Have a strong title and enticing ad copy. Using a title that grabs a user’s attention is important to getting them to the next step of clicking on your ad.