CTR (Click-Through Rate)
CTR is the percentage of people who see your ad (or email, or organic listing) and click it. It's a leading indicator of relevance — high CTR means you're matching audience intent.
What it is
Click-Through Rate is clicks divided by impressions, expressed as a percentage. It applies to ads, organic search results, email send links, social posts, and basically anywhere a measurable click can happen.
How to calculate
CTR = (Clicks / Impressions) × 100%.
Example: 50 clicks / 2,000 impressions × 100 = 2.5% CTR.
Why it matters
For ads, CTR is the strongest input to Quality Score and ad relevance — high CTR drives lower CPC. For email, CTR isolates message effectiveness (vs deliverability and open rate). For organic search, CTR by position tells you how compelling your title + meta description are relative to competitors.
Frequently asked questions
What's a good CTR?
Highly channel-dependent. Search ads: 4–8% on brand, 1–3% on non-brand. Display: 0.1–0.5%. Meta: 0.8–1.8%. Email: 1–3% click-to-open (CTOR), much higher post-segmentation.
Can CTR be too high?
If from click-bait creative that doesn't convert, yes — you'll burn budget on unqualified traffic. CTR should always be paired with conversion rate.
How is CTR different in organic search?
Organic CTR is highly position-dependent. Position 1 averages 25–35%; position 10 drops below 2%. Schema-enabled rich results lift CTR 20–40% at the same position.
