What's a good clickthrough rate?

Marketers should always be concerned with clickthrough rates, ensuring that their target audience is not only able to find and see their SEO and PPC efforts, but also that CTR is performing optimally. There are a lot of metrics to keep track of such as cost-per-click (CPC) and average conversion rate (CVR), but CTR is something you should always have your eye on.

Understanding the Difference Between Search and Display Ads

Before getting into CTR, you should know exactly what types of ads you want to monitor. Search ads are ads that appear in Google search results when people perform a search for a particular product or service, while display ads appear on websites that users browse with attention-grabbing images.

Clickthrough rate will reveal how often people actually click on your search and display ads, and this metric will determine how you can adjust your campaign depending on the ad type. The average CTR for a search ad is 1.91% and 0.35% for a display ad, so don't expect to automatically experience a high CTR with a wide audience. It can take a lot of effort to find the right imagery or implement the right wording that can make your ads excel.

How to Determine a Good CTR

Most industries have an average CTR of less than one percent, meaning that you shouldn't feel that your efforts are fruitless if you don't see a high CTR. Most people who come across ads, even if relevant to them, may not be currently interested in venturing away from the website they're on, or they may be simply searching for information about something rather than seeking to make a purchase. However, the few who do click through are more likely to be high-quality leads who are likely to become buyers.

If you find that valuable leads are behind your clickthrough rate, helping improve ROI in your PPC campaigns, you may not need to adjust anything you're currently doing.