What is click-through rate (CTR)?
Click-through rate (CTR) is the percentage of impressions that resulted in a click. It measures how compelling your ad, subject line, or search result is to the audience that saw it.
CTR = (Clicks ÷ Impressions) × 100
1,500 clicks from 100,000 impressions → CTR = (1,500 ÷ 100,000) × 100 = 1.5%.
How to calculate CTR (step by step)
- Pull clicks and impressions from the same ad entity, date range, and platform (don't mix campaigns).
- Divide clicks by impressions to get a decimal.
- Multiply by 100 for a percentage — or enter both numbers above.
Worked example: Google Search vs Meta Feed
| Channel | Clicks | Impressions | CTR | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google Search brand | 420 | 7,000 | 6.0% | High intent, exact match |
| Meta prospecting | 1,800 | 180,000 | 1.0% | Cold audience, feed placement |
Same brand, wildly different CTR — never benchmark Search against Social. Compare each channel to its own history.
How CTR connects to CPC (same spend, more clicks)
If you pay $20 CPM ($20 per 1,000 impressions):
- At 1.0% CTR → 10 clicks per 1,000 impressions → CPC ≈ $2.00
- At 2.0% CTR → 20 clicks → CPC ≈ $1.00
Doubling CTR halves CPC at the same CPM — without changing bid strategy. That is why creative testing is the first response when CPL or CAC rises.
Use the CPM & CPC calculator to reconcile spend, impressions, clicks, CTR, and CPC in one view.
CTR vs. conversion rate
CTR happens at the ad or link — did they click? Conversion rate happens on your site — did they buy or sign up? A high CTR with a low conversion rate often means a message mismatch: the ad promises something the landing page doesn't deliver. Fix CTR with creative and targeting; fix conversion rate with the page and offer.
Healthy funnel check: rising CTR + flat ROAS often means clicks got cheaper but purchases did not — inspect landing page next.
CTR by channel (how to read benchmarks)
| Channel | Typical CTR range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Google Search (non-brand) | 2%–5% | Intent-driven; keyword match matters |
| Google Search (brand) | 5%–10%+ | Often highest CTR in account |
| Meta Feed | 0.8%–2% | Creative and hook drive variance |
| 0.4%–0.8% | B2B; smaller but qualified audiences | |
| Display / programmatic | 0.1%–0.5% | Volume play; watch view-through separately |
What is a good CTR?
A good CTR improves your own baseline while maintaining downstream conversion quality. High CTR + low conversion = clickbait or audience mismatch. Low CTR + high conversion = narrow targeting — may be fine if ROAS is strong.
Refresh creative when CTR drops 20%+ from its 30-day average at similar spend — often the first sign of ad fatigue.