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CTRmeaning and examples

Click-through rate: out of everyone who saw it, how many clicked.

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Updated 9 Oct 2026

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Definition

CTR stands for click-through rate. It is the share of people who saw your ad or search result and then clicked it. You find it by dividing clicks by impressions.

Two ads can be shown the same number of times. The one with the higher CTR got more people to click. That is why CTR is one of the first numbers people check on an ad.

The formula

CTR = (clicks ÷ impressions) × 100. An impression is one time your ad or link is shown. The answer is a percentage. Google Ads Help gives the same formula without the × 100: clicks ÷ impressions.

A made-up example in rupees

A tuition centre runs two ads. Each costs ₹9,000 and each is shown 50,000 times.

  • Ad A gets 600 clicks. The CTR is 1.2%. The cost per click is ₹15.
  • Ad B gets 300 clicks. The CTR is 0.6%. The cost per click is ₹30.

The money and the views are the same. Ad A got twice the clicks, so each click cost half as much. See CPC (cost per click).

Where you see CTR

  • Paid ads: Google Ads Help calls CTR a ratio showing how often people who see your ad or free product listing end up clicking it.
  • Google search results: Search Console shows clicks, impressions and CTR for your pages. It calculates CTR as clicks ÷ impressions. There, an impression means a person saw, or could have seen, a link to your site.
  • Email: your email tool shows a click rate. Check whether it divides by emails sent or by emails opened before you compare two tools.

What is a good CTR?

There is no fixed number. Google Ads Help says a good CTR is relative to what you are advertising and on which networks. An ad for a free coupon and an ad for a flat that costs ₹50 lakh will not behave alike.

You may see tables online that say a certain position or platform gets a set CTR. We do not quote them, because we could not trace them to a source we can name. Compare each ad with your own earlier ads instead.

How to raise CTR without tricks

  • Make the headline match what the person was looking for.
  • For search results, Google's starter guide says a good title is unique to the page, clear and concise, and describes what is on it. A good meta description is short, unique and holds the page's most relevant points.
  • Do not promise what the page does not give. A click that ends in a quick exit costs you money and wins nothing.

Common mistakes

  • Chasing CTR alone. A high CTR with no enquiries means the click was not worth much. Check conversion rate too.
  • Using clickbait to get clicks.
  • Comparing CTR from paid ads with CTR from search results. They are measured by different tools and mean different things.
  • Reading too much into small numbers. Three clicks out of twenty views is 15%, but it tells you very little.

Related terms

  • CPC (cost per click): what you pay each time someone clicks.
  • CPM (cost per thousand views): what you pay for every 1,000 views.
  • Conversion rate: the share of visitors who buy, call or fill a form.
  • SERP (search engine results page): the page of results Google shows after a search.
  • Meta description: the short text under a page title in search results.

To choose between two big ad platforms, read Google Ads vs Meta Ads. For CTR in search results, see our SEO work.

Sources

  • Google Ads Help, "Click-through rate (CTR): Definition" (support.google.com/google-ads/answer/2615875), read 9 October 2026.
  • Google Search Console Help, Performance report (support.google.com/webmasters/answer/7042828), read 9 October 2026.
  • Google Search Central, SEO Starter Guide (developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/seo-starter-guide), read 9 October 2026.
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Straight answers.

  • Click-through rate. It is the share of impressions that ended in a click.

  • Divide clicks by impressions. Multiply by 100 if you want a percentage. For 600 clicks from 50,000 impressions, the CTR is 1.2%. An impression is one time your ad or link is shown. Do not read much into small numbers, because three clicks out of twenty views is 15% but tells you very little.

  • There is no single number. Google Ads Help says it depends on what you advertise and on which networks. Compare with your own earlier results. An ad for a free coupon and an ad for a flat that costs ₹50 lakh will not behave alike. We do not quote tables found online, because we could not trace them.

  • Make the headline match what the person was looking for. For search results, Google's starter guide says a good title is unique to the page, clear and concise, and describes what is on it. Do not promise what the page does not give, because a click that ends in a quick exit costs you money and wins nothing.