Your most carefully crafted ad can still fall flat where it matters most. Polished copy, eye-catching visuals, and countless hours of refinement mean nothing if your audience scrolls past without engaging. You need clicks.
Click-through rate, or CTR, is one of the most common metrics for understanding the effectiveness of your marketing efforts. It shows you not only how many users see your ad but how many are engaged enough to act.
Learn what counts as a good CTR and what factors really move the needle.
What is the meaning of click-through rate?
Click-through rate measures the percentage of people who click a link or ad after they see it—basically, the number of clicks divided by the total number of impressions. For example, if an ad is shown 200 times and 10 people click on it, the CTR is 5%.
While CTR is often discussed in the context of pay-per-click (PPC) ads, such as Google Ads, it’s equally valuable for other channels and platforms, whether that’s an email marketing campaign, a social media post, or an SMS text message. A higher CTR usually means you’re making ads, links, or buttons that resonate with your audience. Still, many factors influence CTR, and a lower rate doesn’t always mean your ad campaigns or content aren’t effective.
Why is CTR important?
Knowing your CTR shows whether your ads and calls to action (CTAs) are compelling enough to drive clicks—the moment when interest converts to action. Instead of guessing if content is resonating, CTR gives you numbers: a clear, measurable sign of engagement.
Beyond a single campaign, CTR can diagnose broader issues. A low rate might point to the wrong timing, mismatched channels, or messaging that doesn’t fully explain what you offer. By tracking CTR, among other metrics, you can identify patterns, refine your targeting, and adjust creative elements to better align with audience expectations.
Click-through rate even plays a role in how platforms like Google rank and price ads, making it a critical metric for both audience insights and marketing campaign performance.
Factors that affect CTR
Many variables influence your click-through rate, and results vary based on different campaigns, audiences, and platforms. In general, the biggest drivers are:
Ad relevancy
For successful online advertising and a strong click-through rate, your ads need to be as relevant as possible. That means your ad creative (which includes copy and, in some formats, visuals) are tightly correlated to the search intent of a specific keyword or the user expectations for a specific platform. For example, Instagram users expect compelling, eye-catching visuals on the platform. If your ad is text-only with boring typography, it may see a low CTR because it doesn’t align with Instagram audience expectations.
As direct-to-consumer (DTC) expert Nik Sharma explains on an episode of the Shopify Masters podcast, different metrics help diagnose each step of the journey. Looking at CTR alongside cost per thousand impressions (CPM) and conversion data helps reveal whether your ads are truly relevant and where there might be misalignment.
“CPM tells you how much the platform likes your ad,” Nik says. “CTR tells you how much people on the platform like what you’re putting out. And once they get to your site, Add to Cart and purchase metrics show whether the page matches what they expected.”
If people find that the service or product doesn’t meet the expectations set by the ad, they’ll likely leave your site, resulting in high bounce rates and low conversion to purchase. For example, if people are clicking on one or more links in an ad but abandoning browsing sessions or the checkout process, it may signal that the ad doesn’t share enough information or that the landing page doesn’t align with the promise of the ad. In these cases, a high CTR paired with a weak conversion rate shows the need to refine the marketing campaign.
Visibility and ad rank
In paid search engine marketing (SEM), visibility is crucial to success. If your ads don’t appear prominently, fewer people will see them and have the chance to click. Google determines where your ad appears using a system called Ad Rank. It’s based on several factors, including your bid amount, the quality and relevance of your ad and landing page, the competitiveness of the auction, and the context of the person’s search.
The relationship goes both ways: Visibility impacts CTR, and CTR also impacts visibility. CTR is one of the signals Google uses when evaluating ad relevance. So, creating ads that generate clicks not only improves your click-through rate but can also help your ads appear higher on the page at lower costs, potentially earning a better quality score in the process—especially when paired with strong search engine optimization (SEO) strategies.
Competition
Competitive analysis is useful for understanding who shares your market and how to compete for clicks. Reviewing the ads that sit at the top of ad listings can reveal the kind of messaging or offers that resonate with your audience. From there, decide which elements to apply to your own campaigns and how to differentiate with campaigns that feel relevant and authentic to your customers.
Higher competition for a certain search term or industry in general can lead to a lower CTR. The more options people see, the harder it is to stand out. This makes ad relevancy even more important and highlights the value of carving out a niche where demand exists but competition is lighter.
Target audience
Your target audience and where they spend time online impact your CTR. The better you understand their interests and the problem you’re solving, the more effectively you can write ad copy, create enticing CTAs, and speak in a way that encourages clicks.
It’s not just what you say, but where you say it. A low CTR on paid search ads might mean your audience is more active on Instagram, or that they prefer promotional emails. Different segments of your audience may also respond in different ways. For instance, younger customers may be quicker to click on mobile social ads, while older customers might engage more with email. Knowing where each group spends time online helps you decide which channels to prioritize.
Seasonality
Products and services with seasonal demand usually see fluctuating CTR. For instance, keywords like “Mother’s Day flowers” or “Halloween decorations” won’t see the same click-through rate year-round because fewer people search for them outside the holiday period. If seasonality impacts your brand, consider it when calculating click-through rate and planning online ads.
Tracking when your customers start searching and how their terms shift over time (for example, “Mother’s Day flowers” vs. “same-day Mother’s Day flowers”) provides insight into how to shape your messaging and ad timing. The same applies to industry cycles beyond holidays, such as tax season, back-to-school shopping, or summer travel.
What is a good CTR?
With so many factors influencing your CTR, it’s hard to define one percentage as universally good or bad. This is especially true if online ads aren’t your primary sales channel, or if you sell through both ecommerce and physical locations. The best benchmark is to compare your performance against averages for your industry and platform—or your own historical average.
On Google Ads, around 5% is often considered a good click-through rate for unbranded ads (keywords without your brand name), while branded ads (keywords that include your brand name) may reach 20% or higher. Your industry matters too: Ecommerce campaigns have an average click-through rate of about 2.69%, while travel and hospitality often see closer to 4.68%, for example.
CTR also varies by platform. Ecommerce emails average around 1.74%, far lower than search ads. On social media, click-through rates are typically lower still—averaging about 1.27% on Facebook and Instagram ads across industries—but performance depends heavily on creative and targeting.
Some brands, however, see strong results with SMS text messaging. Ben Goodwin, cofounder of prebiotic soda brand Olipop, shared that one of its SMS campaigns generated $30,000 in sales in the first 15 minutes.
“The click-through rate on a text is exponentially greater than you get on email, because it’s so immediate,” he explains on Shopify Masters. “But it’s about having the discipline not to abuse that channel, and to respect the intimacy of the communication while offering real value to people."
How to calculate your CTR
Calculate CTR by dividing the number of clicks an ad or link received by the number of impressions (the times it was shown), then multiplying by 100 to get a percentage. Here’s the formula:
CTR = (Number of clicks / Number of impressions) × 100
So, if your ad was shown 100 times and got 10 clicks, the click-through rate is 10%.
CTR = (10 / 100) × 100
Or, if your ad was shown 7,000 times and got 1,500 clicks, its CTR would be 21.4%.
CTR = (1,500 / 7,000) × 100
CTR meaning FAQ
What does CTR mean?
CTR stands for click-through rate. It measures how often people click on a link, online ad, social media post, or other call to action, expressed as a percentage of impressions (times it was shown). CTR applies to paid and unpaid links.
What is a good CTR?
A good click-through rate depends on the type of ad. Usually, a good CTR for an unbranded ad on Google is 5%. Branded ads often perform much higher, sometimes reaching 20% or more. Industry and platform matter too—ecommerce CTRs tend to be lower than those for travel and hospitality, and email and social media benchmarks are usually lower than search ads.
What is an example of a CTR?
If your ad or link receives eight clicks and it’s shown 160 times (or earned 160 impressions), you’d divide eight by 160 and get 0.05. Multiply that by 100 to get your CTR of 5%.
