Click Through Rate (CTR)

 

 

 

 

What is a Click Through Rate?

The web, the part of that internet that consists of webpages, is built around the concept of interconnectedness. The way pages connect to each other is through hyperlinks – the underlined text or image that you click to go somewhere else.

The Click Through Rate, also know as CTR or Click Thru Rate, is the percentage of people that have clicked any given link. It can be used in several different contexts:

1. We may talk about the Click Through Rate or CTR on one particular natural or organic link – for example, how many people clicked on the first natural link in a Google, Yahoo or Bing search results page?
 

2. Similarly, we may want to know the CTR of a paid ad on Google Search results. This CTR is particularly important as it affects the Quality Score of your ads in AdWords. Generally, the higher the CTR, the lower the cost of the clicks that you buy
3. Advertisers may look at the CTR of a campaign in one section of a site, across a site, across a whole campaign, or for a specific segment of a campaign
4. Publishers may look at the CTR of all ads on a page, a section of a site or a whole site

Metrics: Click Through Rate (CTR)

The Question:

How many people seeing my ad are clicking on it?

Approach:

Clicks as a percentage of total impressions

Commentary:

CPC systems such as Google Adwords assign a Quality Score to ad campaigns. The higher the CTR, the higher the Quality Score and the lower the CPC charged.

Some advertisers try to ‘game’ CPC/ CPA systems using a low CTR to get more ‘cheap’ impressions.

The Formula:

Click Through Rate (CTR, %) = Clicks/ Impressions