CTR, or click-through rate, is one of the gold-standard metrics marketers use to measure online advertising. Those who are new to digital marketing, however, may be shocked to find their CTR seems low—leading to questions like, “Am I doing this right?”
Don’t panic yet. Even a successful campaign may have a CTR in the single digits. Some industries have benchmarks of 1% or even lower. That’s why it’s important to understand more about the nuances of CTR, what CTR looks like in your industry, and how to increase CTR.
What is a click-through rate (CTR)?
The click-through rate (CTR) is the percentage of people who click on an ad after seeing it. It’s one of the most critical and most optimized metrics in digital pay-per-click (PPC) advertising because it can be a good indicator of whether an online campaign is successful.
A high CTR means more people clicked your ad when they saw it—indicating a successful campaign.
However, the significance of a CTR can be contextual. While a low CTR is never ideal, sometimes ads can have a high CTR but the ad clicks don’t result in actual sales. This can happen if the ad is misleading or irrelevant to the product.
Sometimes, a lower CTR is okay if those who click are also highly likely to buy. CTR is just one important metric among many that can help give you an idea of the success of an ad campaign.
How to calculate CTR
Calculating CTR is relatively straightforward. Simply divide the total number of clicks on an ad by the total number of impressions. Or, mathematically speaking:
CTR (%) = (Ad Clicks / Ad Impressions) x 100
For example, if 100 people view your ad but only 5 of them click on it, your click-through rate is (5/100) * 100 = 5%.
What is a good CTR?
Click-through rates are complex, and there is no single universal CTR to target. You’ll often see articles and advice floating around that you should aim for an average display CTR of 2%. While that’s a reasonable estimate and a good starting point, at the end of the day, it’s just that—an estimate.
A more effective way to approach this is to ask yourself, “What is a good CTR for my industry?” Target audiences and engagement levels vary by industry, and it’s important to understand the industry-standard CTR for your niche.
In other words, what’s the average CTR of your competitors and the top players in your industry? Use the industry-average CTR as a benchmark to establish what a good CTR goal is for you.
For example, if your industry has an average click-through rate of 2.41%, it’s not a good idea to compare your CTR to an industry with an average CTR of 6.05%—that would be unrealistic for you to achieve.
Different industries in different regions can also have their own unique quirks and subtleties that can influence click-through rates in profound ways.
You should treat your industry-standard click-through rate as a starting point. If you can learn the CTRs of your direct competitors, that gives you the most accurate and realistic CTR goal for which to aim.
While comparisons are useful to get more context, each unique company may have complex factors determining whether a campaign is successful. Never ignore other campaign metrics, like sales conversion rates, when evaluating the success of a campaign.
What defines a good click-through rate can also be different depending on the ad format and platform. Industry standards vary widely, and they vary even more depending on the ad type.
What is a good CTR for Google ads?
To give you a starting point, here are some of the average CTRs for Google search ads and display ads for more common niches and industries, according to a WordStream survey:
| Industry | Average Search CTR | Average Display CTR |
| Advocacy | 4.41% | 0.59% |
| Auto | 4.00% | 0.60% |
| B2B | 2.41% | 0.46% |
| Consumer Services | 2.41% | 0.51% |
| Dating | 6.05% | 0.72% |
| E-Commerce | 2.69% | 0.51% |
| Education | 3.78% | 0.53% |
| Employment Services | 2.42% | 0.59% |
| Finance | 2.91% | 0.52% |
| Health | 3.27% | 0.59% |
| Consumer Goods | 2.44% | 0.49% |
| Industrial | 2.61% | 0.50% |
| Legal | 2.93% | 0.59% |
| Real Estate | 3.71% | 1.08% |
| Tech | 2.09% | 0.39% |
| Travel | 4.68% | 0.47% |
What is a good CTR for Facebook ads?
Facebook is one of the leading paid social ads platforms on the web. Wordstream’s Facebook ad benchmarks are a little different. Here are the CTR averages for Facebook across industries:
| Industry | Average CTR |
| Apparel | 1.24% |
| Auto | 0.80% |
| B2B | 0.78% |
| Beauty | 1.16% |
| Consumer Services | 0.62% |
| Education | 0.73% |
| Employment & Job Training | 0.47% |
| Finance & Insurance | 0.56% |
| Fitness | 1.01% |
| Home Improvement | 0.70% |
| Healthcare | 0.83% |
| Industrial Services | 0.71% |
| Legal | 1.61% |
| Real Estate | 0.99% |
| Retail | 1.59% |
| Technology | 1.04% |
| Travel & Hospitality | 0.90% |
You can also measure engagement on social media through comments, reactions, shares, and saves. Since most social media users stay on the platform, rather than clicking through, it’s worth considering engagement metrics as a measure of campaign success.
How to achieve an industry-standard click-through rate
We’ve all seen confusing ads on the internet. Maybe we were the wrong target, or maybe the copy was just plain unclear. To go from “huh?” to earning clicks is all about putting together a clear and compelling message for your ideal audience.
Know when to use search vs. display ads
Search ads are ads that appear in the search results of search engines like Google. Display ads appear when navigating across sites.
For example, Facebook ads appear within users’ social media feeds. Google display ads are displayed on relevant sites participating in the Google Display Network. This means sites that opt in earn a percentage of the fee for that ad.
Search ads and display ads have different uses in online advertising. Display ads are usually used to increase awareness of a product and to retarget potential buyers. Search ads usually target those who are searching for relevant topics—meaning they could already be aware of a product category but are shopping for options.
Different environments mean that ads can’t be used interchangeably. Ads should be optimized for either search or display to attract clicks.
Craft compelling ad headlines and copy
The ad copy is key to grabbing the attention of your audience and attracting a click. High-quality ad copy:
- Matches the brand voice.
- Starts with an engaging hook.
- Has a clear and engaging call to action.
- Includes social proof.
- Is concise.
Choosing a relevant visual to accompany the ad copy is also crucial. Images can help grab attention on websites with competing content.
Focus on relevancy
This is one of the most critical factors that can improve your CTR. An ad highly relevant to its target keywords means that the audience searching for that specific keyword will have a higher chance of seeing and clicking on the ad.
There are two sides to relevancy: ad messaging and target keywords. Of the two, keywords are the ones you should start with. There are many ways to determine the right keywords to target, from SEO keyword research to segmenting keyword groups.
Based on your keywords, create the ad copy, images, and offer to compel your audience to respond and click.
Target the right audience
The power of digital marketing is that on the internet, you can dial into your unique target audience. But for the ad to work, you need to know the specific audience for your product. For example, if you’re advertising hamburgers, targeting vegetarians is less likely to produce a high CTR.
Understanding your audience can take some upfront work. Audience research can help you determine the demographics and interests of those who love and need your product.
Optimize for mobile devices
Over half of internet users browse on mobile devices, and that number has only grown over the years. It’s smart to optimize your ads for mobile devices. Responsive design, which adapts to the screen of each individual viewer, is key for ads.
Additionally, the text should be easy to read, and the images should be centered on both mobile and desktop devices.
A/B testing and optimization
A/B testing is vital to high performance. A/B testing means that two versions of the same ad are released with one small difference—for example, a different image or a different call to action (CTA). Whichever ad performs better is then pushed to the rest of the audience.
You can A/B test continuously with different ad elements. For example, you can first test the image, then the headline, then the CTA, and so on until you have a completely optimized ad. The optimized ad will attract more clicks than an ad you created without testing.
Track and measure performance regularly
If an ad performs well once, it may not perform well forever. This is where tracking comes in. Continuously paying attention to ad metrics can help you notice when your ad is no longer performing well. It can help you continuously improve and respond to social trends. You can even learn how to change messaging based on the season and current events. Tracking metrics is key to maintaining a high CTR.
Improve your CTR with branded links from Bitly
Branded short links help improve ads’ CTR with instant brand recognition. With increased trust in a link, your audience will be more likely to follow it with a click.
Plus, Bitly offers you more data about how your ads perform. When you insert your Bitly links into an ad, Bitly tracks all the data about who clicks on our dashboard.
Not only can you get unique demographic insights, but you can also A/B test by using different links in each ad variation. Our user-friendly dashboard makes it easy to track and report campaign data.
