What is click-through rate (CTR)?
Click-through rate, commonly referred to as “CTR,” is the measurement used to judge how many times an advertisement or link was clicked on compated to the number of impressions that ad or link received.
How is click-through rate (CTR) calculated?
To determine click-through rate, take the number of times that an ad or link was clicked on divided by the number of impressions that it received. This calculation will give you a percentage that will tell you how well an ad performs (receives clicks).
Click-through rate calculation
Example of calculating click-through rate with a campaign
Why is click-through rate important?
Click-through rate is important for many different reasons and is a great indicator that shows the relevance and effectiveness of an ad at driving clicks to a website.
Things to take into account when evaluating CTR
While CTR is a great indicator of the effectiveness of an ad or link, there are several things that you should take note of when evaluating CTR and optimizing your ads and links:
- CTR is an indicator of ALL clicks. If one person clicks on an ad or link multiple times, this can potentially skew your percentages.
- Your CTR does not measure profitability or revenue, just how effective your ads are at generating clicks.
- Depending on the medium (display ads, contextual ads, etc.) you will see wild fluctuations in CTR.
