The Click Through Rate is the Number of clicks that users make between the number of times our ad or link to our website is printed in the Search results. This data is expressed as a percentage and becomes vitally important in the performance of online advertising campaigns such as Google Ads. And in organic Seo positioning.

The CTR is an indicator of the acceptance that our ads and web links have in search results.

It is an estimated metric since we talk about the number of clicks between impressions (number of times our ad appears or link in the results) and does not guarantee the click of unique users. They are counted so that the same user can click many times on the corresponding link after repeating a search.

Although it is highly relevant in online advertising platforms, so is the organic results of our website that are shown in the SERP, providing excellent value in Seo positioning.

In this post, we will focus on an overview since depending on many factors, especially in Ads, it is difficult to estimate a clear strategy. For example, if the word we want to position is very competitive or not (if there are many advertisers in that keyword) or, how directed our ad is since it is not the same to show a generic ad than a specific product. The more targeted the ad, the greater the probability of success we will have and the better CTR. All ads and keywords have their own CTR.

What is the CTR for?

The main objective of the CTR in Seo is the optimization of ads and links to our website and thus obtain a higher number of clicks.

Different studies ensure that the highest percentage of clicks occur in the top positions of Google. Currently, Google shows ten organic search results and 4 Ads ads, so reaching the top positions and hitting the keywords in the ad campaigns dramatically increases the chances of attracting traffic to our website.

This metric allows us to evaluate the acceptance of our ads or links in the search results. For example, it will enable you to see the impact of specific titles or descriptions, if the rich fragments we offer are successful or not, or if the way to promote an ad is appropriate.

It is a vital KPI in the Sem since it allows us to have an estimate of the expense or investment that we are going to make for a particular keyword in advertising. Through this metric, we can evaluate the CPC Adwords (Cost Per Click in advertising).

We can interpret the CTR to determine the ads or keywords that are most effective for our interests. According to Webmaster Tools support,

The closer the relationship between your keywords and your ads with each other and with your company, the more likely it is that a user will click on one of your ads after searching for your keyword phrase.

How is the Click Through Rate calculated?

The CTR formula is to divide the number of clicks that users make on that link/ad by the number of times it appears on the search results page and multiplied by 100. For example, if we have a link that appears 100 times In the search results and the users click five times the result would be: (5/100) * 100 = 5%. In this way, our CTR for that ad or link would be 5%.

It should be remembered that the CTR is a temporary value, that is, we need to place it on specific dates to know its real value. A CTR can vary greatly, for example, over a year. But perhaps we are only interested in that value in a specific time frame, such as when we launch an ad or create a Seo positioning strategy for a temporary promotion. Remember to narrow the dates to obtain a more approximate value.

When is a CTR good?

When we intend to interpret this metric, we must take into account that there is no absolute value that gives the impression of a good CTR.

Depending on the position occupied in the search results list, we can estimate the CTR percentages as good or bad. It also differs if the value of CTR is a value for organic links on our website or an ad in Google Ads. Ads displays, it depends on where the ad is displayed. An advertisement in the Google results list is not the same as a banner on a website, but it is the most critical indicator to estimate the quality of the ad with the least possible investment.

Therefore it is convenient to compare CTRs in the same context. In the case of organic results, it is simpler, because our context will always be the list of results or SERP. However, in the ads, we must contrast them. Google Ad’s offers us a tool to be able to check it and better trace our strategy.

As a reference, a result positioned in the first position can attract around 30% of the traffic for a given keyword, while another achievement in the tenth position would attract around 7% of traffic.

Why is it important in SEO?

Fundamentally because it allows us to measure the success of our links in the search results, it also allows you to measure the status of an ad and know the acceptance it has among users. If, for example, we carry an Ads campaign with an ad for a certain keyword and we observe that the CTR is very low, perhaps it would be convenient to study a change in the ad design or bid for another similar keyword. By studying this metric, we can also know the profitability of our ad.