What is a good click-through rate?
Quick answer
It depends on the channel. Search ads often get 3% to 6%, because people are already looking for what you sell. Display and social ads often get well under 1%, because they interrupt people doing something else. The most useful benchmark is your own: compare each ad with the others in the same campaign.
Last updated
Updated · By Robert Breen
Why one number does not fit every channel
Click-through rate is clicks divided by impressions. A search ad appears when someone types "office cleaning services near me", so many viewers want exactly that. A social ad appears in a feed between friends’ photos. The same 0.8% CTR would be weak for the first and healthy for the second.
A worked comparison
| Ad | Channel | Impressions | Clicks | CTR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Office Cleaning, Flat Monthly Price" | Search | 9,000 | 414 | 4.6% |
| "Professional Cleaning Services" | Search | 8,800 | 158 | 1.8% |
| Before-and-after photo | Social | 60,000 | 420 | 0.7% |
The second search ad is the weak one: same channel and audience, less than half the CTR. The social ad gets the same number of clicks from far more impressions, which is normal for that channel. Judge it on cost per acquisition, not CTR.
How to raise a low CTR
Use the searcher’s own words in the headline, add a concrete promise such as a price or a time, and test one change at a time. On Google Ads a higher CTR also tends to lower the cost per click, so a better headline can save money as well as win clicks.
Learn it step by step
Free beginner lessons with a worked example and a quick quiz.
- PPC Metrics Explained: CPC, CTR, CPA and ROAS With Examples (about 11 minutes)
- The Marketing Funnel Explained, With a Worked Example (about 9 minutes)
Terms in this answer
Frequently asked questions
- Is a high CTR always good?
- No. Clicks that do not turn into customers cost money. A clickbait headline can raise CTR and lower conversions, so check conversion rate and CPA too.
- What is a good CTR for email?
- Email CTR is measured differently (clicks divided by emails delivered), so compare it only with your own past emails and similar senders.
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