CTR Full Form

Introduction

Click-Through Rate (CTR) is a metric that measures how many people click on your ad, link or page per number of impressions. If you are in the field of digital marketing then you must have heard of this term.

CTR helps in deciding if your online advertising campaign was successful or not. Now, every advertisement campaign has a different CTR ratio. In this article, we will understand CTR in greater depth and answer all your questions.

What is Click Through Rate (CTR)? 

• At its core, Click Through Rate (CTR) is a ratio that calculates how many users click on your online advertisement, email campaign or page to the total number of users who see your link
• This single metric can help you understand how successful you were in capturing people’s attention. If you have a high CTR then your advertisement was successful and you have a high chance of a conversion
• Since we are living in a period where we constantly see advertisements everywhere CTR has gradually decreased over the years

The formula for Click Through Rate (CTR)?

CTR  = Total Clicks On Ad/ Total Impressions × 100.

For example, if you receive 300 clicks from 1000 impressions then your CTR score is 30%. You can see your Click Through Rate in your Google Ads dashboard. A high CTR means that a large number of people have seen your advertisement which is a good sign.

Why Click Through Rate Matters?

• Click-Through Rate has a direct impact on your quality score. In simple words, a quality score is a rank that Google gives to your keywords and PPC ads
• Quality score is used by Google to determine your cost per click (CPC). It is then multiplied by your maximum bid to finalize your ad rank in the ad auction process
• So, high CTR will give you a high-quality score and a high-quality score will allow you to maintain an ad position for lower costs

What is a good Click Through Rate?

• This is a question that most digital marketers have in their minds. Now, the answer to this question is quite complicated
• Every campaign will have a different click-through rate. It all depends on your ad copy and the keyword that you target
• So, instead of focusing on this question try to understand what is the average CTR in your industry and gauge your ad’s performance accordingly
• According to research, the average CTR in Google ads is 1.91% for search and 0.35% for display

How to Increase Your Click-Through Rate (CTR)?

• Improving your Click Through Rate will boost your ad or page views. Although there are a lot of misconceptions related to the techniques that help increase CTR
• Many people think that they just need to stuff keywords in their ad to increase its rank. Although, this is the last thing you want to do. Also, every platform has its own CTR strategies

For example, to increase the CTR on Instagram you have to use relevant hashtags and post trendy things. On the other hand for PPC ads targeting the right keywords and optimising your headline will do the trick.

Use Simple and Effective Titles:

• Even if you have an amazing ad copy but a boring or lengthy title it will eventually lead to a low click-through rate. Instead of stuffing keywords in your title keep your headline simple
• Tell what value you provide to your readers. At the same time tell what is the unique thing that you are offering to your readers. Add numbers to your title and keep it short and sweet

Add Images to your Articles:

• Adding images to your articles not only makes your posts more interesting but also increases the click-through rate
• If you use original and high-quality images then your articles can appear in the featured snippets and other info boxes on the SERPs. Remember to add description and alt text to tour images

Increase your Site Speed:

• We all know Google emphasizes the speed of your website. So, if your website is taking 5-6 seconds to load then you will get a very low click-through rate
• It is highly recommended to make sure that your website loads in under 1-3 seconds. Readers want to get their information as soon as possible and making them wait is not at all good

Use Ad Extensions:

Incorporating ad extensions in your ad copy is the easiest hack that we can ever give to increase the click-through rate. Here, are the best 5 extensions that you can use: 

• Call extensions

• Sitelink ad extensions

• Promotion extensions

• Location extensions

• Price extensions

Key difference between Click Through Rate and Conversion Rate:

• Click-Through Rate tells you how many people clicked on your ad or page. While conversion rate indicates how many people bought your product or service
• So, if you want to understand the number of sales you had then conversation rate is the right metric
• The ultimate goal of any marketer is to increase sales and that’s why conversion rate is a more important metric than click-through rate
• Even if you are driving traffic to your website but not converting then all your efforts are going in vain

Conclusion

Click-Through Rate is an important metric. You should pay attention to it to understand if your ad campaign was successful or not. Remember, there is no such thing as good CTR. Using fancy words or stuffing keywords won’t do any magic. Just focus on making content that helps your readers solve their problems.