Term
CTR (Click-Through Rate)
Advertising KPI: share of impressions that result in a click. Indicator of ad relevance and a component of the Google Ads Quality Score.
CTR (Click-Through Rate) — in more detail
CTR stands for “Click-Through Rate” — the percentage of impressions that produce a click. Formula: (clicks ÷ impressions) × 100. In Search, CTR is a direct proxy for ad relevance and feeds into the Quality Score as “Expected CTR”. Industry benchmarks: Search-brand 8–25 %, Search-generic 2–6 %, Display 0.1–0.5 %, YouTube 0.3–1 %. CTR alone is deceptive — a sensational headline can multiply CTR while halving conversion rate. The steering KPI is almost always the pair CTR × CVR.
Example / In practice
An RSA with 12 headlines reaches 4.8 % CTR across 200,000 impressions → 9,600 clicks. An asset variant with a more emotional headline-pinning setup pushes CTR to 6.1 %, but CVR drops from 4 % to 2.8 % — fewer net conversions, so the change is reverted.
Distinction from similar terms
Impression Share measures the share of available impressions captured — orthogonal to CTR. Conversion Rate (CVR) is the second stage after the click. Engagement Rate is the social/on-site variant.
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CPA (Cost per Acquisition)
Advertising KPI: average cost per conversion. Central efficiency metric for lead gen and performance marketing, and the steering input for tCPA bidding.
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