Glossary · SEO & Marketing

CTR (Click-Through Rate)

CTR is the percentage of impressions that result in a click, calculated as clicks divided by impressions, used for search listings, ads and emails.

Updated October 6, 2026

Click-through rate (CTR) is clicks divided by impressions, expressed as a percentage. An impression is each time a link, ad or message is shown to a user.

Why it matters

CTR shows how compelling a listing is to the people who see it. In paid search a higher CTR can lower costs through better ad quality scores. In organic search it points to titles and descriptions that may need work, especially for pages that rank well but get few clicks.

Position strongly affects CTR, so a fair test is to compare queries at similar positions and change only the title or description, then watch the result over several weeks.

Example

Impressions:   12,500
Clicks:           375
CTR:           375 / 12,500 = 3.0%

Typical values vary widely by position, query type and device, so compare pages against your own baseline rather than a universal number.

Common mistakes

  • Judging CTR without considering average position.
  • Rewriting titles to be misleading, which raises clicks but also exits.
  • Comparing branded queries, which have high CTR, with generic ones.

Get notified when this term updates

Plus occasional practical tips on uptime and monitoring, nothing else. Unsubscribe anytime.

Keep reading

Glossary · SEO & MarketingCanonical URLA canonical URL is the preferred address of a page, declared with rel="canonical", that tells search engines which version to index when duplicates exist.Glossary · SEO & MarketingDuplicate ContentDuplicate content is substantially similar text that appears at more than one URL, which can split ranking signals and confuse search engines.Glossary · SEO & MarketingH1 TagThe H1 tag is the top-level HTML heading that states a page's main topic to visitors and search engines, normally used once per page.Guide · Web Basicsrobots.txt and XML Sitemap Guide: Syntax, Limits and MistakesWrite a correct robots.txt, understand Allow and Disallow precedence, noindex versus disallow, and build XML sitemaps within the 50,000 URL and 50 MB limits.8 min readGuide · E-commerceShopify Redirects and URL Structure: Fixes, Limits and Best PracticesHow Shopify URLs are structured and how to create and bulk-import URL redirects, handle changed handles and deleted products, and avoid chains and 404s.7 min read

This page is general information written by our editorial team and updated when documentation changes. Servers and providers differ, so test changes safely first. See our editorial policy and disclaimer.