Click-Through Rate (CTR)

What is click-through rate (CTR)?

Click-through rate (CTR) is the percentage of people who click a link after seeing it. It is calculated by dividing the number of clicks by the number of impressions. In SEO, an impression is one display of your page in the search results, and a click is a visit to your site from that result. The same metric applies to paid ads, emails, banners and calls to action.

CTR matters because it shows how well a title, a description and a position match what people are looking for. Two pages ranking at the same position can earn very different traffic simply because one snippet is more convincing than the other.

How is CTR calculated?

The formula is simple: CTR = (clicks ÷ impressions) × 100. If a page appears 4,000 times in Google and receives 200 clicks, its CTR is 5%.

CTR (%) = clicks / impressions x 100
Example: 200 / 4000 x 100 = 5%

In Google Search Console, the Performance report gives clicks, impressions, average CTR and average position for each query and each page. Always read CTR together with position: a CTR only means something when you compare it with pages that rank at a similar position for similar queries.

CTR in SEO vs CTR in advertising

What is a good CTR?

There is no universal benchmark. A good CTR depends on the position, the search intent and the layout of the results page. Branded queries often reach a very high CTR, while informational queries can lose clicks to featured snippets, ads, video carousels or AI answers. The most reliable comparison is internal: measure your pages against other pages of your site that rank at a similar position.

How to improve your CTR

• Write a unique title tag for each page, with the main keyword near the start and about 60 characters.
• Write a meta description of about 150 to 160 characters that states the benefit and invites the click.
• Match the search intent: the snippet must promise exactly what the page delivers.
• Add structured data to become eligible for rich results (ratings, FAQ, prices).
• Use short, readable URLs that confirm the topic.
• Change one element at a time and compare results after a few weeks.

Avoid clickbait. A misleading title can raise CTR in the short term, but it increases the bounce rate and hurts trust.

Click-through rate at BeBranded

At BeBranded, we use CTR as a diagnostic tool. In Search Console, we look for pages that rank well but attract few clicks, then rewrite their titles, descriptions and structured data. It is a core part of our SEO & GEO service.