Definition
The average number of click-throughs per hundred ad impressions, expressed as a percentage.
Information
It is important to distinguish what a click-through rate does and does not measure. The CTR measures what percentage of people clicked on the ad to arrive at the destination site; it does not include the people who failed to click, yet arrived at the site later as a result of seeing the ad.
As such, the CTR may be seen as a measure of the immediate response to an ad, but not the overall response to an ad. The exception involves ads that display no identifiable information about the destination site; in these cases the click rate equals the overall rate.
Merely getting visitors to a site had value when Web site traffic was generally accepted as a measure of success. The trend towards profitability, along with better tracking tools, has resulted in less interest in clickthrough rates and more interest in conversion rates.
A high clickthrough rate does not assure a good conversion rate, and the two rates may even share an inverse relationship. An advertisement geared towards curiosity clicks will result in fewer sales, percentage-wise, than an advertisement geared towards qualified clicks.
Articles
How to Use Testing to Optimize Your SERP CTR
SEMrush (August 16, 2018) sponsored
Designing Web Ads Using Click-Through Data
Useit.com (September 2, 2001)
The Beginning of the End of CTR?
ClickZ (July 12, 2001)
Bizarro Web: Life Without a Click-Through Rate
ClickZ (February 13, 2001)
Are Click-Through Rates Really Declining?
ClickZ (January 16, 2001)
Click-Through Rate, R.I.P.
ClickZ (June 26, 2000)
Killing Off the Almighty CTR
ClickZ (January 13, 2000)
The Cure For Declining Click-Throughs
ClickZ (September 14, 1999)
Escaping the Cult of Click-Through
ClickZ (July 26, 1999)
Related Terms
view all terms in the Online Advertising glossary or all terms in the Digital Marketing glossary
