Click-through rate (CTR) is the percentage of people who clicked on something after seeing it. In search, it is the number of clicks your result received divided by the number of times it was shown, multiplied by 100. If your page appeared 2,000 times in Google and was clicked 60 times, its CTR was 3%.
How click-through rate works
Each part of the sum is counted separately. An impression is recorded when your result appears on a page of results the searcher loads, and a click is recorded when they follow your link. Google Search Console shows CTR for every query and page, and Google Ads shows it for every ad, keyword and campaign. Email platforms and social networks use the same idea for links in messages and posts.
Several things decide organic CTR, and only some are in your control:
- Position. Results nearer the top get clicked more. A page moving from eighth to third will usually see its CTR rise without any other change, which is why CTR has to be read alongside average position.
- What else is on the page. Ads, maps, AI Overviews, video carousels and “People also ask” boxes push organic results down and answer some questions outright.
- The kind of search. Searches for your own brand name usually have a far higher CTR than general ones, because the searcher already wants you.
- Your snippet. The title tag, the description shown underneath and any rich result features such as review stars are what the searcher judges you on.
Why it matters
CTR shows how much of the visibility you already have turns into visits. A page with plenty of impressions and few clicks is a cheap opportunity: it ranks well enough to be seen, and a better title could bring more visitors without moving a single position. For a UK service business where one extra enquiry a week matters, that is often the quickest win in an SEO plan.
In Google Ads, CTR matters for a further reason. Expected CTR is one of the components of Quality Score, so ads that people click more often can earn better positions at lower cost per click.
CTR is a diagnostic, not a goal in itself. A sensational title might lift clicks and then send people straight back because the page does not deliver, and a high-CTR ad that attracts the wrong people wastes budget.
Common mistakes
- Comparing CTR without position. A low CTR on a result in position 12 says little about the title; few people scroll that far.
- Mixing brand and non-brand queries. Your brand name searches inflate the site-wide average and hide weak pages.
- Using published benchmarks as targets. Industry CTR tables vary wildly by study and search type, and none describe your market. Compare your own pages over time instead.
- Clickbait titles. Promising something the page does not deliver can lift clicks briefly while doing nothing for enquiries.
- Ignoring rewritten titles. Google sometimes replaces your title in results, so check what searchers actually see.
How to act on it
In Search Console’s Performance report, turn on clicks, impressions, CTR and position, filter out your brand name, and look for pages or queries with high impressions, a position in the top ten and a CTR noticeably lower than similar pages on your site. Search those queries yourself on google.co.uk and look at what competes with you on the page.
Then rewrite the title so it matches the wording people use, states the specific benefit and, where relevant, mentions the place you serve. Improve the meta description so it answers the searcher’s next question. Record the date of each change and compare four weeks of data before and after, at similar positions. Reviewing titles and snippets this way is a routine part of my on-page SEO work.