How to Calculate Click-Through Rate (CTR)
The exact formula for click-through rate, a worked example, and why there's no single universal benchmark for what counts as a good CTR.
Click-through rate is the percentage of people who saw an ad and clicked it: CTR = (clicks ÷ impressions) × 100.
Worked example
An ad shown 200,000 times that gets 3,000 clicks: CTR = (3,000 ÷ 200,000) × 100 = 1.5%. Out of every 1,000 people who saw the ad, about 15 clicked it.
Why there's no single "good" CTR
CTR benchmarks vary enormously by ad format and placement — search ads (shown to people already searching for something related) typically see far higher CTRs than display ads (shown to people browsing something unrelated), and both vary further by industry and how competitive the keyword or placement is. A CTR that looks low for a search campaign can be perfectly normal for a display one.
What a rising or falling CTR usually signals
- A CTR that improves after a creative or headline change usually means the new version resonates more with viewers.
- A CTR that drops over time on the same ad often means audience fatigue — the same people are seeing it repeatedly and no longer engaging.
- A very low CTR relative to your own past campaigns is often a targeting mismatch rather than a bad ad.
The PPC Calculator calculates CTR instantly alongside CPC and CPM from the same impressions and clicks numbers.