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glossary term

Click-Through Rate in Paid Search

The percentage of people who saw your ad and clicked it.

What it means

Click-through rate (CTR) is clicks divided by impressions — out of everyone who saw your ad, what share clicked on it. It's one of the most basic signals of whether an ad is relevant and appealing to the people seeing it.

Why it matters

CTR isn't just a vanity number — it feeds directly into Quality Score, which affects your Ad Rank and cost per click. A low CTR can mean your ad copy, targeting, or offer isn't landing, and it can quietly raise what you pay across the whole account.

ask datanephew

Is my CTR actually good or bad?

Ask datanephew to compare your CTR against your account average or industry norms — a raw percentage means little without that context.

Why is my CTR low on this campaign?

Ask datanephew to check the ad copy, targeting, and search terms together — a low CTR usually points to a mismatch between what the ad promises and who's seeing it.