I often have clients ask me the ever old question… “is CTR (Clickthrough Rate) that important in Google Adwords! After all, if I am getting some clicks on a keyword they could convert?” The simple answer is YES, clickthrough rate is one of the most important factors in bringing down the overall cost of your “search network” campaign and it is also the answer to a higher conversion rate.
Benefits Of High CTR
- A high CTR increases the overall “Quality Score” of your campaign.
- High-Quality Score = Lower Cost-Per-Click (CPC)
- Low Cost-Per-Click = Huge savings on your campaign.
- A high CTR leads to higher conversion rates as the visitors are likely to be led directly to a topic that is more relevant to the original search query.
Problems with low CTR
- Drags down the quality of your whole campaign
- You are spending unnecessary money on keywords that will most likely not convert. The reason your CTR is low is that your keyword is not relevant to your ad, not relevant to your landing page, or historically has a bad track record in the industry… either way, it is bad news for your campaign.
- You will not be able to complete in Google’s “top pages” (position 1-3) as Google does take high CTR into consideration.
- If your quality score (affected by CTR) is lower than your competitor then you will always be paying more per click than them.
How do I locate my CTR?
Once inside your ads campaign navigate to Campaigns. You will find your CTR for the search network under Total – Search in the column CTR. If you do not manage your own campaign then ask you Adwords manager to send you your campaign level clickthrough-rate for about 2 weeks or so. If your search CTR is below 1% then your campaign has some problems. Good rates range between 3%-15%.
What about Display Network CTR?
No need to worry about this CTR as it does not affect the quality of your campaign. Google knows that this network yields low clickthrough rates. In most cases the CTR for display network is below 1%.
Bryan Casson – Managing Director
One of South Africa’s leading SEO experts residing in Johannesburg, South Africa. In 1998, Bryan started his SEO journey and after years of building experience, Casson Media was founded in 2009.
Do you still have questions?
Give Casson Media a call on +27 67 114 8164 (Call or WhatsApp) or email us here.