One of the cornerstones of digital advertising terms to know is click-through rate, or CTR. This metric provides a ratio of the number of clicks on link or call to action. Click-through rate is calculated by simply dividing the amount of clicks by the amount of impressions, then multiplying by 100. So for example, if a link received 1,000 views and 15 clicks, the CTR is 1.5%.
Why does CTR matter?
Click-through rate is a vital tool to use for any pay-per-click advertising campaign. It is often utilized to evaluate the overall health of a campaign. This is due to search based platforms, such as Google, using CTR and other metrics to assess a site’s content and relevance to the platform’s users. The idea behind this is that if CTR is high, the site’s content is useful and helpful to people searching for certain keywords. Because of this, the site will continue to show in a higher rank. Having the site show more frequently is a reward for creating relevant content. This results in a happy user and provides the advertiser with a more engaged audience.
What is a good CTR?
Oftentimes, CTR will vary from campaign to campaign or keyword to keyword. Thus explaining why there is no exact or set number to aim for with pay-per-click CTR. With this in mind, however, it is good practice to compare one’s CTR to its industry averages. In addition, search network ads tend to have a higher Click-through rate averaging at 1.91% Display network ads have a lower average CTR of 0.35%. Of course, a “good” click-through rate would be above the average percentages.
How can CTR be improved?
The most common ways to improve CTR are keyword management, copywriting, and ad extensions.
Keyword Management
Relevant keywords are essential to improving and maintaining higher CTR. It is important to keep your target audience in mind when drafting these keywords and get specific by using long-tail keywords.
Long-tail keywords are more like key phrases since they include more than two words. These types of keywords are tailored to the individual close to a point-of-purchase rather than someone only researching. This tactic sets the campaign apart from competitors and seeks out people who are more likely to purchase.
Copywriting
Being unique in copywriting is the key to success here. It is easy to ignore most search ads because they all follow the same pattern. Standing out can be as easy as including more numbers than competitors in the ad’s headline. Get creative, because there is only so much space allowed for the ad’s copy.
Ad Extensions
Ad extensions are additional links, call outs or information on the site. Call extensions provide a phone number or a button to call when on mobile. Location extensions give the physical address of the business and may offer a button for directions.Extensions like these are great to attract a user’s mouse for more information because of the easy interaction being offered. Seller rating extensions appear automatically if the business is rated four stars or higher which instills trust in the user viewing the ad. Finally, sitelink extensions promote supplemental links on the ad and help with broad match searches. The idea behind all ad extensions is to add more text and info to the ad in hopes of it becoming more relevant to searches.
If you are interested in learning more about how to optimize your CTR, contact Adventure Ad Agency.
