At the core of any internet, marketing activity is the understanding of your target audience and their needs and requirements. Your business success will depend on this so it is important to follow the numbers that are tied to your marketing activities. It is very important to know how many people visit your webpage or open your emails to understand the interest in your business. This will help you make informed decisions about your marketing and business actions. However, following these statistics blindly can be a mistake. You have to understand how these numbers are determined and what influences them and just how you can make them better than they are. This is tied to knowing about click-through rates and what is good click-through rate. Our Link Department experts are guiding you through this process.
Click through rates – what they are and their importance
You first need to understand what this metric means in order to use it. Click through rates or CTR are simply put the number of clicks per number of views or impressions. It has a simple equation that goes: the number of clicks on Ad divided by total Ad views. So it is an average number that shows the ratio of clicks that your link views generate. A good rule of thumb is that you want your CTR as high as possible. A high CTR or a good click-through rate shows that your links or ads are drawing attention to your website. It shows a high potential of sales as there is a large number of visitors – potential customers.
The value of CTR is also directly tied to your Quality Score and Ad Rank determined by Google. In fact, Google uses your historical CTR to predict your future and determine your rank. In return, it will ultimately determine your add placements.
At the same time, your CTR will indicate your marketing performance. For example, a low click-through rate will show that there is a problem with your marketing activity. Perhaps you are targeting the wrong audience. You also may be using the wrong keywords or simply reaching out to the wrong demographics. So you can use CTR to enhance your marketing activity and results. But, there are many factors that influence CTR to know and understand. Due to his, answering the question of what are got click-through rates is not an easy task. A good click-through rate will depend on:
- The type of industry,
- Ad format and placement or
- The type of channel that you are using in your marketing.
It depends!
So, as stated there are many factors that will influence just what a good click-through rate is. The fact is that the click-through rate may vary drastically from campaign to campaign. These basic factors that we already listed will be predominant. However, the type of network you are using will also make its mark.
If you are reliant on a search network then your CTR will be higher than if you are relying on a display network. Basically, it means that users on a search network are already seeking content based on certain keywords. Display network users, however, are viewing other content and registering and passively which means that the ads here will generate a lower CTR. The experience also shows that ads on display networks may even be the reason for introducing ad blockers as the ads may be annoying and intrusive.
Industry
The industry is the first factor that determines the levels of your CTR. Depending on the network type many industries have different CTR fluctuations and levels. The statistics show that the highest CTR is present in the Dating and personal services and industry while Employment and consumer services have the lowest CTR at around 0,2%. However, this data is considerably lower if you take a look at the CTRs in the display networks.
Ad format/ placement
The CTR will also vary depending on the Ad dimensions and placement on-page. The size and even media format that you use will influence the CTR significantly. There is even data that can support different decisions about Ad size. Additionally, your CTR may vary depending on its location on the search result page. Ads with higher placement usually have a higher CTR than ads placed lower in the search results. Your ad may be quite low in the search results even though the industry rank is higher and vice versa.
This will depend on the keyword that you use. Your keyword may prove to rank your ad quite high even though your industry ranks low. Some data shows that the Ad in rank one can have a CTR of as much as 7,11% while lower-ranked ads at rank 9 may be as low as 0,55%. This is the result of the fact that most people do not even look for any search results lower than the 3rd position.
Channel
The channels you use will also generate different CTRs. This is tied to the use of social media channels for ad placement and the use of other ways of placing your ads. Google search will always have a higher rate than Facebook search. Also, Twitter has some of the highest ranks, reaching up to 2% while LinkedIn has only 0,02%. This is linked to the purpose of the channel and its outreach. Linkedin has a specific outreach and purpose that limits its effectiveness and reach to people as opposed to FB and TikTok.
However, some channels offer a greater variety of ad types also determining its outreach. This leads to FB video ads having a higher CTR than Twitter. So, based on your starting point and goals you should make a proper strategy and choose your network wisely in order to achieve your goals.
What to do to get a good click-through rate?
As there is no simple answer to what is a good click-through rate the best answer to what you should do is to set your own baseline and goal. So, start to form a certain benchmark for your industry and aim to incrementally improve your own results. Make sure you follow the data and analyze it to make the best improvements possible. Follow the data closely as there will be fluctuations and make the necessary corrections. Also, try not to get your CTR too high. In Pay By Click scenarios, your high CTR may prove to be too expensive while still not generating enough conversion and revenue.