ListCraft HQ

CTR Calculator (Click-Through Rate)

Clicks over impressions — and which of the numbers your platform calls CTR.

By ListCraft HQ Editorial Team

Total clicks on the ad or link.

How many times the ad was shown.

Click-through rate (CTR) 1.50%
Clicks per 1,000 impressions 15
Impressions per click 67 How many views it takes, on average, to earn one click.

The arithmetic

CTR = clicks ÷ impressions × 100. 1,842 clicks from 128,600 impressions is 1.43%.

That part is settled. What takes practice is knowing which of the numbers your platform handed you is the one you think it is.

Three platforms, three different "clicks"

Meta reports two figures and they are not close. CTR (All) counts every click on the ad — the link, the image, the like, the comment, the share. CTR (Link Click-Through Rate) counts only clicks that reached your destination. On a post with real engagement, CTR (All) runs close to double the link rate. To report on traffic rather than engagement, go to Customize Columns → Engagement and add Link Clicks and CTR (Link Click-Through Rate).

Google Ads reports one CTR per campaign, ad group, and ad, added through Columns → Modify columns. For Search that is clicks on the ad divided by impressions of the ad, and nothing else is folded in.

Amazon Ads reports CTR in Campaign Manager beside spend and ACOS, on the same definition as Google. One difference worth knowing before comparing the two: the Amazon figure is computed on ad impressions only, with organic listings excluded.

Why CTR moves what you pay

Your CPM buys impressions. CTR decides how many clicks those impressions turn into, so at a fixed CPM:

CPC = CPM ÷ (CTR × 10)

At a $12 CPM, a 1.2% CTR costs $1.00 a click. At 1.9% it costs $0.63 — 58% more clicks for the same money.

On Google Search there is a second effect. Your historical CTR is not itself a ranking input, but expected CTR is one of the three components of Quality Score, alongside ad relevance and landing page experience. Ad Rank is your bid combined with those components, so a weak expected CTR raises what it costs to hold a position. Raising the bid does not fix it.

CTR stops at the click

Conversion rate begins where CTR ends. A 4% CTR with a 2% conversion rate is not a contradiction — it usually means the ad found the right people and the page did not finish the job.

Rising CTR with flat ROAS means clicks got cheaper and something downstream is absorbing the gain. The CPM & CPC calculator reconciles spend, impressions, clicks, and CPC when the four stop agreeing, and cost per lead picks up the step after that.

Industry benchmarks

Google Search ads (avg) ~3%–6%
Google Display (avg) ~0.5%–1%
Meta Feed ads (typical) ~1%–2%
LinkedIn sponsored content ~0.4%–0.8%
Email marketing CTR ~2%–3%
Ecommerce retargeting often 0.5%–1.5%
Strong paid social creative 2%+
Top search ad performers 8%–10%+

Frequently asked questions

What is a good CTR?

There is no single number, because CTR is a property of the placement as much as of the creative — a Display ad at 0.4% and a branded Search ad at 9% can both be healthy. The comparison worth making is the same campaign against its own last 30 days. Channel averages are good for one thing only: telling you when you are off by an order of magnitude.

What is CTOR, and why is email CTR different?

Email CTR is clicks divided by delivered emails. CTOR, click-to-open rate, divides the same clicks by opens instead, which isolates how the email body performed from the effect the subject line had on opens. Reporting both stops a weak subject line from being read as a weak offer.

Why did my CTR drop after I increased spend?

Broader audiences and tired creative both pull CTR down as spend rises — the ad is now reaching people further from the center of the audience that made it work. Check whether the drop is confined to the new ad sets before repricing the whole campaign. A 20% fall from the 30-day average at similar spend is usually the first sign to refresh creative.

Should I pause an ad with a low CTR?

Not on CTR alone. An ad with a low CTR and a strong [ROAS](/roas-calculator/) is doing its job — CTR measures how many clicked, not how many were worth having. Pause when CTR and downstream conversion fall together, which points at the message rather than the audience.

My Display CTR is 0.1% — is something broken?

Probably not. Display and programmatic routinely run 0.1–0.5%, an order of magnitude below Search, because the ad interrupts rather than answers. Judge Display on reach and view-through conversions instead of holding it to a Search benchmark.

Related calculators

CPM & CPC Calculator (Advertising — Cost Per Mille & Cost Per Click)
Turn ad spend, impressions, and clicks into CPM, CPC, and CTR instantly — built for media buyers, not medical or fitness tools.
Conversion Rate Calculator
The share of visitors who do the thing you want them to do.
ROAS Calculator
Revenue per ad dollar — and whether that number clears your margin.
Amazon ACOS Calculator (Advertising Cost of Sale)
See what share of Amazon sales goes to ads — ACOS, ROAS, and break-even in one place.
Cost Per Lead (CPL) Calculator
Spend divided by leads, and the definition of a lead that changes the answer.
Marketing Budget Calculator
A percentage of revenue in — annual, monthly, and weekly budget out.

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