Clicks divided by impressions, expressed as a percentage. CTR measures how compelling an ad is to the people who saw it, not whether they were the right people. Search CTRs run in the single digits and above; display CTRs are typically well under 1 percent; social CTRs sit between. Because CTR feeds Quality Score and its equivalents, it influences price as well as reporting.
Related terms
Used in The Signal
- A Free Reference Library for Digital Advertising, and Five Other Things We Give Away
- CTR Benchmarks Are Where Strategy Goes to Hide
- PPC Works in Weeks and Compounds in Quarters
- Quality Score Is a Diagnostic, Not a KPI
- The Metric Going Up Is Hiding the One Going Down
- UGC Ads Work Until Everyone's Feed Is a Testimonial
- Your Ad Copy Was Never the Real Creative Problem
- Your Facebook Ads Are Fine. Something Downstream Is Not.
Cite this entry:
Agency Echelon. "CTR." Agency Echelon Reference, reviewed September 2026. https://agencyechelon.com/reference/glossary/ctr/