What’s A Good CTR in Google Ads (AdWords)?

 

A good Click Through Rate (CTR) in AdWords is only possible when Ads are relevance to searches. If searchers find your Ads related to what they’re searching for, they’ll click through.

 

However, there are many reasons why CTR may be low or high. A good CTR will vary from industry to industry and will depend on factors such as the position of the Ads, campaign type, Search intent, keyword type, device used and others.

 

 

So, it’s not always easy to determine what is a good CTR. However, the following points should help to explain that better:

 

Below 1% CTR
CTRs below 1% are common for Display & Remarketing campaigns. That’s because people are on websites that are part of the Google Display Network and aren’t actively searching for your products or services. But they’re checking out other content and are likely to ignore your image Ads.

 

That’s not a totally bad thing. Traffic volumes are usually higher for display campaigns and its expected that the vast majority of people will not click your image Ads. The people who click Through are usually highly qualified and these are the ones you’re interested in.

 

For Search campaigns, CTRs below 1% aren’t good. They reveal that your Ads are not targeted to the searchers or they are appearing at the bottom of the search results.

 

So, aim to rank higher by improving quality scores and also bidding higher for keywords. Keywords with high Ad Rank generally have higher CTRs. They also help to increase clicks and conversions and help you see what works or doesn’t quickly.

 

Between 1-5% CTR
Achieving CTRs between 1-5% is a good target for a new campaign. It’s a good place to start and with time and additional Optimisation this should be improved.

 

They are common for shopping campaigns and many search campaigns with targeted Ads. One way to improve these CTRs is to check the search terms reports and remove any that aren’t targeted and also have low conversions.

 

Above 5% CTR
If you’re a charity that uses the Google Ad Grant, you’ll need to maintain a minimum 5% CTR average for your account.. This is a new requirement for all charities running campaigns on AdWords.

 

Failure to maintain that means your account will be suspended. Google has taken this step because of advertisers abusing the free funding.

 

The challenge though is that you can’t bid higher than £2. So your ads may not achieve top positions and that’s usually required to have a high CTR.

 

The first step will be to remove all low CTR keywords and search terms and especially one-word keywords. And then do some keyword research to find new long tail keywords that are targeted and will help you maintain that target.

 

For all other advertisers, achieving 5% CTR is not a must, but is a good target to aim for. It ensures your ads are targeted and people have interest in what you have to offer.

 

You can achieve this by bidding for higher positions and appearing in the top 3 positions. And you can optimise Ads that have low CTRs.

 

Above 10% CTR
CTRs above 10% are great and are a sign of highly targeted ads.

 

These are common for businesses that offer services and target a local audience. So think businesses like accountancy business, local tradesmen, legal services and others that offer one or a few services will have fewer searches to target. And it’s easy to know what they’re looking for.

 

20%+ CTR
Click Through Rates above 20% are common with brand searches. People searching for a product brand, service brand or personality brand are likely to click through because they know exactly what they’re looking for.

 

 

You’ll see this if you bid on your own brand name as above. However, if you’re already ranking highly for your own brand name and no one is bidding on it, then you should not bid on your brand name.

 

This will be wasted spend. These searchers can easily click on your organic listing and still come through to your website.

 

CTRs above 20% are rare for general searches. There’s usually a lot of competition and searchers have many advertisers to choose from. Also, your ads are unlikely to be highly targeted for general searches so you’ll get fewer clicks.

Conclusion 
There’re many benefits to high CTRs. However a good CTR will differ for each business sector and keyword type. So you should understand what type of keywords you’re bidding on and what average CTRs are in your sector.