Click through rate can be measured in marketing many ways. The most common use is in PPC ad campaigns, but CTR is also measured in organic search SEO, email marketing, We’ve broken down what CTR can means for your marketing needs, especially with SEO.
CTR in PPC
In a pay-per-click campaign, a business will pay each time their ad is clicked. CTR is extra important for PPC campaigns, because it is the measurement of how many times an ad is clicked and the cost for that click. Since each click costs a certain cost per click, and each click brings traffic and hopefully conversions to a website.
A higher CTR percentage in PPC campaigns indicates that the ad is well targeted and optimized. A low CTR reveals that either your targeting sucks and your ad is not attractive enough
CTR in PPC is extremely important as it affects your ad’s Quality Score, which correlates with the cost per click (CPC). A high quality ad with a high click through rate will result in a maximum quality score, so your ads cost less to run, improving your overall ROI.
CTR and SEO
Websites that are search engine optimized will appear higher on Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs). Click through rate is often measured on websites set up with Google Analytics to get an idea of how often your link is clicked when it appears in SERPs.
A high CTR can help your SEO efforts; Google recognizes click through rate as an indicator of good, relevant content. If Google recognizes your website’s high CTR on organic search, it may move your website up higher in the search engine results. This will help your website’s SEO and increase traffic and therefore potential leads.
If you have a high CTR as well as a high bounce rate, Google may recognize that your content is not relevant to those search results and lower your ranking. This is another reason why quality content is important to SEO.
CTR and Email Marketing
Click through rate is also measured in email marketing. In this medium, CTR is not how often your email is opened (this is called an open rate), but it measures how often a link in your email is clicked.
Some emails may have various possible links for consumers to click through – you can set up tracking for all of these links. CTR reveals how often people actually engage with the content in your email and click to learn more, as opposed to just opening it to get rid of the notification in their inbox.
Click through rate is important to email marketing campaigns, as the point of sending your emails is probably to get users back to your website to learn more or convert into customers. If your emails have a low CTR, focus on the content and calls to action to drive more clicks.
