What is a click through rate? As the most basic measurement of whether or not a user saw an ad and appeared to want more from that message, the click-through rate (CTR) represents the percentage of people who “clicked” on a placement. 

How do click-through rates work? Figuring out the number of clicks and determining what motivated users to clickthrough tends to be based on cleverly worded ad's copy, image, and the positioning of the placement. A “premium” banner ad tends to be more artfully created and to have a more inviting message, such as the promise of finding out more information about a marketer or making a purchase. Advertisers can improve their CTR by creating ads that are relevant to their target audience and that are displayed in prominent locations.

Types of click-through rates:

There are two main types of CTR:

• Organic CTR: This is the CTR for ads that are displayed naturally in search engine results pages (SERPs).
• Paid CTR: This is the CTR for ads that are displayed through paid search advertising programs.

How to measure click-through rate: CTR is calculated by dividing the number of clicks on an ad by the number of times the ad is displayed. For example, if an ad is displayed 100 times and receives 10 clicks, the CTR would be 10%.

Why are click-through rates important to marketers? CTR is simply the most basic way to find out how effective an ad buy is. A high CTR indicates that the ad is relevant to the target audience and that it is effective at driving traffic to the advertiser's website.

Job titles that need to know what click-through rates are:

• Digital marketing manager
• Paid search specialist
• Social media manager
• Content marketing manager
• Affiliate manager
• E-commerce manager
• Product manager
• Marketing analyst
• Brand manager

Use click-through rate in a sentence: “The only way we can improve our click-through rates is by making sure our copy is clear and that there’s no mistaking a consumer’s intent for an accidental click.”