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What is a good CTR for Google Ads

Somebody tells you your click rate should be above five percent. On a branded search you might get twenty, and on a broad research term two percent might be the correct answer. The benchmark is the wrong tool.

Part 1

Click rate measures relevance, not success

It tells you how well your ad matched what the person searched for. That is genuinely useful, because Google documents expected click through rate as one of the components of ad quality, which moves what you pay. It tells you nothing about whether those clicks bought anything.

Do this: Look at click rate and cost per lead side by side. If they disagree, believe the second one.
Part 2

Compare like with like or do not compare at all

Branded searches, where the person typed your company name, click far more than anything else. Mixing them with generic searches produces an average that describes nothing. So does mixing search with display, where a fraction of a percent is normal.

Do this: Split branded and non branded before you judge any click rate number.
Halfway, and free
Part 3

The fastest way to raise it is to make things worse

Bid only on your own brand name and your click rate jumps. Add a discount to every ad and it jumps again. Both raise the number and neither adds a customer, and the second one costs you margin on people who would have paid full price.

Do this: Never set a click rate target on its own. Pair it with cost per lead or it will be gamed, including by you.
Part 4

When a low click rate really is the problem

If your ad shows for the right searches and people do not click, the ad is not saying what they need to hear, or your competitors are saying it better. Read the top three ads for your own main keyword and compare them with yours honestly.

Do this: Search your own main keyword in a private window and read all the ads. Yours is one of them, and usually not the best one.

This is teaching material and our own reading of public documentation, not advice for your specific account. Check anything important with your own specialist before you act on it.

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