Click Through Rate (CTR)

CTR, short for click-through rate is the ratio of the number of times a user clicks on an online Internet advertisement compared to the number of times that same online internet ad was displayed. For example, if one out of 100 people click on that advertisement then are taken to the advertiser's site, then the CTR of that specific advertisement is 1/100, or 1%.

Click-through rate calculations give you the relative success of an online advertising campaign.

The more successful the campaign, the higher the CTR. Maybe. Because, a high CTR doesn't guarantee an profitable campaign.

The highest possible click-through rate is 100% - which never happens. In other words, a campaign where every person who sees the advertisement clicks through to the advertiser’s website.

The click-through rate is calculated simply by comparing the number of users who have clicked on a banner, text or other online ad against the number of times the advertisement has been displayed.

Calculating click-through rate

To calculate the click-through rate of a campaign you’ll need to know:

the number of impressions, and
the number of times people have clicked on the advertisement (also referred to as the number of clicks).

For example, the CTR on a 150-impression campaign, where 15 people have clicked through to your website, is 10%:

Adding the CTR calculation to your marketing plans will cause you to monitor your online marketing campaigns for success or failure. Keeping a close eye on your CTR in one of the most important aspects of any pay-per-click, pay-per-view or banner ad marketing campaign. It can mean the difference between profit or loss for your campaign