Free calculator

CTR Calculator

Click-through rate is the share of people who saw your ad and clicked it: clicks divided by impressions, times 100. Enter your numbers and pick the campaign type, and the calculator shows where your CTR sits against the Google Ads accounts I can see. For Search, the median is 8.54%.

Your numbers

Clicks

Impressions

Campaign type

Result

CTR

8.50%

clicks / impressions x 100

Median for Search

8.54%

middle half

Where you sit

Middle half

of the 53 Search accounts

CTR formula

CTR = clicks / impressions x 100

An ad shown 2,000 times that got 120 clicks has a CTR of 120 / 2,000 x 100 = 6%. Google Ads shows the same number in the CTR column, worked out the same way for any date range you pick.

CTR in the Google Ads accounts I can see

Search CTR is many times higher than the other campaign types. A Search ad shows up right after someone types what they want. A Performance Max or Demand Gen ad mostly shows next to something they are reading or watching.

Campaign type	Median CTR	Middle half
Search 53 accounts	8.54%	6.28% to 13.13%
Performance Max 31 accounts	1.29%	0.83% to 2.30%
Shopping 16 accounts	0.66%	0.50% to 0.85%
Demand Gen 11 accounts	0.66%	0.53% to 1.03%

US accounts I can see through the Google Ads API that spent $1,000 or more on the campaign type and recorded a conversion, 30 May 2026 to 28 Aug 2026. The middle half is the 25th to the 75th percentile.

How to raise a low Search CTR

Put the keyword, or the problem behind it, in headline 1. Searchers scan for the words they typed.
Add a number or a price to one headline. It gives people a reason to pick your ad over the next one.
Fill in sitelinks, callouts and structured snippets. With them, your ad is bigger on the page.
Add negative keywords for searches you'll never win. They cost impressions and drag the average down.

My PPC ad copy guide has worked examples of each. Once people click, the conversion rate calculator shows how many of them the page turns into leads or sales, and the CPM calculator turns a CTR into a cost per click.

Questions I get about CTR

What is the formula for click-through rate?

CTR = clicks / impressions x 100. 120 clicks from 2,000 impressions is 120 / 2,000 x 100 = 6%.

What is a good CTR for Google Ads?

For Search, the median in the 53 US accounts I can see was 8.54%, and the middle half ran from 6.28% to 13.13%. Performance Max is much lower, 1.29%, because most of its impressions are on display, YouTube and Gmail.

Does CTR affect Quality Score?

Yes. Expected click-through rate is one of the three parts of Quality Score, with ad relevance and landing page experience. Google compares your expected CTR to other advertisers on the same keyword.

Why is my CTR high but my conversions low?

The ad gets the click and the page loses it. Check that the landing page repeats the promise in the ad, loads fast on a phone, and puts the form or phone number where people can see it. Then check your search terms for clicks from people who were never going to buy.

Is a higher CTR always better?

No. An ad that promises something the page does not deliver can lift CTR and cut the conversion rate. Judge CTR next to the cost per conversion.