What is a Successful Click-Through Rate?

By Stephanie Miles
June 23, 2022

Related: Download “5 Steps to Maximizing Click Through Rates” Webinar on the Free Stuff page.

What is a Click–Through Rate?

You’ve probably heard that click-through rates are essential to display advertising. Click-through rate (CTR) or ad-click rate, is a way of measuring the number of clicks an online ad receives. CTR is used by most publishers and advertisers to measure how effective an ad is. 

To calculate the CTR of an ad, take the number of clicks and divide it by the number of impressions, or amount of times an ad has been viewed. The formula for CTR is: 

Clicks ÷ Impressions = Click-Through Rate (CTR)

For example, if an ad received 7 clicks and 100 impressions, then the ad’s CTR would be 7%.

What is a Successful Click–Through Rate?

The global internet average CTR is .05%. This means that a normal ad you see likely receives 1 click out of every 2000 impressions. 

A “good” CTR is any CTR that meets or exceeds the industry average of .05%. 

In practice, a good CTR means that visitors find the ads on your website to be helpful and relevant. 

How Do I Increase My Click–Through Rate?

Nearly all publishers want more clicks on their display ads and there are many ways to increase a CTR easily:

1. Larger Ads

The highest performing display ads are usually large, like the 970×250 and 4:1. These ads are impossible to miss and draw us in to click. 

2. Higher on Page

The higher on the page, the more visible the ads will be to readers. The more visible the ad, the more likely we are to click. 

3. Striking Imagery 

Appealing and high quality imagery gets performance. Visuals will always exceed the performance of even the best copy – expect a 2 to 3x increase in clicks!

4. Optimized for Mobile

More and more readers are using their cell phones and tablets, with mobile usage at an all-time high in 2023. Ads optimized for mobile reading ensures that ads don’t drop to the bottom of the page. Placing ads in-between paragraphs ensures that both mobile and desktop readers have no choice but to see the ad as they read an article, guaranteeing an above average CTR. 

5. Dynamic Ad Formats

Static and standard banner ads usually get the average clickthrough rate of .05% – they are easy to skim past. However, dynamic and non traditional ads, like The Billboard or Amazing Cube, regularly achieve click-through rates of .5% to 1% (that’s 10 to 20 times greater). That performance keeps advertisers happy and leads to extended renewals.

Click Through Rates – Key Takeaways:

• Click-through rates are a way of measuring how effective an ad is.
• The internet average CTR is .05%.
• Campaigns with good CTR keep readers and advertisers happy.
• Larger, higher, clearer, mobile optimized, and visual ads produce an above average CTR. 
• Dynamic ad formats like The Billboard or Amazing Cube have substantially higher CTR.

Still stuck with low click-through rates? Put an end to average CTRs by reading 5 Steps to Maximizing Click Through Rates