Click-through rate
Also called CTR
The percentage of people who click a link, ad, search result or button after seeing it: clicks divided by impressions.
Click-through rate, or CTR, is the share of people who click something after seeing it. The formula is clicks divided by impressions, multiplied by 100. If your search result appears 2,000 times and gets 60 clicks, its CTR is 3%. The term is used for search results, ads, emails, social posts and buttons on a page.
In search, CTR depends on your position, the search features shown above you and how appealing your result looks. You influence the last part through the title tag, meta description and URL, and sometimes through structured data that can make your result eligible for richer displays. On social platforms and in messaging apps, the preview comes from Open Graph tags, so a missing image or title makes links look unfinished.
On a page, CTR describes how many visitors click a specific element, such as the main call-to-action. A low click rate on the primary button usually means the offer is unclear, the button is hard to find or its wording is weak. A higher CTR is not the end goal in itself. A misleading title may get more clicks but more disappointed visitors too, so the promise in the title, ad or button must match what the page delivers.
How to improve it
- Write title tags that lead with the main benefit and keep them short enough not to be cut off.
- Write meta descriptions that summarise the page and give a reason to click.
- Set Open Graph title, description and image so shared links look complete; check them with the free meta tag checker (open tool).
- Add relevant structured data so your page may be eligible for rich results.
- On the page, make the main CTA visible early and use specific wording.
How PageScore checks it
PageScore does not see your search or ad click data. It checks the elements that shape clicks: title tag and meta description length, Open Graph tags, structured data, and the placement and wording of your on-page CTA.