AdWords Tips
Everyone always asks me, “What’s a good click-through rate?” The standard answer I always hear is 2%. My answer is always, it depends.
If you don’t want your Quality Scores to suffer, you need to think twice about always targeting a 2% CTR. Quality Scores are very dependent on your CTR by Average Position, so it’s worth getting a good understanding of what this means.
So, what does it mean? People will usually click on the top ad of a SERP (search engine results page), because, well, it’s the first thing that they see. Position 1 will always have a high CTR, and CTR will continue to descend naturally in positions 2, 3, 4 and so on. This being the case, Google knows that position 1 and position 4 are not created equal, and therefore does not treat them equally.
Google does not want to give up their prime real estate (position 1) for a 2% CTR when they can triple their revenue with a 6% CTR. Sure, you can bid up and get there, but what will Google do about this? Drop your Quality Score significantly so you are literally paying for it (or reward you with the dreaded “Rarely shown due to Quality Score” message that you may be seeing in your account).
The opposite is true of lower positions. If you’re putting up a 2% CTR in position 8, Google will reward you with a high Quality Score for bringing them clicks and revenue so low on the page. You’ll pay a lot less and may see Quality Scores of 7+.
So, What’s a Good Click-Through Rate?
Here are some good CTR targets, depending on ad position, for some 7+ Quality Scores:
Position 1: 6%+
Position 2: 4-5%
Position 3: 2-3%
Position 4: 1-2%
Position 5 and lower: 1%
Remember, Click-Through Rate isn’t the only thing that affects Quality Score, but it’s one of the largest factors and deserves some serious attention.
Tony Testaverde is a paid search strategist at WordStream, particularly focused on managing AdWords and Bing accounts for e-commerce and lead gen clients. He studied Economics at Tufts University and has played football his whole life. Born and raised in Gloucester, MA (home of the Perfect Storm, Wicked Tuna, and The Greasy Pole).
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Comments
Friday February 22, 2013
Eloi (not verified) Said:
Great idea for a write up !
I think it's a little pessimistic on premium positions, in my markets, we regularly see CTRs above 10-15% when in premium.
My 2 cents
Friday February 22, 2013
Elisa Gabbert Said:
Dang, look at you! Nice CTRs.
Friday February 22, 2013
Andy (not verified) Said:
I always found that it depended on the type of keyword as well...
When I bid on my own brand name (not everyone does... different blog post), I expect CTRs around 15%-25%. My core-business-terms and related-business-terms tend to follow the pattern you describe. But if I ever bid on a competitor's brand name, I counted myself lucky if I got half a percent - even in position 2.
Monday February 25, 2013
Rolands (not verified) Said:
Hi Andy,
Is it worth bid on competitors name? I had found that bidding on competitors names and models (at least for our niche B2B) results not in low CTR's which affect quality score, but also almost always do not give any conversions. When customer search particular model, he most likey is searching for example product manual, or support.
Friday February 22, 2013
Tony (not verified) Said:
Eloi,
I agree - a little conservative on the CTR estimates, but I'd use them as a floor for good quality scores. You're golden if you get into the 10-15% range (must have some good ad copy and offers!).
Andy,
Good comments, too. I'd definitely use the number suggested here as targets, but for branded keywords I usually aim for about 20%+. I've also had the same luck with competitor brands. If you can get 6%+ for a competitor brand that's awesome, but the intent there is usually to find they're website, so it's a tough play.
Thanks for the great comments!
Tony
Friday February 22, 2013
Ian Rhodes (not verified) Said:
I'd agree with the two comments above. CTR expectations can be wholly dependent upon the market (B2B / Retail) and the intent of the keyword (purchase / research).
Brand focused campaigns can typically see CTR levels upwards of 20% CTR as conservative estimates.
To formulate an average CTR expectation (are we talking mobile inc. or separating out mobile campaigns?) can be an exceptionally tricky prospect.
Another potential impact upon CTR expectation setting is through the positioning of the ad. You can comfortably predict a 7.5% - 10%+ CTR if the Ad sits above the organic search results. If, however, the keyword is associated with research-based search where Google choose to place the ads on the right-hand side, expectations would be set considerably lower.
Just some more food for thought!
Ian
Friday February 22, 2013
Jordan McClements (not verified) Said:
Assuming position 3 is usually above the search results and 4 is usually at the side of results, and that we are talking about Google Search rather than Google Search Network....
I disagree about the difference in CTR between position 3 and position 4. I think it is much bigger than that.
Friday February 22, 2013
Nick Johansson (not verified) Said:
What about CTR based on industry type? We do PPC for our web design firm and find that in general CTR is pretty low. Whereas when ive worked on clients PPC (sign manufacturer) they typically get a much higher CTR.
Monday February 25, 2013
Victor (not verified) Said:
Hi Nick!
You'll have to pay more attention to WordStream's research ;) For a brief period of time, we had released the average CTR based on industry type for both AdWords and the Google Display Network. Unfortunately we had to remove it from our website because it was not in compliance with Google AdWords' API policy, but I'm sure that won't stop you from finding out how 24 Hours in the Google Economy could shed some light to your question.
Wednesday February 27, 2013
Becca (not verified) Said:
Wednesday March 13, 2013
Adwords CTR (not verified) Said:
You're right about the position affecting your CTR. We also get asked what a good CTR is and it's always different. It depends on the position of the ad (obviously) but also the vertical you're in and whether or not you are using ad extensions since having them can help increase your CTR in many cases as well.
Thursday March 21, 2013
Dat To (not verified) Said:
Thank you Tony for this timely message. I've asked 3X's about QS to GAdwords Reps and it's frustrating when i don't see what they say match up w/ over 30% of our kw's. This was never explained by them. And you've got some great points including the fact that they don't want to give up position #1 for 2% CTR if they can make more $ w/ 6% or higher.
Monday June 17, 2013
anaberges (not verified) Said:
I agree with the global idea, a good CTR depends on the position of the Ad. Howeber I believe the CTR values depend strongly on the industry, the country and matches structure.
1) The industry: in some business are more competitors betting like tourism, real estate sector, ...
2) The country: the more competitors the lower CTR. For instance, in Latin America you can get really good CTRs in lower positions
3) The matches structure: is not the same to use broad match that using exact and phrase matches. The CTR is quite
different..
Sorry for my English
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