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Glossary · Analytics & reporting

click-through rate

Also called CTR

Reviewed 31 Oct 2026 By Madiha Fatima 3 min read Check it yourself: yes, free

3 min
Definition

Click-through rate is the percentage of people who saw your listing in a search result and clicked it. Impressions in, clicks out. If a page is shown a hundred times and clicked five times, its click-through rate is five percent. Google's Search Console reports it for every page and every search, free.

The same term applies to adverts and emails, but in a search report it means organic listings. What counts as a good rate depends entirely on position. The top result takes a large share of clicks and page two takes almost none, so compare a page against where it ranks, not against a universal number.

Short version: of everyone who saw you, how many chose you.
Why it matters for your business

The cheapest growth in SEO
is a better listing, not a better ranking.

Most SEO work tries to move a page up. Click-through rate is the other lever, and it is usually cheaper. A page already on page one is being shown to real people every day. If its title tag is a bare company name and its meta description is a sentence Google wrote for it, it is losing clicks to the listings above and below. Rewriting both takes an hour and needs no new content and no new links.

It also tells you when a ranking report is lying by omission. A page can hold position three and bring almost nothing if the listing does not earn the click, while a page at position six with a clear, specific title brings more visits. When a report celebrates positions, look for the click-through rate beside them.

A falling rate at a steady position is a warning too. It usually means the results page changed around you: an AI Overview, a map pack or more adverts have appeared above you and are taking the clicks you used to get.

Example

A law firm at position four
that nobody was clicking.

The listing before

A family law firm ranked fourth for divorce solicitor searches in its city. The title tag was the firm's name and the words Home Page. The description was the first line of the footer, pulled in by Google. Impressions were healthy and clicks were a trickle.

Oakfield Family Law | Home Page Copyright Oakfield Family Law. All rights reserved. Registered office: ...
The listing after

The title became what the page actually was: divorce solicitors in the city, fixed-fee first meeting. The description said who the firm helps, how quickly they can be seen and that the first call is with a solicitor, not a call centre. Same position, same page, same words on it. Clicks rose within weeks, because the listing finally said what the page offered.

Divorce Solicitors in Manchester | Fixed-fee first meeting Speak to a family solicitor this week. Clear fees, no call centre, offices near the station.
How to check it on your site

Three steps in Search Console, one rewrite.

Tick each one as you go. 0 of 4 checked on your site.

  1. Turn on the CTR and position columns

    In Google Search Console, open Performance and tick Average CTR and Average position so all four numbers show. Go to the Pages tab. You are looking for pages with a good position, say the top eight, and a rate well below their neighbours.

  2. Read your listing as a stranger

    Search the main query for that page in a private browser window and find your result. Does the title say what the page is and who it is for? Does the description give a reason to pick you over the two results either side? If either is a company name or a stray sentence, that is the fix.

  3. Rewrite, then wait a few weeks

    Change the title and description, keep the page itself as it is, and come back to the same report after three or four weeks with the same date range. Position should be roughly unchanged and the rate higher. If the position dropped instead, the new title drifted from the search the page ranks for.

  4. Check what else is on the results page

    If the rate fell without any change on your side, look at the results page itself. New adverts, a map pack or an AI summary above you explain most sudden drops, and the response is different for each.

Related terms

Usually in the same sentence.

Read next

Where this shows up in practice.

Content Say one clear thing

The principle behind a title people click: one promise, in their words.

 AI search AI Overviews and your traffic

Why click-through rates fell on informational searches, and what still gets clicked.

 Service SEO & AI search

Title and description rewrites on pages already ranking are a first-month job in the SEO service.
Related service

Rewriting titles and descriptions for pages that already rank is one of the first things the SEO service does, because it pays back fastest. Prices are on the price list, not on a call.

See the SEO service
Reviewed by Madiha Fatima, founder of 99creatix

Every entry in this glossary is written and checked by the person who runs the agency, reviewed at least once a quarter and dated. Last reviewed 31 October 2026.

Spotted an error or a term we are missing? Tell us and it is fixed within the week.

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Next step

Want to see which of your pages
are shown but not clicked?

Fifteen minutes and your Search Console. We will point at the pages already on page one that are losing the click, and tell you what the rewrite would cost, before you decide anything.

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