# What is CTR (click-through rate)? > Click-through rate (CTR) is the percentage of impressions that turn into clicks: clicks divided by impressions, multiplied by 100. URL: https://yes-seo.com/glossary/ctr **Click-through rate (CTR)** is the share of people who click a result after seeing it. In organic search, it tells you how attractive your listing is compared with everything else on the page — the other results, ads, maps, videos and AI-generated answers competing for the same attention. ``` CTR = clicks ÷ impressions × 100 A page shown 4,000 times that gets 120 clicks: 120 ÷ 4,000 × 100 = 3.0% CTR ``` In Google Search Console, an impression is counted when your result appears on a results page the user loads, even if they never scroll to it, and a click is any click that leads to your site. Google defines these in its [Performance report metrics](https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/7042828) help page. ## What drives organic CTR - **Position.** The biggest factor. Higher results get more clicks, with a steep drop down the page. - **SERP layout.** Ads, a [featured snippet](https://yes-seo.com/glossary/featured-snippet), “People also ask”, a local pack or an AI Overview push organic results further down and can answer the query without a click. - **Query type.** Navigational searches for a brand often have very high CTR for that brand’s site. Quick factual queries tend to have low CTR because the answer sits on the results page. - **Your snippet.** The [title tag](https://yes-seo.com/glossary/title-tag), [meta description](https://yes-seo.com/glossary/meta-description), URL and any rich result enhancements are the parts you control. ## Improving CTR without clickbait Focus on pages with many impressions and a CTR below what similar pages on your site get at the same position — that combination means people see you but choose someone else. Then: - Lead the title with the words searchers use and make the benefit concrete (“with free template”, “2026 prices”, “in 5 steps”) — but only if the page delivers it. - Write the description as an answer plus a reason to click, roughly 140–160 characters so it isn’t cut short. - Keep titles within roughly 580–600 pixels on desktop; Google truncates by width, not character count, and rewrites titles that don’t describe the page well. - Add valid structured data where Google still shows rich results for your content type. ## Common mistakes when reading CTR - **Comparing across positions.** A 2% CTR is poor at position 1 and excellent at position 9. Compare like with like. - **Mixing branded and non-branded queries.** Branded searches inflate averages; filter them out to judge your snippets. - **Trusting the page-level average.** A page ranking for 300 queries has 300 different CTRs. Look at the queries that matter most. - **Misleading titles.** A promise the page doesn’t keep may lift clicks briefly, but frustrated visitors and Google’s title rewrites cancel it out. ## How to check Search Console shows your real CTR by query and page. To improve the snippet behind it, test new titles and descriptions in the [SERP Preview](https://yes-seo.com/serp-preview): it renders the desktop and mobile Google result with real pixel-width truncation and character counts, so you can see what searchers will see before you publish. ## Frequently asked questions ### What is a good organic CTR? It depends on position, query type and the features on the results page, so there is no universal benchmark. Compare a page with your own pages at similar positions for similar queries. ### Is CTR a Google ranking factor? Testimony in the US antitrust case against Google confirmed that aggregated user-interaction data informs some ranking systems, but there is no simple rule where a higher CTR means higher rankings. Treat CTR as a measure of how well your snippet competes, not as a ranking lever. ### Why did my CTR drop while rankings stayed the same? Common causes are new SERP features such as an AI Overview or more ads above your result, a competitor with a stronger snippet, Google rewriting your title, or seasonal changes in what people search for.