Click-Through Rate (CTR)
Click-through rate (CTR) is the percentage of people who click a link, ad or search result after seeing it, calculated as clicks divided by impressions, multiplied by 100.
CTR in organic search
Organic CTR depends on ranking position, how compelling your title and description are, and what else appears on the results page. AI summaries have become a big factor: Pew found people clicked a traditional result in 8% of Google visits that showed an AI summary, against 15% without one (Pew Research Center, July 2025).
CTR in ads and email
In ads, CTR signals how relevant the ad is to the audience and affects quality scores. In email, click rate has become more reliable than open rate since Apple's Mail Privacy Protection began inflating opens in 2021 (Litmus on Apple Mail Privacy Protection).
Formula
CTR = (clicks / impressions) x 100
See SEO and why open rates mislead.