What Is A Good CTR On The Google Search Network?
One of the most common questions that newcomers ask when they start using Google for their advertising is “What is a good CTR”?
Google splits it’s networks into two separate networks – the Google Search Network and the Google Content Network. So when asking the question about CTR, one needs to specify which of these two networks is being referred to, as CTR results vary greatly between them.
The Search network is when people search directly on Google.com. They enter a search, type in a keyword, and click on the ads that come up. Here the CTR goes from 20+ %, which is when your ad appears at the very top of the search results (right at the top of the organic search results), to all the way down to less then 1% or possibly down to 0.5% if your ad shows up in the number 10 position or lower.
It doesn’t take an Einstein to realise that to get a good CTR, you want to ensure that your ad is in as high a position as possible for a given search result. Furthermore, getting a top position is in a lot of ways a lot more important than how good your ad copy is.
Whilst the Search Network results are almost always in single and double digits, similar results on the Content Network are many times lower. In fact, CTRs of 0.05% are considered quite good.
The numbers can be miniscule, however, the traffic being generated is many times larger. So, just because the CTR figures are much lower in the Content network doesn’t mean that you can’t achieve excellent results.
Nevertheless, if should always be everyone’s goal to get as high a CTR as possible in both the Search and Content Networks. Any CTRs of 1% or less will more than likely raise a red flag to Google and you could quite possibly end up getting Google slapped. This is when Google actively penalises you for having a poorly-performing ad by raising your CPC until you either leave or improve your ad’s CTR.
If your ads are in the top positions, your CTR should be in the high single digits or even double digits if your ads appear in the very top right positions and Google will reward you by lowering your minimum CPC.
Learn more about CTRs. Stop by Andrew Egorov’s site where you can also find out all about avoiding the Google slap and why it’s best that you do.
