We get this question all the time from clients, “What’s a good click through rate? or CTR?” So after reading Yahoo!’s Search Marketing Blog post on answering the questions about good click through rates, I’ll share my thoughts as well.

The short answer: is that there isn’t a standard click through rate to measure your PPC campaigns against. It truly depends and can change based on a variety of factors:

• The keyword itself – is it specific to your business? Is it at the core of what you do best? If it isn’t, then the CTR will be lower, since it will be a stretch that you are even using that keyword in your campaign. Maybe you are using the keyword for branding purposes? Then the CTR will be lower
• How you target the keyword – is the keyword running on broad match? Then expect a lower CTR again since your ad will be used for a variety of related phrases and may not be as targeted as it could be for a specific or exact match.
• The ad position – it’s a fact that the higher up in the SERPs your ad is, the higher your CTR, but sometimes your CPC too, right?
• Your competition – is the competition better known for the keyword? or in general? then lower CTR here too.
• How great your ad is – does your ad use the keyword in the title and/or the ad description? Then expect to see a higher CTR because you went the extra mile

Keep these in mind as you create your campaigns and remember that CTR can and will change based on competitors and seasonality too. Good luck!