Using The Google Search Network – What Is A Good CTR?

One of the most common questions that newcomers ask when they start using Google for their advertising is “What is a good CTR”?

The first thing you need to understand when asking this question is the fact that there are two networks involved – the Google Search Network and the Google Content Network – and that CTR applies differently to both.

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.

When you’re looking at the Content Network on Google’s partner sites, the CTR has an entirely different meaning. The CTR will drop dramatically when compared with Search network CTR figures. You might see CTR figures of 0.05% which is whole lot less than typical Search network results.

But these low percentages are not the full story. The amount of traffic being generated by the Content Network far outweighs these low CTRs. It is still possible to achieve incredible results using the Content Network.

However, you should always aim for having a high CTR within the Google search engine overall. If your general overall CTR is less than 1%, Google will deem your ads as being of low quality and you will end up getting “Google slapped” (which is where Google will penalise you with an ever-increasing minimum CPC) because your ad does not attract enough clicks.

Try to keep your ads in the top positions, and your CTRs should always remain in the high single or even double digits – more than enough to keep Google happy and reduce 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.

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