Classic Search
Click-Through Rate (CTR)
Click-through rate (CTR) is the share of a search result’s impressions that turned into clicks: clicks divided by impressions, for the same query, page and period. In Search Console it covers Google’s own results, so it depends on the result’s position, its title and snippet, and what else the results page shows.
- Industry term
By QueryRev ResearchPublished Updated5 min read
Why it matters.
Click-through rate is where a ranking becomes a visit. Search Console defines it simply as clicks divided by impressions[1], and it is the first figure to move when a result changes without its position changing: a new title, a richer result from a competitor, or an answer shown above the links.
Google’s guide to traffic drops uses it to tell causes apart: if impressions stay the same while clicks drop, the page may not have the best title and snippet it could, or other sites may have a more appealing rich result[2]. A falling rate on steady impressions is a problem with the result, not with demand.
Position does not set it alone. Every link in an AI Overview shares the overview’s single position[1], and a box that answers the question can end the search before any click, the pattern called zero-click search. Two pages at the same average position can earn very different rates.
Small differences need their counts beside them. In QueryRev’s study, Bytespider and CCBot are blocked by name on 9.5% and 9.4% of the sites read, a tenth of a point apart that is one site, 595 against 594[3]. A rate that moves by a tenth of a point on a few thousand impressions has moved by a handful of clicks.
How it is measured.
Divide clicks by impressions for the same query, page, country, device and period. In Search Console a click is counted when it takes the searcher to a page outside Google Search, Discover or News, and a click on a link in an AI Overview counts as a click[1].
Compare a page’s rate with your own pages of the same kind at the same position, not with a published table of rates by position: what sits above and around a link changes from one query to the next, and so does the rate.
Leave branded queries out when the question is how well a page wins new searchers. People who type the name of a business usually mean to visit it, and their clicks lift the rate of every page they reach.
From our practice: in September 2026, an e-commerce furniture brand in the US saw its click-through rate dip, and its monthly report put the dip down to new guides that added many impressions at a low rate.
Measured by
- Clicks ÷ impressions
- By query and page
- Against the same position
A worked example.
Sample data: an invented site, to show the method.
A kitchen-fitting company’s guide to worktop materials sits at an average position of 3.2 for its main queries. Over 28 days it earns 41,000 impressions and 820 clicks, a click-through rate of 2.0%, while the company’s other guides at positions 3 to 4 average 4.6%.
Its title reads “Worktops – Kitchen Guide”, and the results page shows a box of questions above it. The title is rewritten to name the materials compared and their price range, and the rate is read again over the following four weeks at the same position.
What to do, step by step.
In Search Console, list the pages with many impressions and a rate below that of your other pages at similar positions.
Look at the results page for their main queries: what sits above the link, and what the competing titles promise.
Rewrite the title and description to say what the page answers, in the words people search with.
Where the answer is shown in full on the results page, judge the page by the visits it still earns and what they lead to.
Read the rate again over the following weeks, at the same position and with branded queries left out.
Mistakes to avoid.
Using a published table of rates by position. Rates depend on the query, the device and what the results page shows. Your own pages at the same position are the fairer comparison.
Blending branded and non-branded queries. Searches for a business by name usually end on its site, so a rise in brand demand can lift the rate of the whole site without any change to its pages.
Reading a rate without its impressions. A site that starts to appear for many new searches low in the results sees its rate fall while its clicks rise. Read the rate beside the clicks and the impressions.
Chasing the rate with misleading titles. A title that promises what the page does not deliver can win a click and lose the visitor. Raise the rate only with a result that describes the page.
How QueryRev treats it.
QueryRev reads click-through rate from Search Console by page and query, beside the position and the features of the results page, and compares each page with the site’s own pages at similar positions. A page well below its peers becomes a title and snippet decision with that evidence, approved by a person and written to the Change Ledger. Which rates belong in a client report, and how to read them month by month, is set out in Monthly SEO report: what to include.
Questions people ask.
What is a good click-through rate for SEO?
There is no single good rate. It depends on the position, the query, the device and what else the results page shows. Compare a page with your own pages of the same kind at the same position, and with its own past.
Why is my click-through rate falling while my clicks rise?
Usually because the site now appears for more searches, many of them at low positions where few people click. The extra impressions lower the rate even as the clicks grow.
Does Search Console count clicks from AI Overviews?
Yes. A click on a link in an AI Overview counts as a click, and every link in the overview shares its single position, so it is part of the page’s click-through rate.
Sources and citation.
Primary sources only: the search engines, the AI vendors, standards bodies and QueryRev’s own research. Each is cited in the text by its number.
What are impressions, position, and clicks?Google Search Console Help ·
Debugging drops in Google Search trafficGoogle Search Central ·
State of AI crawler access, October 2026QueryRev Research ·
Cite this definition
A suggested citation. Its link goes to the definition, whose anchor does not change.
QueryRev Research. “Click-Through Rate (CTR).” QueryRev AI glossary, 19 October 2026. https://queryrev.com/glossary/click-through-rate#definition
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