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What Is the Average CTR for Google Ads?

Leah Davies

June 19, 2026 |Search Marketing

Click-through rate (CTR) is a key metric for marketers to track. In this blog, we’ll cover all things CTR, explaining the average CTR for Google Ads, why it matters, and what you can do to improve it.

 

Discover the average click-through rate, cost-per-click and conversion rate for your industry in our 2026 UK Paid Advertising Benchmark Report.

 

Click-through rate (CTR) is a marketing metric used to measure how often people click on your advert. It is basically the percentage of total ad views or impressions that resulted in a click. To calculate your CTR, divide the number of clicks your ad receives by the number of times your ad is shown.

CTR = (click-throughs / impressions) x 100

For example, if your PPC ad made 100 impressions and 4 clicks, that would be a 4% CTR.

There are many factors that can influence CTR, including:

  • Your competition
  • Your maximum bid
  • Your position on the page
  • Your ad copy relevancy.
  • Your audience and keyword targeting

Overall, the CTR indicates how relevant searchers are finding your ad in relation to their search query.

  • High CTR = searchers find the ad highly relevant
  • Low CTR = searchers find the ad less relevant

A higher CTR generally means that your ad and keyword relevancy is better than those with a lower CTR.

Search engines like Google, will look at your previous CTR and forecast future ones to determine how well your ad matches somebody’s search.

 

CTR is an important metric because it can tell you a lot about what works and what doesn’t work when trying to reach your target audience and help you gauge how well your keywords and ad copy, and images are performing.

A low CTR could indicate you are not targeting the right audience, lack of persuasive ad copy, or have a substandard offer. Whereas a high CTR suggests your ads are performing well and being engaged with by your target audience.

Not only does CTR give you an understanding of your audience and the relevancy of your ads, but it also contributes to your Ad Rank. This is important because your Ad rank is the value that’s used to determine your ad position (where ads are shown on a page relative to other ads) and whether your ads will show at all. Therefore, a poor CTR can result in a low ad position, regardless of how much you bid.

 

It is difficult to pin down a single “good” CTR for Google Ads, because performance can vary significantly by industry, keyword intent and campaign goal. In broad benchmark studies, average Google Search CTR typically sits in the low‑to‑mid single digits, and many marketers will consider anything around 5%+ as strong for most search campaigns.

According to LOCALiQ’s 2026 UK Paid Search Benchmark Report, the average CTR across our UK search campaigns in 2025 was 9%*, with individual industries sitting above and below this figure depending on factors such as intent, competitiveness and regulation.

It’s more valuable to compare your performance against the typical range for your sector and your own historic results, rather than aiming for a single universal CTR number.

*Data taken from a combination of Google Ads & Microsoft Ads.

 

Regardless of where your CTR currently sits, there is almost always scope to improve how you attract and qualify clicks.

  1. Sharpen keyword and audience alignment
    Focus your budget on queries that closely match your products or services and the intent you want to capture. Tighten your keyword groups, add negatives to strip out low intent searches, and review search terms regularly so you are paying for clicks that are genuinely likely to convert, not just inflate traffic.
  2. Strengthen the keyword–ad–landing page journey
    People are more likely to click when the ad clearly reflects what they have just searched for and follows through on that promise after the click. Reflect key search terms in your headlines, speak directly to the problem or need behind the query, and ensure your landing page continues the same message with a clear, relevant call to action.
  3. Use assets and automation to scale relevant clicks
    Make full use of ad assets (such as sitelinks, callouts and images) to increase your footprint on the results page and give users more reasons to click. Combine this with smart bidding and responsive search ads, but set clear targets and keep on top of search term and negative keyword hygiene so rising CTR is driven by high quality queries rather than wasted spend.

For more tips on how to improve your paid search campaigns, and to unlock other average metrics such as conversion rate and cost-per-click, download the 2026 UK Paid Search Benchmark Report.

 

Average CTR: Wrapping up

CTR is a crucial metric for understanding how well your search ads are connecting with the right audience, but it is only truly useful when you interpret it alongside cost and conversion performance.

Rather than chasing a single “good” CTR number, focus on how your campaigns compare with current UK benchmarks and with the typical range for your industry, then use those insights to refine your targeting, creative and landing pages over time.

If you would like support turning those insights into stronger results, get in touch with our team to talk through your paid search performance and how we can help you improve it. Alternatively, explore our PPC services here.

 

Leah Davies
Meet the Author

Leah Davies

Leah is a marketing manager with over 10 years of experience in advertising and marketing. She holds a Diploma in Digital Marketing and a specialist certification in Social Media, both awarded by the DMI. Leah helps businesses build stronger connections with their audiences through smart and effective digital strategies.

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