ONPAGE · SEO GLOSSARY
Click-Through Rate (CTR)
The percentage of searchers who click your result after seeing it in the SERP — a direct signal of how compelling your title and meta description are.
Definition
Click-through rate (CTR) in SEO is clicks ÷ impressions × 100, measured from Google Search Console. If your page appeared in search results 1,000 times and was clicked 50 times, your CTR is 5%. Average CTR varies hugely by position: position 1 typically earns 25–35% CTR, position 5 earns 5–10%, and position 10 earns around 2%. CTR also varies by query type — navigational queries have high CTR (users know the brand), informational queries have moderate CTR, and commercial queries may have lower CTR when ads dominate the top of the page.
Why it matters for SEO
Low CTR for your ranking position is a missed opportunity and may be a ranking signal. If your page ranks #3 but earns CTR typical of position #8, you're leaving significant traffic on the table. More importantly, there is evidence that sustained low CTR for a ranking position can cause Google to rank the page lower over time. The primary lever for improving CTR is the title tag and meta description — they are the exact copy a searcher sees in the SERP. Structured data (star ratings, sitelinks, FAQ dropdowns) can also improve CTR by making your result visually larger and more informative.
How DeepSEOAnalysis checks this
The audit surfaces CTR data from Google Search Console (when connected) and flags pages where CTR is significantly below average for their ranking position — specifically, pages ranking in positions 1–5 where CTR is below 10% are flagged as "low CTR anomalies" worth investigating. Title tag length, presence of the target keyword, and use of power words are also checked as CTR-influencing factors.
Useful tools and resources
GLOSSARY
Related terms
technical
SERP (Search Engine Results Page)
The page displayed by a search engine in response to a query — the destination your SEO strategy is trying to rank in.
Read definition →onpage
Title Tag
The HTML <title> element that names a page in browser tabs, SERP snippets, and social shares — the single most important on-page SEO element.
Read definition →onpage
Meta Description
An HTML tag that describes a page's content; used by search engines to generate SERP snippets when relevant to the query.
Read definition →structured data
Rich Result
An enhanced SERP listing that shows additional content — star ratings, FAQ dropdowns, sitelinks, How-To steps — generated from valid structured data on the page.
Read definition →See how your site scores on Click-Through Rate (CTR).
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