Organic CTR by position: what's a good click-through rate?

Click-through rate (CTR) is the share of people who see your result and click it: clicks divided by impressions. In Google Search Console, it's shown for every query and page. On its own, a CTR number means little. Compared with what's normal for your position, it tells you whether the problem is your ranking or your snippet.

Typical CTR by position

Large click studies, based on millions of searches, all show the same shape: a steep drop from position one, then a long, low tail. Exact numbers vary by study and year. These are the rough averages our calculator uses:

Moving from position 5 to position 2 can roughly double your clicks without a single extra impression.

Why your CTR is different

Your real CTR can be far above or below these averages, for good reasons:

• Search features: AI Overviews, ads, featured snippets, maps and image packs push organic results down and take clicks.
• Brand searches: people searching your name click your result at very high rates.
• Search type: questions with a quick answer get fewer clicks, because the answer is on the results page.
• Device: mobile and desktop behave differently.
• Rich results: stars, prices and images can lift CTR at the same position.
• Average position blurs things: a page averaging position 6 might rank 2 for some searches and 30 for others.

What is a good CTR?

A good CTR is one at or above typical for your position, for that kind of search. Use the calculator on this page: enter the position, impressions and clicks from Search Console, and it shows whether your rate is normal, how many clicks you're missing, and what moving up would be worth.

How to raise CTR without ranking higher

1. Rewrite the title. Lead with the phrase people search for, and add a clear reason to click. See how to write SEO titles.
2. Rewrite the description. Answer the search and say what makes your page the better choice. See how to write a meta description.
3. Match the intent. If people want a list, a guide or a price, say so in the snippet.
4. Add structured data that qualifies for rich results: product prices, ratings, breadcrumbs. See rich snippets.
5. Fix your favicon and site name so your result looks established.
6. Keep dates current on content where freshness matters, but only when you've genuinely updated it.

Find your low-CTR pages

In Search Console's Performance report, show CTR and position, then look for pages with lots of impressions and a CTR well below typical for their position. Those are your cheapest wins. The Search Console analyzer finds them in an export for you.