As a PPC Management Company, we have seen and touched enough search marketing campaigns to ballpark some figures for you. First, we would like to point out that click-through rate (CTR), is only a secondary key performance indicator (KPI) for our paid search marketing campaigns, the first KPI being the number of conversions and cost per conversion. With that said, CTR can be a good gauge of campaign performance and is, of course, a factor when Google populates quality scores.
PPC CTR Can Vary by Industry
I should also mention, that type of website, product, and service can have different CTRs. For instance, an e-commerce site which sells flashlights and relies on Google Shopping Ads may have a lower CTR than a plumber who only does text ads. With that said, let’s remove Google Shopping ads and product based websites to only focus text-based search marketing in the service industry (i.e., home services, plumbers, lawyers, hospitals, etc.).
General PPC CTRs
Generally speaking, most PPC companies shoot for a CTR of about 1.5% to 2%, but is this too low? Analyzing several search marketing campaigns, as of 7/9/2017, we have an average CTR of approximately 3.54%. There can be several reasons why our team over-achieves what PPC company sales teams throw out as good CTRs.
First, sales teams are not running PPC campaigns; they rely on information from marketing or leadership. Usually, these teams would like to under-promise and over deliver. However, what if you are a service company and your CTR is below 1.5% to 2%? There could be several reasons for this including lack of appropriate budget and poor campaign management.
Poor PPC Campaign Management
Conceptually, you could say poor campaign management and lack of budget are one of the same. Why? Well, some companies use the same approach for each client regardless of the budget. Thus, they are spreading the smaller budget too thin, which results in a bad placement and lower overall CTR. When working with smaller budgets, it is essential to be as targeted as possible whether it is keywords, geography, or day part.
PPC CTR National Averages
Though a bit outdated (2016), WordStream has a Google AdWords Industry Benchmark for CTR, which suggests 1.91% is the national average across all industries. When compared to a few industries we work including healthcare, legal, consumer services, and industrial services (we do work in more industries) to name a few. Our team outperforms, Healthcare 4.87% vs. 1.79%, Legal 3.51% vs. 1.35%, Consumer Services 3.05% vs. 2.40%, and Industrial Services 2.73% vs. 1.40%.
Outperforming PPC National Averages
How is it we can outperform the average consistently? First, the average takes in consideration companies that are not doing a good job, as well as, companies doing a good job. Second, our approach keeps the campaign very focused on what users are looking for, which is why our click-to-conversion rate for the last 30 days is approximately 28.7%. Roughly 1 in 4 clicks convert, not bad, right? Since conversions are our primary KPI, this makes sense for us.
Free PPC Campaign Audit
It can be challenging for business owners as well as some marketing teams to gauge the plus-deltas of their current PPC campaign. Thus, our team will audit your PPC campaign at no cost to ensure your campaign is completely optimized. Free PPC Audit.
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The information on factors affecting CTR is excellent