Clickthrough rate (CTR) is one of your most important stats when it comes to your B2B AdWords account. That’s true no matter whether you’re talking about your organic search traffic, search ads, or display ads: CTR is the key to getting the most value from each Web visitor.
Clickthrough rate is a measure of how many people who saw your ad or other link actually clicked on it – that is, clicks divided by impressions. A high CTR signals that you’ve put the right content in front of the right users at the right moment.
Not only does it help move them toward a sale, but it saves you money over time.
Here’s the thing: Everyone knows CTR is important, but nobody knows what their rate should be. Because there are so many different factors, a reasonable goal for one business may be an impossible one for another. There’s always room for improvement … but how much?
New Research Sheds Light on Average B2B AdWords CTR According to Industry
To get an idea what an “average” B2B CTR should look like, you need to have a lot of data.
Enter WordStream, one of the leading names in Google AdWords management software. By looking at thousands of AdWords campaigns over time, their team came to some interesting conclusions about what counts as a good CTR in various segments.
You can see the whole report, but let’s break it down with some valuable takeaways.
First and foremost: The average AdWords CTR is 1.91% for search, 0.35% for display.
It makes sense display CTR would be noticeably lower. Display campaigns are far less precise, so they are usually used for building brand recognition. After all, display gives you the chance for visibility on related sites, which increases your brand recognition.
This reinforces the idea that if you are just starting out, search should be your priority.
Out of the sixteen industries listed, the highest search CTRs went to:
- Dating & Personals: 3.40%
- Finance & Insurance: 2.65%
- B2B: 2.55%
- Consumer Services: 2.40%
- Technology: 2.38%
It’s no surprise the ubiquitous B2C category Dating & Personals would have the highest clickthrough: These offers don’t ask for much from prospects, who are compelled to explore every angle thanks to the “thrill of the hunt.”
But look down there in the middle: B2B AdWords CTR stands at 2.55%.
When they are first starting out, many B2B enterprises yield clickthrough rates of about 1%. As they gather more information on buyer personas and pain points, however, 2.55% is the basic benchmark to shoot for. Using clear CTAs, ad extensions, and other tools, CTR can be much higher.