How To Improve Google Ads CTR

by Alex Stephens


Before we start, what is CTR?

CTR stands for click-through rate

CTR is a metric that measures the number of clicks an advertiser receives on their ads per number of impressions.

You would work out your click-through rate using the following formula: Clicks ÷ Impressions = CTR.

For example, if you had 15 clicks and 100 impressions, then your CTR would be 15%.


Click Through Rate


In this article, our experts from iocea digital agency Lincoln will discuss five quick and easy ways to improve your CTR. All of these are simple, yet have a big impact!

1. Improve your quality score

Quality score is Google's rating of the quality and relevance of both your keywords and ads where a score of 0 to 10 is given for each keyword in your account. Our PPC Lincolnshire specialists review keyword quality scores each month for our clients, meaning they don't need to worry about this.

Why does it matter?

Ads with a higher quality score are more likely to achieve higher rankings and have a higher click-through rate. 

This is why it is really important to ensure that your ads have a high quality score! As well as improving CTR and rankings, ads with higher quality scores are more likely to have lower costs as value is increased.

How can I improve quality score?

Start by checking that your keywords are relevant to your advert, if they arent, then change them. As well as this, check that your selected keywords are actually being searched for. You can check this by using tools such as Google Keyword Planner and Ubersuggest. Google Ads should automatically show you when your quality scores are low, so check this frequently and pause or remove any non-serving keywords. Like a traffic light system, low quality scores will show in red.


Quality Score


2. Add Ad Extensions

What are ad extensions?

Ad extensions are additional pieces of information about your business, such as a phone number or a link to a specific page on your website.

How do they help improve CTR?

Including ad extensions can help improve the visibility of your ad as they increase the size of the ads and make them appear more relevant. This will ultimately improve your click through rate and return on ad spend.

3. Write engaging ad copy

You should write engaging ad copy that stands out from your competitor's ads. Take a look at the ad copy that competitors use, and think about how you can make yours stand out to ensure that people click your ad over theirs. 

  • Highlight your USP (unique selling point) by explaining what your business offers, that others don't.
  • Add character and be descriptive
  • Ask rhetorical questions to draw in the reader
  • Include persuasive language

4. Use responsive search ads

What are responsive search ads?

Responsive search ads are different to expanded ads in that you are able to use more that just the 3 headline and 2 description fields.

Responsive search ads allow you to create different variations of your ad, which adapt to different searches. For example, someone typing 'Pretty red dress' may see a variation for that headline, whereas another search user may see the headline 'Beautiful dresses' and a different description. 

Why should I use responsive search ads?

These are good as they allow you to best target each individual search with one advertisement (just different headlines and descriptions). Not only that, but Google will test which variations are perform best, and will use the best performing variations to improve ad effectiveness. 

By adapting your ad's content to more closely match potential customers' search terms, responsive search ads can help increase CTR.


Responsive Search


5. Target themed ad groups

Organising your account allows you to serve the right ads to the right customers more effectively. When people are searching online and they type in a word or phrase, they're looking for information that's closely tied to those words. 

For example, if someone types 'television' into Google and they see an ad for 'projector', then they are unlikely to click the ad. 

We would recommend grouping related ads with related keywords into an ad group. This means all of your related ads can be shown to customers searching for similar things.

How iocea can help

At iocea eCommerce Lincolnshire, we have an experienced team of digital marketers. With their help, your business can significantly improve its Google Ads and SEO performance. Experts at our Lincoln marketing agency will take care of setting up, monitoring and analysing your Google Ads and SEO, to identify any recommendations to improve aspects such as CTR, bounce rate and search ranking position. 

Get in touch today to see how we can help your business achieve online success.