CTR (Click-Through Rate)
Also known as: Click-Through Rate
CTR is the percentage of people who click your ad after seeing it, calculated as clicks divided by impressions.
What it actually means
Click-through rate is the clearest signal of whether your ad creative and offer resonate with the audience seeing them. A high CTR tells Meta your ad is relevant, which lowers your CPM and CPC through the auction's relevance scoring. Most Meta feed ads land between 1% and 3% CTR; below 1% usually means weak creative, the wrong audience, or both. Meta reports an all-clicks CTR (including likes and expands) and a link CTR (only clicks to your destination). The link version is the honest one — it reflects genuine interest in what you are offering, not just engagement with the post.
500 link clicks from 25,000 impressions is a 2% link CTR.
For local businesses, a strong CTR often comes from showing a real photo of your shop, team, or food rather than stock imagery — people click what feels local and authentic.
Related terms
CPC is the average amount you pay each time someone clicks your ad, calculated as total spend divided by clicks.
CPM is the cost to show your ad 1,000 times, calculated as total spend divided by impressions, multiplied by 1,000.
Ad creative is the visual and written content of an ad — the image or video, the headline, and the copy that capture attention and communicate the offer.
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