{"id":344,"date":"2025-11-05T12:21:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T06:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/softdigitalmediaservices.com\/blog\/?p=344"},"modified":"2025-11-04T15:13:56","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T09:43:56","slug":"why-a-lower-ctr-can-be-better-for-your-ppc-campaigns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/softdigitalmediaservices.com\/blog\/2025\/11\/05\/why-a-lower-ctr-can-be-better-for-your-ppc-campaigns\/","title":{"rendered":"Why a lower CTR can be better for your PPC campaigns"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">High CTRs don\u2019t always mean success. Focusing on qualified clicks and impression-based metrics can lead to stronger ROI and conversion rates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Many&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/guide\/what-is-paid-search\">PPC<\/a>&nbsp;advertisers obsess over click-through rates, using them as a quick measure of ad performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/ctr-redefining-ppc-ad-success-436944\">CTR<\/a>&nbsp;alone doesn\u2019t tell the whole story \u2013 what matters most is what happens&nbsp;<strong>after<\/strong>&nbsp;the click. That\u2019s where many campaigns go wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"the-problem-with-chasing-high-ctrs\">The problem with chasing high CTRs<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Most advertisers think the ad with the highest CTR is often the best. It should have a high&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/quality-score-ppc-394513\">Quality Score<\/a>&nbsp;and attract lots of clicks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, in most cases, lower CTR ads usually outperform higher CTR ads in terms of total conversions and revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If all I cared about was CTR, then I could write an ad:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>\u201cFree money.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u201cClaim your free money today.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u201cNo strings attached.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That ad would get an impressive CTR for many keywords, and I\u2019d go out of business pretty quickly, giving away free money.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When creating ads, we must consider:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Type of searchers we want to attract.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ensure the users are qualified.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Set expectations for the landing page.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I can take my free money ad and refine it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>\u201cClaim your free money.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u201cExplore college scholarships.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u201cDownload your free guide.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019ve now:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Told searchers they can get free money for college through scholarships if they download a guide.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Narrowed down my audience to people who are willing to apply for scholarships and willing to download a guide, presumably in exchange for some information.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you focus solely on CTR and don\u2019t consider attracting the right audience, your advertising will suffer.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While this sentiment applies to both B2C and B2B companies, B2B companies must be exceptionally aware of how their ads appear to consumers versus business searchers.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"b2b-companies-must-prequalify-searchers\">B2B companies must pre-qualify searchers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you are advertising for a B2B company, you\u2019ll often notice that CTR and conversion rates have an inverse relationship. As CTR increases, conversion rates decrease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The most common reason for this phenomenon is that consumers and businesses can search for many B2B keywords.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">B2B companies must try to show that their products are for businesses, not consumers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For instance, \u201csafety gates\u201d<em>&nbsp;<\/em>is a common search term.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The majority of people looking to buy a safety gate are consumers who want to keep pets or babies out of rooms or away from stairs.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, safety gates and railings are important for businesses with factories, plants, or industrial sites.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These two ads are both for companies that sell safety gates. The first ad\u2019s headlines for Uline could be for a consumer or a business.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s not until you look at the description that you realize this is for mezzanines and catwalks, which is something consumers don\u2019t have in their homes.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As many searchers do not read descriptions, this ad will attract both B2B and B2C searchers.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2025\/10\/OSHA-compliance-Google-Ads.png\" alt=\"OSHA compliance - Google Ads\" class=\"wp-image-463774\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The second ad mentions Industrial in the headline and follows that up with a mention of OSHA compliance in the description and the sitelinks.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While both ads promote similar products, the second one will achieve a better conversion rate because it speaks to a single audience.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We have a client who specializes in factory parts, and when we graph their conversion rates by Quality Score, we can see that as their Quality Score increases, their conversion rates decrease.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They will review their keywords and ads whenever they have a 5+ Quality Score on any B2B or B2C terms.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2025\/10\/image-88.png\" alt=\"Image 88\" class=\"wp-image-463773\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This same logic does not apply to B2B search terms.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Those terms often contain more jargon or qualifying statements when looking for B2B services and products.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">B2B advertisers don\u2019t have to use characters to weed out B2C consumers and can focus their ads only on B2B searchers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"how-to-balance-ctr-and-conversion-rates\">How to balance CTR and conversion rates<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As you are testing various ads to find your best pre-qualifying statements, it can be tricky to examine the metrics. Which one of these would be your best ad?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>15% CTR, 3% conversion rate.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>10% CT, 7% conversion rate.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>5% CTR, 11% conversion rate.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When examining mixed metrics, CTR and conversion rates, we can use additional metrics to define our best ads. My favorite two are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Conversion per impression (CPI)<\/strong>: This is a simple formula dividing your conversion by the number of impressions (conversions\/impressions).\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Revenue per impression (RPI)<\/strong>: If you have variable checkout amounts, you can instead use your revenue metrics to decide your best ads by dividing your revenue by your impressions (revenue\/impressions).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You can also multiply the results by 1,000 to make the numbers easier to digest instead of working with many decimal points. So, we might write:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>CPI = (conversions\/impressions) x 1,000\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By using impression metrics, you can find the opportunity for a given set of impressions.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>CTR<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Conversion rate<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Impressions<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Clicks<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Conversions<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>CPI<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>15%<\/td><td>3%<\/td><td>5,000<\/td><td>750<\/td><td>22.5<\/td><td>4.5<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>10%<\/td><td>7%<\/td><td>4,000<\/td><td>400<\/td><td>28<\/td><td>7<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>5%<\/td><td>11%<\/td><td>4,500<\/td><td>225<\/td><td>24.75<\/td><td>5.5<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By doing some simple math, we can see that option 2, with a 10% CTR and a 7% conversion rate, gives us the most total conversions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"focus-on-your-ideal-customers\">Focus on your ideal customers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A good CTR helps bring more people to your website, improves your audience size, and can influence your Quality Scores.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, high CTR ads can easily attract the wrong audience, leading you to waste your budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As you are&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/how-to-assemble-captivating-google-ads-copy-459469\">creating headlines<\/a>, consider your audience.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Who are they?\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Do non-audience people search for your keywords?\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>How do you dissuade users who don\u2019t fit your audience from clicking on your ads?\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How do you attract your qualified audience?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Are your ads setting proper landing page expectations?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By considering each of these questions as you create ads, you can find ads that speak to the type of users you want to attract to your site.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These ads are rarely your best CTRs. These ads balance the appeal of high CTRs with pre-qualifying statements that ensure the clicks you receive have the potential to turn into your next customer.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">All Credit By Brad Geddes<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>High CTRs don\u2019t always mean success. Focusing on qualified clicks and impression-based metrics can lead to stronger ROI and conversion rates. Many&nbsp;PPC&nbsp;advertisers obsess over click-through rates, using them as a quick measure of ad performance. But&nbsp;CTR&nbsp;alone doesn\u2019t tell the whole story \u2013 what matters most is what happens&nbsp;after&nbsp;the click. That\u2019s where many campaigns go wrong. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,12,2,6,5,7,3,4],"tags":[16,11,9,10],"class_list":["post-344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-google-bard","category-google-display-ad","category-ppc","category-search-engine-marketing","category-search-engine-optimization","category-search-media-marketing","category-seo","category-smm","tag-chatgpt","tag-gdn","tag-ppc","tag-seo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/softdigitalmediaservices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/softdigitalmediaservices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/softdigitalmediaservices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/softdigitalmediaservices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/softdigitalmediaservices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=344"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/softdigitalmediaservices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":348,"href":"https:\/\/softdigitalmediaservices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344\/revisions\/348"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/softdigitalmediaservices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/softdigitalmediaservices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/softdigitalmediaservices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/softdigitalmediaservices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}