How to use the CTR calculator
This click-through rate calculator has four parts. Pick one at the top, and the answer updates as you type. Commas, percent signs and short forms like 12k all work.
- Find your CTR. Type clicks and impressions. You get the CTR, the math behind it and a likely range.
- Hit a goal. Type a target CTR and your impressions to see the clicks you need. Or type a click goal and a CTR to see the impressions you need.
- Is my CTR good? In Google Search Console, open the Performance report and pick one search term or page. Copy its clicks, impressions and average position. Then say if Google shows an AI answer for that search.
- Ranking value. Type the monthly searches for a keyword, your position now and the position you want.
The button under the tool copies a link with your numbers in it. Send it to a teammate, and they will see the same result.
The CTR math in plain words
CTR is the share of people who saw a link and clicked it. Every answer in the tool comes from that one idea.
- CTR = clicks ÷ impressions × 100. So 45 clicks from 1,500 impressions is 3%.
- Clicks needed = target CTR × impressions ÷ 100, rounded up. A 5% CTR on 1,500 impressions takes 75 clicks.
- Impressions needed = click goal ÷ CTR × 100, rounded up. For 300 clicks at a 2% CTR, you need 15,000 impressions.
- Expected clicks = monthly searches × benchmark CTR ÷ 100. This is how the ranking value calculator works.
Our guide on how to calculate click-through rate has more worked examples for ads, emails and Search Console.
The likely range shows how much a CTR can move by luck alone. We use a common statistics method called the Wilson score interval, set to 95%. For 45 clicks from 1,500 impressions, the range is 2.25% to 3.99%. With ten times the data, it shrinks to 2.74% to 3.29%. The method treats each impression as a separate chance to click. Real searches are messier, so read it as a rough guide.
Google CTR benchmarks by position
The CTR check and the ranking calculator use one study. It is the First Page Sage Google CTR report, updated September 22, 2026. It covers 1,184 websites, 3.67 billion impressions and 41.2 million clicks from March 1 to August 31, 2026. The numbers come from Google Search Console accounts. They mix desktop and mobile and are weighted to US search volume.
The study splits each position by one thing: whether Google showed an AI answer. That means an AI Overview or an AI Mode reply.
| Position | No AI answer | AI answer shows | Blended |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 22.6% | 3.6% | 7.1% |
| 2 | 10.2% | 1.4% | 3.0% |
| 3 | 5.8% | 0.8% | 1.7% |
| 4 | 3.7% | 0.5% | 1.1% |
| 5 | 2.5% | 0.3% | 0.7% |
| 6 | 1.8% | 0.3% | 0.6% |
| 7 | 1.3% | 0.2% | 0.4% |
| 8 | 0.9% | 0.2% | 0.3% |
| 9 | 0.7% | 0.1% | 0.2% |
| 10 | 0.5% | 0.1% | 0.2% |
If these numbers look low, it is because they are new. First Page Sage's 2025 report put the top spot at 39.8% blended. Our guide to what a good organic CTR is compares them with older studies.
Three rules decide which number the tool uses.
- Not sure? Use blended. First Page Sage says the blended column is the one to use for traffic forecasts. It also found AI answers on 81.6% of US searches. Even simple searches get them. When we pulled the US desktop results for "ctr calculator" on November 11, 2026, an AI Overview sat above every regular result.
- Decimal positions mix two rows. Search Console shows an average like 2.3. We take 70% of the position 2 number and 30% of the position 3 number. On the blended curve that gives 2.61%. Rounding instead would make the benchmark jump from 3.0% to 1.7% between 2.49 and 2.51.
- Page one only. The study has no data past position 10. The CTR check shows no benchmark there. The ranking calculator counts those positions as 0 clicks.
How to read your results
Above, close or below. Your CTR counts as close when it is within 15% of the benchmark either way. For a 2.61% benchmark, close means about 2.22% to 3%.
Below the benchmark means your result wins fewer clicks than a typical one in that spot. Look at the results page first. Ads, an AI answer, a map or videos above you can explain a lot. If nothing like that is there, fix the title and description next. Test a new version in our SERP snippet preview tool before you publish it.
Want to see how a higher CTR plays out on your own result? Our SEO traffic sends Google searches and clicks on your result for a keyword you pick, so you can run a controlled CTR test and watch the numbers here and in Search Console.
Above the benchmark means people pick you more often than average. Brand searches often land here, since people are looking for you by name.
Clicks gained shows what the same impressions would bring at the benchmark CTR. Use it to sort pages. Fix the one with the biggest number first.
Ranking value is an estimate. It assumes your result acts like the average result in the study. Real clicks can be far off for three reasons.
- What else is on the page. Ads, AI answers, maps and other blocks take clicks before people reach you. To see those blocks for many keywords at once, a Google SERP API returns each results page as data.
- Brand searches. A search for a brand name sends most clicks to that brand.
- What people want. When a search has a quick answer, few people click any result.
Use it to compare keywords and pick where to work. Don't treat it as a promise. To compare your clicks with rivals across a keyword set, try the share of voice calculator.
Common CTR mistakes
- Averaging the CTR column. Add up all the clicks and all the impressions, then divide. Say one page has 1 click from 10 impressions (10%), and another has 100 from 10,000 (1%). The simple average is 5.5%, but the real CTR is 1.01%.
- Treating average position as a real spot. Average position is a mean. A page shown at position 1 half the time and position 9 the rest averages 5, yet it never sat at 5. Check one search term at a time when you can.
- Mixing brand and other searches. Brand searches can push a page far above the benchmark. Filter them out before you judge a page.
- Using impressions as monthly searches. Search Console counts an impression only when your link was on the page. A keyword tool counts every search. The ranking calculator needs monthly searches.
- Trusting tiny numbers. With 100 impressions, one click moves your CTR by a whole point. Wait for more data, or check the likely range.
- Mixing bottom numbers. Email tools often divide by delivered emails. Ads and Search Console divide by impressions. Compare like with like.