What is CTR and how to increase it in contextual advertising

Getting clicks on your ads is great, but generating higher conversion rates is the goal. How do you do that? You need to get an understanding of what causes a click on an ad and what drives a conversion. That’s what this article is about. We’ll dive into five ways you can get more clicks and how you can use that to increase your conversion rates.

The Anatomy Of A Click

When someone clicks on an ad, they’re taking one of two actions. They either want to read the content the ad points to or they want to take some kind of action (e.g., make a purchase, sign up for a newsletter).

(A third option is to just show up at a place where there is content published and hope that something engaging happens — but this is a distinct minority.)

Now, sometimes a conversion can be traced back to a single keyword or a single phrase in the ad. In other cases, it takes days, weeks, or even months for a single action to be followed by a conversion.

Even when there’s a clear connection between an ad click and a conversion, digging into the numbers can be tricky. We’ll dive into that in the next section. For now, just know that CTR is the abbreviation for “Click Through Rate” and it’s used to show the impact of different marketing activities on click-through rates.

The Anatomy Of A Conversion

When someone takes an action after viewing an ad, we say that they’ve completed a conversion. The most common types of conversions are:

• A sale — where someone buys a product or service after viewing an ad for it
• An inquiry — where someone contacts a salesperson or an account manager after viewing an ad for a product or service
• An engagement — where someone expresses an interest in or shows up at a place where there is content published and hopes that they’ll find something relevant
• An attachment — where someone shows an interest in a product or service by downloading a free sample, viewing a video, or filling out a lead form.

Because we often think about conversions in a binary way (did they or didn’t they convert?), it can be difficult to determine exactly what happened or how effective an ad campaign was. We’ll explore three steps you can take to gain better clarity on the matter.

Step one: Set a benchmark to measure your progress

When you set out to increase your conversion rates, it’s natural to want to compare your results to those of previous campaigns. You can’t, however, just compare raw numbers. We need to take a step back and set a benchmark to compare your results to. Why? Because not all high-converting keywords or ad variations are created equal. You need to find a metric that will tell you how effective each of your strategies is.

Your benchmark doesn’t need to be perfect, but it should be something you can replicate and measure. If you don’t have access to the raw data, try looking at the number of conversions per day or per week. Using this data will give you a clear picture of the direction your traffic is heading and how much you need to increase your efforts to get more conversions.

Step two: Identify the type of person who is converting

Once you’ve set your benchmark, you can identify the type of person who is converting. If you’re seeing a lot of unattributed conversions, you might want to try a different tactic. However, if you’re seeing a lot of conversions from people who have a history of buying from you, you’re probably on the right track.

Look at your sales records to see who your most successful customers are and what type of individual or group they are. You can use this to your advantage by tailoring your messaging and offers to match their specific needs. For example, if your most successful customers are people who live in New York City, you might want to try a special offer for them only as opposed to general advertising to everyone.

Step three: Identify the actions that lead to the conversion

Now that you know which type of person is converting, you can pinpoint the specific actions that led up to that point. Was it a landing page conversion, an ad call to action (CTA) button, or an organic search click that led to the action?

Once you have that data, you can start to fine-tune your strategy. Are you certain that an offer on a relevant page led to a conversion? Or did the traffic come from an ad, the CTA button, or an organic search? Knowing the answer to these questions will guide your future decisions and efforts.

Why Do People Click On My Ads?

Knowing what attracts people to click on your ads allows you to refine your strategy and get more conversions. We can break down the factors that contribute to getting clicks into three broad categories:

• Relevance — whether or not the ad matches the content of the page the user is on
• Attractiveness — factors such as colors, style, and layout that make an ad more appealing
• Trust — whether or not the advertiser can be trusted to deliver what they promise

People will click on ads that are relevant to them and those ads will perform better than those that aren’t. Similarly, people will click on ads that they find attractive and those ads will perform better than those that are less appealing to the eye.

The last bit of information you need to know is whether or not the advertiser can be trusted to deliver on their promises. If you can’t trust an advertiser to deliver what they promise, why should you let them place ads on your site? Google, who owns AdWords, outlines six considerations you should make when evaluating the trustworthiness of an advertiser in their Google Advertising FAQ.

Ultimately, you need to decide how much you’re willing to risk on an unknown entity. If you decide that the potential benefits of an ad campaign outweigh the risks, you can start to think about broadening your horizons.

Increase Your Click Through Rate With These Tips

Getting clicks on your ads is great, but generating higher conversion rates is the goal. How do you do that? You need to get an understanding of what causes a click on an ad and what drives a conversion. That’s what this article is about. We’ll dive into five ways you can get more clicks and how you can use that to increase your conversion rates.

The first step is to set a benchmark. Whether you’ve been doing this for a while or are just beginning, you need to set a benchmark to measure your progress. When you set out to increase your conversion rates, it’s natural to want to compare your results to those of previous campaigns. You can’t, however, just compare raw numbers. We need to take a step back and set a benchmark to compare your results to. Why? Because not all high-converting keywords or ad variations are created equal. You need to find a metric that will tell you how effective each of your strategies is.

Your benchmark doesn’t need to be perfect, but it should be something you can replicate and measure. If you don’t have access to the raw data, try looking at the number of conversions per day or per week. Using this data will give you a clear picture of the direction your traffic is heading and how much you need to increase your efforts to get more conversions.

Make Sure Your Landing Pages Match Your Target Audience

Whether or not your ads match your target audience is one of the key factors that determine the effectiveness of your campaign. When someone clicks on an ad, they’re taken to a landing page that matches their demographic.

If you send traffic to a page that isn’t relevant to them, they’ll leave and never return. Instead, you want to make sure that every page on your site is tailored to attract the right audience. The more relevant your pages are to the audience, the more engaged they’ll be with your content and the more likely they are to make a purchase.

Keep this in mind as you’re creating new pages and adding content to your site. If you have a retail store, you might want to consider creating separate landing pages for each category (e.g., dresses, pants, etc.). Doing this will help you tailor your offers to their specific needs and desires. If someone is interested in dresses but doesn’t want to commit to a purchase just yet, you can show them a selection of stylish and affordable options with a corresponding CTA button.