Data and metrics
What is a good CTR in Google Search Console, and how to read average position
There is no universal good CTR. It depends mostly on position, so the useful question is whether a query’s CTR is below what your own site earns at the same position. Google defines the metrics and gives no target percentages.
Checked against Google Search Console Help · October 2026
Short answer
CTR is clicks divided by impressions, and the average position is the topmost position of your result, averaged. Instead of a universal benchmark, compare each query with the CTR your own property gets at the same position, search type and device, and look at queries that fall well below it.
The definitions are on Google’s impressions, position and clicks page ↗ .
How to judge a CTR
The definitions come from Google’s help pages; the baseline method is ours and is labelled as such.
Know the formula
CTR is the click count divided by the impression count. It is a ratio, so it swings widely when impressions are few.
Know what position means
The position is the topmost position of your result, averaged. Google’s example: a query where your links ranked 2, 4 and 6 counts as position 2, one with 3, 5 and 9 counts as 3, and the two average 2.5.
Compare like with like
Compare queries at the same position, in the same search type and on the same device, and keep branded and non-branded queries apart in your own data.
Build your own baseline
Group your rows by rounded position and divide clicks by impressions for each position. That curve, weighted by impressions, is what your site earns, and it replaces any outside table.
Find the gaps
List queries with enough impressions whose CTR is well below the baseline at their position. Those are visible results whose title or snippet under-performs.
Change and measure
Rewrite the title or snippet, then compare equal periods before judging the result.
Questions people ask most
It depends on the position and the query. At position 12 it may be strong; at position 2 it is probably weak for your own site. Check it against your baseline.
By property only the topmost position of your site is reported and all impressions count once, so CTR and position are generally higher than by page when several of your pages appear.
It is an average of the topmost positions across the impressions in the row, so it will rarely be a whole number.
What a person sees depends on history, location and device, so a manual search can differ from the reported average.
Not much. Very few impressions make CTR swing with a single click; set a minimum before you act.
CTR
Why a single average hides the story
An average position of 8 can mean a page that sits at 8 for everything, or one that ranks first for one query and far below for others. Look at the position per query or per page, not only the headline number, and read the chart and the table knowing they aggregate differently.
A worked example of a baseline gap
Say a query has 1,000 impressions and 41 clicks at position 5, so its CTR is 4.1 percent. If your own baseline at position 5 is 5.8 percent, the gap is 4.1 − 5.8 = −1.7 percentage points, about 17 clicks below expectation. The numbers are illustrative, and the CTR Benchmark report in the workspace computes exactly this from your property’s own curve.
Common mistakes
Do not copy a CTR-by-position table from the internet
Your results page, brand and search type differ; use your own curve.
Do not compare queries at different positions
A CTR that is normal at position 8 is a problem at position 2.
Do not act on tiny samples
A handful of impressions makes CTR meaningless.