Click-through rate is the ratio of clicks to impressions, expressed as a percentage. If a result is shown 1,000 times and clicked 50 times, its CTR is 5 percent. It applies to organic listings, ads, email, and any place where something is shown and can be clicked.
Why it matters in SEO
CTR tells you how appealing your listing is once it appears. Two pages at the same position can earn very different traffic depending on their titles and descriptions. A low CTR on a well-ranked page usually points to a weak title tag or meta description, or a mismatch with search intent.
You can monitor organic CTR per query and page in Google Search Console, which makes it one of the most actionable diagnostics available.
The zero-click pressure
CTR for informational queries has fallen as AI Overviews and featured snippets answer questions directly on the results page. A page can rank well and still see its CTR decline because the answer was given before the click. This is why measurement is shifting toward citation and impression share, not clicks alone.
How to improve it
Rewrite titles and descriptions to match intent and promise clear value, target queries where your result can win a rich feature, and earn structured-data enhancements that make your listing stand out. Then make sure the clicks that do arrive convert, which is the job of conversion rate optimization.