PostEaseThe short answer
Click-through rate (CTR) is the share of people who saw something and clicked it: clicks divided by impressions, written as a percentage. A post link seen 1,000 times and clicked 25 times has a CTR of 2.5%. LinkedIn defines it in exactly those terms, as “the number of clicks divided by impressions”.
On social media CTR measures three things most often: a link in a post, a video’s thumbnail on YouTube, and an ad. In each case it tells you whether what people saw first, the words, the picture or the thumbnail, made them want the next step.
How to work it out
Divide the clicks by the impressions and multiply by 100. The same number of clicks can be a strong or a weak rate, depending on how many people saw it:
| Impressions | Clicks | CTR |
|---|---|---|
| 1,000 | 25 | 2.5% |
| 5,000 | 25 | 0.5% |
| 500 | 25 | 5% |
YouTube’s impressions click-through rate
YouTube reports its own version in YouTube Studio. Its help defines it as how often viewers watched a video after seeing a registered impression on YouTube. Not every impression is counted: those on external websites and end screens are left out, so the figure covers part of a video’s views, not all of them.
YouTube gives a range rather than a target: half of all channels and videos have an impressions CTR between 2% and 10%. It also explains why a rate can fall for a good reason. A video that gets a lot of impressions, such as one shown on the Home page, will naturally have a lower CTR, because it is shown to many people who were not looking for it.
Where each figure comes from
The same name can count different things, so check what an impression means before comparing two rates:
| Figure | An impression is | A click is |
|---|---|---|
| YouTube impressions CTR | A registered impression on YouTube; not on external websites or end screens | A view that followed that impression |
| LinkedIn ad CTR | Each time people saw your ad | A click on the ad |
What a good CTR is
There is no single good number, because CTR depends on where people saw the post, who saw it and what they were asked to click. LinkedIn’s advice for ads applies to posts too: establish your baseline from your first results, then judge each new post against it.
So compare like with like: a post with a link against your other link posts, a video against your other videos, in the same place. A rate well above your usual is worth learning from; one well below is worth a second look at the first line or the thumbnail.
How to raise it, honestly
A higher CTR comes from a clearer promise, not a louder one:
- Say what the reader gets: a title, first line or thumbnail that describes the thing behind the click.
- Ask for one thing: one link and one reason to follow it, near the top.
- Fit the place: a link where the platform shows it well, a thumbnail readable at phone size.
- Keep the promise: YouTube says a thumbnail is clickbait if it gets a high CTR but a low average view duration, and lower than expected impressions follow.
Measuring clicks you can trust
A platform counts clicks on its own pages. To see what those visits did on your site, tag each link with UTM parameters, so your analytics shows which post sent each visit. PostEase’s link-in-bio page counts views and clicks per link, and by where visitors came from, without cookies or visitor IDs.
Questions
How do you calculate click-through rate?
Divide clicks by impressions and multiply by 100. 25 clicks from 1,000 impressions is a 2.5% click-through rate.
What is a good click-through rate on YouTube?
YouTube says half of all channels and videos have an impressions CTR between 2% and 10%. Judge yours against your own other videos, and expect a lower rate when a video is shown widely, such as on the Home page.
Is a high click-through rate always good?
No. YouTube says a thumbnail is clickbait if it gets a high CTR but a low average view duration. A click only helps if the post keeps the promise that earned it.
What is the difference between CTR and engagement rate?
CTR counts clicks out of impressions. Engagement rate counts every interaction, such as likes, comments, shares and saves, divided by reach, impressions or followers, depending on the platform.
Sources
- YouTube, Impressions and click-through rate FAQs, checked October 2026.
- LinkedIn, How to analyze your campaign performance, checked October 2026.