Impressions measure how often your video thumbnail and title are shown to unique viewers, either through YouTube’s recommendation or on search results.
An impression is good, but you know what’s better? A click-through, whereby a viewer is impressed and views your content.
Measuring your click-through rate is crucial because it shows the content that impresses potential viewers to make them watch the video. But what is a good click-through rate on YouTube?
A good click-through rate on Youtube is in the 2-10% range. YouTube reveals this as the average rate for half of all the channels on the platform. While this is the recommended range, a good click-through rate on YouTube depends on various factors. These include the type of content, audience, and where on the platform the impression appeared.
Read on to discover what is a click-through rate, what is a good click-through rate on YouTube, and how to check it.
Overview of Click-Through Rate on YouTube
When you peek at your YouTube analytics on YouTube Studio, you’ll see your video views, watch time, and subscribers in the “Overview” section. On the “Content” tab, you’ll see impressions, click-through rates, views, and view durations.
This segment provides crucial data to help you understand how viewers find your content and what you can do to perform better. Impressions on YouTube measure the number of times your video’s thumbnail is seen on the platform.
What next after creating an impression? When viewers see your thumbnail on YouTube and click on the video, the actions are called impression click-throughs.
You can measure how often viewers watched your video after seeing your thumbnail, a metric called impression click-through rate.
Let’s find out what is a good click-through rate on YouTube.
What Is a Good Click-Through Rate on YouTube?
A good click-through rate (CTR) on YouTube ranges from 2% to 10%. You might see your YouTube CTR fluctuate, sometimes dropping and other times shooting to high levels. This is normal because the impressions may change depending on various factors.
That said, there are no clear-cut criteria for a good CTR on YouTube. This is because your video’s CTR is unique to your circumstances, including your audience, type of content, and where YouTube showed the impression, such as on the home page, your channel watch page, up-next, and subscription feed.
A higher CTR doesn’t mean more views and engagement and vice versa. First, not all impressions and click-throughs lead to a view. A viewer might open your video after getting impressed by your thumbnail, only to skip it if the content doesn’t provide the value they expected.
Secondly, not all views come from thumbnail impressions. You may get traffic from external sources like social media platforms or your blog. For this reason, it’s possible to have more views than impressions or a low CTR with a good enough audience.
How To Check the Click-Through Rate on YouTube
We’ve talked about what a good CTR is on YouTube. How do you check the CTR on YouTube?
You can check your YouTube CTR on the web version of YouTube Studio or the YouTube Studio app on mobile.
Method #1: On YouTube Web
Follow the steps below to check your CTR on the YouTube desktop version.
- Navigate to YouTube on your computer browser and sign in to your account.
- Click on your profile picture.
- Choose “YouTube Studio” on the menu.
- Select “Analytics” and open the “Content” tab.
- On the “All” tab, scroll down to “Impressions and how they led to watch time.”
- Click “See More.”
You will see various parameters here, including total impressions, click-through rate, views from impressions, and watch time from impressions.
Method #2: On YouTube Mobile
Below are the steps to check your YouTube CTR on mobile.
- Open the YouTube Studio app on your device.
- Tap “Content” on the menu at the bottom of the screen.
- Select the video you want to check CTR for.
- Scroll to the “Analytics” section and tap “View more.”
- Open the “Reach” tab.
- Slide to the second page to see the “Impressions click-through rate.”
You will see the percentage at the top and a graphical representation below the percentage.
Winding Up
A good click-through rate for YouTube ranges from 2% to 10%. However, a good click-through rate varies depending on your audience, content type, and where the impressions appeared on YouTube.
Also, a higher CTR doesn’t always lead to more views and vice versa because not all impressions lead to views, and not all views come from impressions.
