Click-through rate (CTR) is the percentage of people who see your website in search results and then click on it. It is calculated as clicks divided by impressions. A high CTR indicates that your meta title and description are compelling and relevant to the search query.
For AEC firms, CTR in Google Search Console provides direct feedback on how effectively your page listings convert searchers into visitors. A page appearing 1,000 times per month with a 2% CTR generates 20 visits; improving CTR to 5% doubles that to 50 visits with no change to rankings.
CTR is influenced primarily by: meta title relevance and quality, meta description clarity and appeal, URL structure, and the presence of rich results (star ratings, FAQ dropdowns). For AEC firms, including location and service type in the title and a clear statement of expertise in the description consistently improves CTR.
Google Search Console's Performance report shows CTR, impressions, clicks, and average position for every query and page on your site. Identifying pages with high impressions but low CTR reveals quick-win opportunities to improve meta tags without needing to improve rankings.