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You’ve noticed a drop in search volume. Is there any cause for alarm? yes You may miss out on potential business opportunities.
Every click your business misses means your competitor is taking customers away from you.
Only with approx 3% website visitors who are converting, it’s even more important to capture those clicks to get them to your site in the first place.
So what do you do when clicks drop unexpectedly? How to find the cause and remedy the situation?
Short answer? You have to dig deeper.
Whether you’re new to Google Ads or have been analyzing hundreds of accounts for 10 years like I have, you need to learn how to analyze campaign performance below the surface.
In this post, we won’t just go over the basics of CTR (CTR) and what it means, but also some key areas you’ll need to dig deeper into to determine the performance that determines your drop in clicks.
What is CTR?
One metric definition that hasn’t changed in Google Ads over the years is CTR.
CTR is relatively simple formula: the number of clicks your ad receives divided by the number of impressions your ad receives: clicks ÷ impressions.
While CTR is a simple calculation, it is one of the more important metrics to help analyze performance.
If you thought CTR could only be used to measure persuasive ad copy, think again.
So what is the purpose of CTR? Some applications of using CTR include:
- Measuring the relevance and quality of ads.
- Identifying the competitiveness of keywords and ads.
- Analyzing the gap between campaign budgets and keyword bids.
When your CTR suffers, it directly affects the number of clicks.
Now that CTR is defined and we have use cases for the metric, you’re probably wondering, “What is a good CTR?”
A recent study from Instapage found that the average CTR for search was 5.06% across all industries.
If your average CTR falls short of the industry average, don’t worry! Follow these comprehensive tips to get your CTR and click-through rate back up to par.
Why are my clicks decreasing?
Can’t explain a sudden drop in click-through rate? Here are some common reasons to help you identify the cause.
1. Has your quality score recently dropped?
While the quality score metric shouldn’t be considered the “end-all,” this often-overlooked metric can be a major cause of a decrease in clicks.
Quality assessment measure these key components of your ad:
- Expected CTR.
- Ad relevance.
- Landing page relevance.
Google Ads shows you a relatively detailed view of each of these areas, so you don’t have to guess what you should focus on optimizing.

Quality Score is important because it directly affects how often your ads are eligible to appear. Not only that, but it also affects how much you pay per click.
solution: Optimize your Quality Score based on the “scores” Google gives you for your keywords.
Some of these fixes may be easier to implement (like new ad copy), but if you need to optimize your landing page, it can take time and other resources.
You can find a detailed guide to optimizing your quality score here.
2. Low impressions
If your CTR has remained the same, but the number of clicks is decreasing, the main problem is this: decreased number of impressions.
There can be several factors behind a sudden drop in impressions, but here are the most common:
Seasonality
If you have a seasonal productyou will naturally have peaks and troughs in demand.
If searches for your particular industry decrease, so will the impressions for your keywords.
Updated bidding strategy
If you’ve recently changed your bidding strategy, there may be a discrepancy between your daily budget and your target ROAS/CPA/CPC.
Any significant gaps in expectations here can result in a sharp drop in impressions.
For example, if you set your bid at $50 CPA for competitive keywords, but you typically see $150 CPA, this will result in almost immediate impression volatility.
CPA and ROAS strategies work by reducing impressions to users who are unlikely to convert to your goal.
New negative keywords
Like many advertisers, you’ve had to tighten up your negative keywords. This is due to Google loosening restrictions on keyword match types.
However, you may have mistakenly restricted your negative keywords too much. This can result in lost impressions due to conflicting negatives.
So what can you do to combat bad impressions?
solution: In addition to any seasonal issues, review your current bidding strategies and ensure that the goals are aligned (and realistic) with your performance goals.
Additionally, comb through your negative keyword lists to identify potential conflicts that are preventing your ad from showing.
3. New ads
So you’ve written a shiny new ad copy and implemented it everywhere. You’re thrilled to see your improved ad copy outperform your previous ads.
But you’ve discovered that the opposite is happening and your clicks are plummeting.
What does it give?
Basically, every time you update your campaigns, and especially your ad text, you’ve put your campaign back into learning mode. During this time, you can expect performance volatility. You may see a drop in CTR while Google’s algorithm figures out what resonates most with users.
Obviously, this is not ideal for any advertiser. You’ve spent time perfecting the new copy and you’re watching it perform worse. So what can we learn from this scenario?
solution: A/B test your new ads before stopping all “old” ads. This can help reduce the inevitable performance volatility due to stopping all old ads and replacing them with new ones.
If you’re not sure where to start with A/B testing, check out this helpful guide here.
4. Your competitors outperform you
Competition is not something you can control. Maybe they have a bigger budget or a more interesting ad than you. All of these items are out of your control.
What you can control is how you react to the competition.
Let’s say your maximum CPC for a keyword is set to $5, but you notice that a competitor keeps showing above you. This most likely means that your competitor is outselling you.
solution: If you have the budget capacity, a simple solution would be a more aggressive bidding strategy. This can help increase your impressions and clicks as you appear more often.
Learn more about how to use Smart Offers effectively here.
Another example is if a competitor has a better ad than you. Let’s say you sell a similar product, but a competitor has a promotion and you don’t. Which ad do you think is likely to get more clicks?
Most likely a promotional ad.
solution: If you don’t/can’t run a promotion, review your ad copy to see how you can stand out from the competition.
Make sure you use all the appropriate ad extensions to maximize your ad rank and on-page real estate. Check the ad preview tool regularly to make sure your ad is still the most attractive on the page.
Take it away
If you suddenly experience a drop in clicks, take a step back and make a game plan before you panic.
Usually the answers to this problem are buried beneath the surface.
If you take the time to dig into the data and analyze it, you’re likely to find the root causes of stagnant campaign performance.
With these tips, you can create your game plan and immediately improve your Google Ads performance.
More resources:
Featured Image: Krakenimages.com/Shutterstock
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