LinkedIn CTR Calculator

Last updated May 2023

Work out the CTR of your posts or ads on LinkedIn with this LinkedIn CTR Calculator. It can also be used to find out the number of impressions or clicks you would need to hit a specific click-through rate.

Feel free to experiment with different scenarios using our LinkedIn Click-Through Rate calculator in order to help you better understand this metric.

 

 
 
What Does CTR Mean?
CTR stands for Click-Through Rate. A click-through is when a user clicks on an ad or post and goes through to a different webpage.
 
LinkedIn CTR Formula
The LinkedIn CTR equation is:
The LinkedIn CTR Formula is Total Clicks divided by Impressions. As this is a percentage, you should multiply it by 100.Click to enlarge
CTR = (clicks x 100) ÷ impressions
 
Why Is CTR Useful?
Click-Through Rate is one of the simplest ways to compare the performance of ads or posts. It is more informative than engagement rate as it shows that people were interested enough in your post or ad to leave their feed (which people are reluctant to do).
CTR is a better measure of success than simply the number of clicks an ad or post has received.
For example:
Ad A – seen 3,000 times and clicked on 90 times.
 Ad B  – seen 30,000 times and clicked on 825 times.
Although Ad B was clicked on far more times, it has also had ten times more opportunities for clicks (ie 10x the number of impressions). If you multiply Ad A‘s clicks by 10 (so they have the same number of opportunities), it could have received 900 clicks.
This is why it isn’t fair to judge ads or posts simply by clicks. A CTR tells you how ads with equal opportunities can perform.
 
Top Tip
While CTRs generally remain fairly constant, not all ads are scalable – meaning that there isn’t necessarily a larger audience that would react to it in the same way that the initial audience did. CTR is better for comparison, but volume does still have value.
 
What is Different About CTR on LinkedIn?
LinkedIn measures CTR in the same way as everyone else.
However, both clicks and impressions are measured slightly differently than on other platforms. Both differences benefit both the user and LinkedIn, and both will increase CTRs on LinkedIn relative to other social networks.
 
Click Definition on LinkedIn
Clicks are defined by LinkedIn as:
… the number of clicks on your content, company name, or logo by a (signed in) member. This doesn’t include interactions (shares, reactions, and comments).
So this includes both links you put in posts or on your profile, as well as other pages on LinkedIn, such as your profile page.
The fact that only signed-in members are counted is interesting (and is potentially to do with permissions around collecting data). This will decrease the overall amount of clicks counted creating a slightly lower CTR.
The fact that clicks to profile pages are included will increase the CTR (and likely far more than only including sign-in members decreases it). People are more likely to click to stay on a platform (that they already trust) than leave for a site they may not know. And more clicks means a higher CTR.
For context, Facebook also includes internal clicks in its CTR measure. However, Facebook also has a specific Link Click CTR so you can break out just clicks on links added to your posts or ads.
 
Impression Definition on LinkedIn
Impressions are defined by LinkedIn as:
… the number of times each post is visible for at least 300 milliseconds with at least 50 percent in view on a (signed in) member’s device screen or browser window.
This is interesting because LinkedIn has adopted their own form of Viewable Impression. This means that impressions that don’t appear on screen won’t be counted. From a user’s point of view, this is excellent. It means impressions are far more accurately counted than on other social networks – which generally count an impression when a post is loaded within a feed (whether it appears on screen or not).
In terms of measuring CTR it means that it will be significantly inflated compared to other social networks. This is because fewer impressions being measured means a higher click-to-impression ratio (or CTR).
It is also interesting once again that they only include signed-in members for impressions. This will give the CTR a further increase – and likely more than the decrease it would get from not including clicks from non-signed-in members. This is because you would expect sign-in members to have a higher level of trust in the platform, and therefore be more likely to click.
 
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