Metrics & KPIs

Expected CTR

By the AdFlint research team · Last reviewed July 2026

A Quality Score component estimating how likely your ad is to be clicked for a keyword, normalized for position and format on a three-point scale.

It is a forecast built from your historical click behavior on that keyword, deliberately stripped of position effects so ranking highly does not flatter it. Being history-based, it moves slowly and resists quick fixes. The common misreading is confusing it with your reported CTR, which still carries the position, competition, and format advantages this component explicitly removes.

Expected CTR compared with

The settings this gets confused with, and how to tell them apart.

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