What is a good AdWords click-thru-rate (CTR)? Good display network CTR?

Question: What is considered a good click-through rate?

Question: Why do display networks vs. other forms of on-line advertising, say, advertising on Facebook, or buying ad space on a specific site?

Answer: The DISPLAY NETWORK is akin to advertising in a newspaper or magazine. The different is you ‘buy’ space by keywords. Google attempts to match your keywords to the content of the blog, portal, Gmail, etc. I really think of Display Network as magazine advertising.

Facebook, LinkedIn advertising is actually quite close to that model. The difference is that you set up the ads based on demographics of the audience NOT keywords. (By the way, you CAN do this on the Display Network as well, but it doesn’t work very well). Both Display Network and Facebook / LinkedIn advertising are really ‘complementary’ to Google ads. Google ads are driven by keywords and the user is ACTIVELY searching; the Facebook / LinkedIn / Display Network is more like a magazine, browsing sort of activity.

In terms of CTR (Click through Rate). A good rate for the Display network is somewhere less than 1%. If you could break 1% on the Display Network that would be fantastic. The rate on the Google network can be as high as 5% – 7%. There is a HUGE difference in CTR’s because of the very different “mental modes” that users are in on each network.