Clicks Are a Vanity Metric: Ranking Ads for What Actually Converts

Clicks Are a Vanity Metric: Ranking Ads for What Actually Converts

A couple of years ago I shipped an ads ranking model that looked like a clean win. Click-through rate went up. The offline metrics held, the A/B test was solid, and the launch note practically wrote itself. Then I looked at what those extra clicks were doing for the advertisers paying for them. Too often, the answer was nothing. People clicked, glanced, and left. The merchant paid for the click. Nobody bought. That gap is one of the easiest trap…