All Clicks vs Link Clicks: The Metric Mistake Inflating Your Results
Meta's dashboard shows "all clicks" by default — which counts likes, comments, shares, profile taps and image expands, not just the people who went to your store. Judge your ads on that number and a post that everyone engaged with but nobody visited will look like a winner — so you scale it, and burn budget on an ad that never sent traffic. The fix: read link clicks, link CTR and cost per link click, then what happens after the click. This one column change quietly separates advertisers who scale winners from those who scale noise.
We flag this in almost every ad-account review we do. It's not an advanced mistake — it's the default view doing exactly what it's designed to do: make your ads look busy.
What "all clicks" is actually counting
The Clicks (all) column bundles together everything a person can tap on your ad:
- Link clicks (the ones you actually want)
- Likes, comments and shares
- Profile or Page taps
- Photo/image expands
- "See more" caption taps
Only the first one sends someone toward your store. The rest are engagement — nice for the algorithm, useless for judging whether the ad drove traffic. A funny or controversial hook can rack up hundreds of "clicks" that are really just people expanding the caption or tapping your page.
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The trap, in one example
Say two ads each spend PKR 10,000:
| Ad A | Ad B | |
|---|---|---|
| All clicks | 500 | 250 |
| Link clicks | 60 | 200 |
| Cost per link click | PKR 167 | PKR 50 |
On the default view, Ad A looks like the winner — twice the "clicks". But most of Ad A's clicks were likes and expands. Ad B actually sent three times the real traffic to your store at a third of the cost. Scale Ad A on the wrong column and you've just poured budget into the weaker ad while pausing your real winner.
This is exactly how "my CTR is great but I'm getting no sales" happens: the CTR being celebrated is all-clicks CTR. Switch to link CTR and the picture flips.
How to fix your columns in two minutes
In Ads Manager, change your columns (or pick a performance/conversion preset) to show:
- Link clicks — real traffic
- CTR (link click-through rate) — the quality of your hook + creative, honestly measured
- CPC (cost per link click) — what a real visitor costs you
- Then the outcome that matters: leads, add-to-carts, or purchases
Save it as your default view and never look at blended "Clicks" again for judging performance. For the benchmark ranges these should land in, see our Meta ads cost in Pakistan guide.
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Download the checklist →The other numbers that flatter your ads
All clicks isn't the only metric built to look good. A few more that trick advertisers:
- Reach vs impressions — impressions can be one person seeing your ad ten times. High impressions on low reach means frequency is climbing and you're hammering the same people.
- Engagement rate — likes and comments feel like success, but engagement isn't a link click and definitely isn't a sale. A meme-y ad can win engagement and lose money.
- Frequency — when this creeps above ~2–3 on a cold audience, you're over-showing the same ad; costs rise and results fall. It's your signal to refresh the creative.
The rule is the same for all of them: judge an ad on the action that makes you money — the link click, then the lead or purchase — not the number that makes the dashboard look busy.
The click is only half the read
Once you're reading link clicks, resist the next trap: stopping there. A cheap link click means nothing if those visitors bounce. The full read is a chain — link CTR (did the ad earn the click) → landing-page conversion (did the page earn the action) → cost per purchase/lead (did the whole thing make money).
If your link CTR is healthy but sales are flat, the problem has moved past the ad to your product page or offer. If link CTR is weak, it's the creative. Reading the right column tells you which problem you actually have — so you fix the real one instead of guessing. That diagnostic discipline is the whole point of running a proper first campaign structure and watching your conversion benchmarks.
Bottom line
The default dashboard is optimised to look impressive, not to tell you the truth. Judge every ad on link clicks, link CTR and cost per link click — then on what happens after the click — and you'll stop scaling losers dressed up as winners. If you want a second pair of eyes on your account, that's what a free ad-account review is for: we'll read your campaigns on the columns that matter and show you what to cut, keep and scale.
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between all clicks and link clicks on Meta?
"All clicks" (the Clicks column) counts every interaction with your ad — link clicks plus likes, comments, shares, profile taps, image expands and "see more" taps. "Link clicks" counts only the people who actually clicked through toward your website or destination. All clicks always looks bigger and flatters your ad; link clicks tells you who really came.
Which metric should I use to judge my ads?
Judge on link clicks, link CTR, and cost per link click — plus what happens after the click (leads, add-to-carts, purchases). All clicks and the blended CTR that Meta shows by default overstate performance and can make a weak ad look strong.
Why is my CTR high but I'm getting no sales?
Often because the "CTR" you're looking at is all-clicks CTR — people are engaging with the post (liking, expanding) but not clicking through to your store. Switch to link CTR. If link CTR is healthy but sales are still zero, the problem has moved to your landing page or offer, not the ad.
How do I see link clicks in Ads Manager?
Customise your columns (or pick a performance preset) to show Link Clicks, CTR (link click-through rate), and CPC (cost per link click) instead of the default all-inclusive Clicks and CTR. It's a two-minute change that fixes how you read every campaign after it.
Is your ad budget actually working?
We’ll audit your Meta account against real PKR benchmarks and show you what to cut, keep and scale — free.