In a nutshell: Tracking the right Google ad metrics is crucial for optimizing your Google ad campaigns. While CTR and Quality Score indicate the ad relevance and engagement, conversion rate and CPC provide insights about how well your ads drive users into desired action and the cost of managing them. Besides monitoring metrics, you must also optimize your Google ad performance by organizing the ad groups, reviewing auction insights, experimenting with different campaign types and presenting data in actionable dashboards. This detailed framework will help you tailor informed business decisions, enhance Google campaign performance and maximize ROI.
Google Ads offers comprehensive features to tailor your online advertising strategy. However, this also means dealing with a lot of campaign data that can clutter your spreadsheets. Determining which key Google ad metric to focus on can be challenging.
From impressions and clicks to conversions, there’s a lot to go through. Besides, you must ensure your Google campaigns run seamlessly without exceeding your client’s ad budget.
So, what are the crucial Google ad metrics to concentrate on? How can you optimize your client’s Google ad campaigns for better results?
Don’t worry; we’ve got you covered.
In this article, we’ll explore the top 10 Google ad metrics you must monitor, no matter the campaigns you’re running for your client. We’ll also share five proven tips to improve your Google ads performance.
Ready to dive in? Let’s get started.
Understanding Google Ads
Google Ads is an advanced PPC marketing platform that deals with a multitude of search queries, deciphers user intent, uncovers market trends, and provides intricate details - from how the audience finds your website to what devices they use.
Through Google Ads, you can tap into a massive audience base and target prospective customers interested in your products or services–this is why 98% of marketers still consider Google the top PPC platform for advertising their brands and services.
In addition to being comprehensive, Google Ads is flexible. You can decide who to target, how much to spend, and when to turn your campaigns on or off. It is also compatible with other marketing tools, allowing you to gain deeper insights. For example, you can integrate Google Ads with Looker Studio to get a holistic view of your campaign’s performance in a centralized dashboard.
While Google Ads is a robust platform for expanding your client’s digital footprint, its actual effectiveness lies in tracking relevant metrics to support your (client’s) goals. Understanding this lets you know how to fine-tune campaigns to align with your client’s advertising outcomes.
Tracking Google ad metrics is just one part of the equation. Understanding the key questions these metrics can help you answer is equally important. For example:
- Are my ads reaching the right audience?
- How effective are my Google ads at driving traffic?
- How much am I spending on my ads, and is it within the budget?
- What is my return on investment or ROAS?
- How efficient is my ad spent in converting users?
- Which devices or platforms are bringing in the highest traffic?
The answers to such questions are crucial for optimizing your client’s Google ad performance. You can steer your client’s campaign to success by relying on evidence rather than assumptions.
It’s important to note that you cannot determine your Google ad campaign’s success based on any metric. Every standalone metric has its own story, but to gauge the collective effectiveness, you should view the insights holistically. Relying on isolated metrics can mislead you about your campaign’s health.
For example, having high impressions doesn’t guarantee more clicks. It simply indicates whether your ad has reached the intended audience. The more you connect the dots, the more meaningful your campaign results will be.
| Pro Tip: If you’re just getting started, keep it simple. Start with the basics and identify which metrics reflect your Google ad campaign. As you get comfortable, expand your analytical horizon. |
Now that you’ve got an idea of Google ads, in the next section, we’ll be discussing the top 10 Google ad metrics that you must focus on while analyzing your client’s Google ad campaigns. These fundamental metrics provide a solid baseline to make informed business decisions.
10 Most Important Google Ad Metrics To Track
In this section, we’ll explore the core Google ad metrics every digital marketer should track to measure the success of your client’s Google ad campaigns.
Want a summary of all Google ad metrics? Skip to the table below
1. Click-through rate
What it is: How many users have seen and clicked on your ad? You can calculate the CTR of your ad campaign by dividing the number of clicks by the number of impressions.
CTR = (Clicks/Impressions) * 100
Why it matters: CTR drives traffic to your campaign’s landing page. A high CTR indicates the relevance of your ad to user intent, while a low CTR suggests you should revisit your ad campaign strategy. You must determine which ad elements (ad copy, targeting, design, or placement) contribute to the least clicks and refine them accordingly.
However, when you correlate CTR with relatable metrics like conversions, the real potential of the CTR metric is unveiled. If your ad garners many clicks but results in few conversions, it is engaging but fails to connect with users in the subsequent stages of their journey.
How to improve:
- Infuse emotional elements into your ad copy to make it persuasive.
- Target only relevant keywords that align with your campaign; otherwise, you’ll gather impressions without clicks.
- Regularly perform A/B testing to refine and identify the winning ad variant to improve CTR.
| Pro Tip: Your ad copy should resonate with the user’s emotions. For example, the ad copy “Create actionable dashboards 80% faster” is much better than “Create visual dashboards that do the heavy lifting for you” as the copy states an impactful outcome. |
2. CPC - Cost Per Click
What it is: How much you pay Google when a user clicks on your ad. It is an important metric to track because it determines your campaign’s overall ROI (return on investment). Did you know that the Google Ads average cost per click in 2024 is $4.66?
CPC - [Total cost /Total number of clicks]
Why it matters:
Understanding CPC is the foundation for a successful Google ad campaign. You must analyze how much you’ll set aside for specific clicks. This calculated investment forms the crucial base for acquiring potential customers.
A high CPC hints that you're burning your client’s budget quickly. This might be due to increased online competition, changes in ad quality scores, or targeting irrelevant keywords. Plan and predict your advertising outcome based on the ad spend efficiency.
How to improve:
- Focus on highly targeted ad groups that satisfy one intent at a time
- Craft landing pages with a compelling offer.
- Schedule your ads to display when your prospects are most active online.
- Optimize bid adjustments based on device and location targeting to get better value for the money spent.
| Pro Tip: It's okay if you don’t have enough budget for expensive keywords. But remember to consider keyword volume and intent. You can have a healthy mix of low-cost and high-converting keywords to decrease your ad’s CPC. |
3. Conversion Rate
What it is: Refers to the percentage of users who take that desired action. Examples include form signups, purchasing, subscribing to a newsletter, downloading an ebook, etc. The goal varies depending on your client’s advertising objective.
Conversion Rate = (Conversions/Total number of ad interactions) * 100
If you had 20 conversions from 1000 interactions, your conversion rate would be 2%.
Why it matters: Conversion rate is a key Google ad metric that determines the success of your campaign. The higher the conversion rate, the more engaging your ads are. Knowing your conversion rates lets you create tailored marketing campaigns for various digital channels. The Google Ads average conversion rate in 2024 is 6.96%.
How to improve:
- Minimize the user journey by including only key progressive stages.
- Test and refine landing pages for high speed and accuracy to avoid friction points.
- Personalize landing pages based on the keywords that users input in search.
- Optimize your ad for every user touchpoint.
| Pro Tip: Set up a conversion tracking module. Once you set up your module, you can see how your changes affect your Google ads conversion rate. This module is also helpful for analyzing the conversion results of past ad campaigns. |
4. Cost
What it is: Refers to the amount you’ve spent running your Google ad campaigns over a specific time period.
Why it matters: You manage your client’s Google ad budget as an agency. You must decide how and where to invest to make campaigns profitable, which is your core priority.
How to improve: Costs relate to managing CTR, clicks per cost, acquisition, and even cost per thousand impressions [awareness campaigns]. Brainstorm and figure out how to optimize these different costs without compromising your client’s budget.
| Pro Tip: If past ad spend data is available, you can compare the trends and identify the spending timeline. Then, you can derive critical insights and optimize for better outcomes. |
5. Impression Share
What it is: Refers to the percentage of impressions your ads receive compared to the total number of impressions your ads could get.
Impression Share = (Impressions Received/Total eligible impressions) * 100
Eligible impressions are calculated using multiple factors like targeting settings, ad quality, and approval.
Why it matters: Google Ads Impressions share signals whether your ads reach the intended audience. The higher the impression is shared, the more your ad reaches the desired audience. If the numbers are too low, go back and revise your ad targeting.
How to improve: Increase the campaign’s targeting and bidding to improve the overall visibility. Enhance the ad quality by using intent-driven keywords to reach the right audience.
6. ROAS
What it is: Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) refers to the revenue generated based on the amount spent on the campaigns. It is a key Google ad metric indicating whether your ads deliver the expected profits.
ROAS = (Revenue generated from ads/Cost (total ad spend))
Why it matters: If your client asks, “How are ad campaigns performing?” ROAS will be your go-to metric. A high ROAS signals a positive return, generating maximum efficiency. With ROAS, you can understand how your campaign’s marketing efforts translate into revenue. If they don’t, it’s time to reassess your Google campaign strategy.
How to improve:
- Avoid setting unrealistic ROAS targets.
- Segment audiences to target based on their interests, demographics, and purchasing behavior.
- Experiment with different ad variations by testing new ads alongside existing ones.
- Leverage exact match keywords for precise targeting.
- Don’t unquestioningly optimize your ROAS based on monthly seasonality trends. Ensure it aligns clearly with your client’s objectives.
| Pro Tip: Evaluate your Google campaign’s performance regularly every 2-4 weeks. Doing so will give you insights into making timely adjustments based on market changes, enabling you to optimize performance and spending. |
7. Quality Score
What it is: Quality Score is Google's evaluation of how good your ad is. The score ranges from 1 to 10 and assesses your ad quality. It helps you diagnose crucial ad elements to bolster campaign effectiveness.
The following three elements impact the Quality Score:
- Landing page experience
- Expected Click-through rate
- Ad relevance
Each component above will be evaluated as "Average," " above average," and "below average." This evaluation is based on the comparison with the advertisers whose ads display for the exact keyword over the last 90 days.
Why it matters: Your quality score reflects how well your ad aligns with the overall intent and the user experience. A high-quality score leads to lower costs and better return on investment. Achieving a perfect score is quite challenging, but if you rank consistently between 7 and 10, you signal Google that you’re a perfect fit.
How to improve:
- Review your landing pages to ensure they offer what people seek.
- Increase the loading speed of landing pages across mobile and desktop.
- Test different call-to-action triggers to match your landing page intent.
- Regularly perform keyword research to refine your ad groups.
- Deliver consistent messaging from the ad to the landing page.
Note: Google evaluates a keyword’s quality score based on how closely it matches the search query. Changing the keyword’s match type (e.g., broad match to phrase match) does not alter the quality score for that keyword. The quality score depends on the landing page experience, relevance, and CTR, not the specific keyword match type.
8. Ad Rank
What it is: The position of your ad on Google SERP. The example below shows two sponsored results for “house cleaning services.” The first ad is referred to as having the “absolute top” ad rank, as it captures the premium position in Google search.
Ad Rank is calculated based on your bids, ad quality, search query, impact of ad assets [headlines, descriptions, extensions], landing page, etc. All these factors must align to secure the highest spot.
Ad Rank = Bid x Quality Score
Why it matters: Ad rank determines your ad visibility. This rank is crucial because the top-ranking ads are the only ones your customers see, leading to higher conversion rates. If your ads need to be on top of Google's real estate, improve their quality and relevance.
How to improve:
- Craft hyper-relevant landing pages to boost engagement.
- Incorporate ad extensions like site links or phone numbers to gain more engagement.
- Prioritize customer intent by tapping on their needs and pain points.
- Avoid using clickbait for the sake of getting clicks.
- Filter out negative keywords to block your ad from appearing in irrelevant searches.
- Test the best bidding options to know which works well for your campaign.
| Pro Tip: If your ad rank is low, troubleshoot landing pages, ad copy, bidding, and other supporting elements individually. This will help you understand what’s working and what’s not. |
Note: Google recalculates your ad rank for every auction, which means your ad’s position may vary.
9. Cost Per Acquisition
What it is: CPA refers to the cost you spend on acquiring one customer or lead via your Google ad campaign. You’ll find this Google ad metric associated with each level, campaign, ad group, and keyword of your Google ad campaign.
CPA = Total cost/conversions
Why it matters: Tracking CPA tells you if you spend too much of your client’s budget on convincing a new customer. For example, if you spend $400 on a campaign and achieve 50 conversions, your CPA is $8.
A lower CPA means paying less for each conversion, resulting in high profitability. While a high CPA could scour your client’s investment, it also means generating less profits due to campaign ineffectiveness.
Therefore, monitor CPA regularly to maximize your ad budgeting and spending efficiency.
How to improve:
- When you first set up your target CPA or make changes, allow for a 1-2 weeks learning period to help Google’s algorithm understand patterns and serve you with better results.
- Other than keywords, optimize bids for device, demographics, audiences, and interaction types (e.g., phone call extensions)
- Use available ad text slots to align with different combinations of user search queries.
- Regularly monitor your campaign performance and tweak target CPA based on the results or business goals.
| Pro Tip: Target CPA works well only when you properly set up conversion tracking. Verify whether Google ads correctly register your conversion tags. |
10. View Through Conversions (VTC)
What it is: Measures how many users saw your ad, didn’t click initially, but later converted. Through VTC, you can understand how your Google ads indirectly influence your audience’s purchasing decision.
To calculate VTC, Google compares the number of times the ad is shown with the number of conversions within a specific period (30 days).
Why it matters: VTC gives you a better understanding of how users interact as they take longer to convert. It accurately represents your Google ad campaigns' reach and effectiveness, garnering brand exposure and customer loyalty insights.
However, there’s a hidden caveat here. Your ads will not influence your audience with just one view, which could entirely change your perspective. So, analyzing VTC with other supporting metrics is better for gauging meaningful insights.
How to improve:
- Limit your ad frequency so your audience won’t get bored or frustrated - avoid ad fatigue.
- Optimize for better ad placements to increase online visibility.
- Retarget users who have previously clicked your ad with follow-up ads to drive them back to your website or landing pages.
- Enhance your ad copy for different ad creatives types like image, video, etc.
[Table] Top 10 Google Ad Metrics
A summarized version of the top 10 Google ad metrics discussed above gives you on-spot insights.
| Google Ad Metric | Definition | Usage |
| 1. CTR | Number of users who have clicked your ad. | Gauge the effectiveness of your ad copy and landing page to garner clicks. |
| 2. Cost Per Click | The amount you spend when a user clicks on your ad. | Optimize bids to manage your client’s budget. Target hyper-relevant keywords to lessen CPC costs. |
| 3. Conversion Rate | The percentage of users who satisfy the purpose of pursuing the desired action. | Tells whether your Google ads are engaging to drive potential search traffic. |
| 4. Cost | The total amount you’ve spent on your client’s Google ad campaign | Ensure that the cost aligns with your client’s ad budget to improve spending efficiency. |
| 5. Impression Share | The percentage of impressions your ads receive compared to the total impressions your ads could get. | Highlights missed opportunities. If the impressions are less than 100%, your ad could have reached more people but was blocked due to inefficiencies. |
| 6. ROAS | How much profit have you generated compared to the investment you’ve made? | High ROAS signals better revenue. However, incremental adjustments should be made to set realistic targets. |
| 7. Quality Score | Google’s rating from 1-10 to measure your ad quality. | A high QS indicates that your ads serve the right intent. Ensure consistent ranking to avoid disappearing from search. |
| 8. Ad Rank | Your ad position in Google. | The higher the rank, greater the visibility. |
| 9. Cost Per Acquisition | How much did it cost to acquire one potential customer or lead? | The lower the CPA, the better the ad spent. |
| 10. View Through Conversions | Measures how many users viewed your ad, did not take action, but later converted. | Analyzes the effectiveness of your Google ads over a long period. |
5 Proven Tips to Optimize Google Ads Performance
Now that you’ve got an idea of what key Google ad metrics to track, our next focus will be on delving into 5 proven tips to optimize your client’s Google ads performance.
1. Basics come first
The #1 mistake marketers make is that they immediately jump into campaign ideation - ad copy, targeting, etc. Starting with an end goal is fine, but that doesn’t mean you can skip the fundamentals.
So, let’s start with the basics - organize your ad groups. The better you structure them, the more you can effectively manage your Google ads for simplified performance tracking.
Image Source: Google Ads Help
As a marketer, you know the struggle of managing and running multiple Google ad campaigns. When you organize them, you build momentum, amplify messaging, and allocate the best resources, adding value to your client’s crucial investment.
| Pro Tip : Within each ad group, target the keywords that are most relevant to that ad group. |
2. Transform Google ads KPIs into interactive dashboards
Google ads dashboard sounds Latin and Greek with excessive data. In order to create effective client marketing reports, you need comprehensive campaign insights that tell you what has worked and what has not. Moreover, the customization options are pretty low inside of the Google ad platform.
To overcome this and streamline ad reporting, you can integrate Google ad analysis add-on (like Two Minute Reports) directly into your Google Sheets or Looker Studio. You can automatically pull key Google ad metrics from CTR to ROAS, automate repetitive tasks, access pre-built reporting templates, and customize them, giving you all the freedom to play with data and weave a story.
Adapting this approach ensures that you’ll focus on optimizing the Google ad campaign strategy by delivering accurate reports to your clients.
3. Experiment with different Google campaign types
Start small and scale big with different Google ad campaign types.
You uncover a new set of competitive opportunities when you experiment with different Google campaigns. However, each campaign has its targeting options and formats.
For example, YouTube campaigns let you reach users who are watching similar videos of your products/services. At the same time, performance max campaigns give a broader footprint by extending your ad presence across Google’s properties like search, display, etc.
Although it can be challenging to invest in new campaign types, it is worth giving a try. Only when you test different ideas, you’ll understand the impact of the overall content marketing mix. You can explore potential opportunities for your clients by quantifying real numbers behind your campaign ideation.
4. Evaluate the benefits of Google Search Partners
Google has partnerships with many third-party websites, giving you a massive reach to a more extensive set of audiences and networks.
While these websites can bring you exposure, reviewing their traffic quality is essential, too. If it is poor or irrelevant, it costs your client’s bucks, hurting your agency's reputation. So, double-check the intricacies before you hop into display campaigns.
Note: A search partner works well if your client has an unlimited budget and decides to run high-level remarketing campaigns. But it's better to opt out of search networks if you prefer quality over quantity and have a succinct ROI to target.
5. Review Auction Insights
The Auction insights report lets you compare your Google ad performance with other advertisers who participate in the same auction that you do. Just a small heads up - auction is a process that decides which eligible ads appear for the given search term in Google.
You can access this report for search, shopping, and performance max campaigns.
Image Source: Google Ads Help
Now, let’s look at some of the best ways to extract value from auction insights:
- Check whether your competitors are bidding on the same branded terms.
- Reduce ad spend by analyzing which keywords are underperforming.
- Track historical changes to identify trends - do other businesses increase their search activity when you do?
By analyzing the above questions, you can leverage auction insights effectively to optimize your client’s Google ad performance.
However, only keywords and ad groups that generate enough activity or traffic will be eligible to receive auction insights reports.
Track key Google Ads metrics with zero hassle
Every customer story starts with a search. While Google is ultimately the right way to tap into this buying journey, tracking the key metrics that make up the plot can be daunting.
By focusing on the above important Google ad metrics, you can refine your client’s campaigns, enhance performance, deliver measurable results, and maximize advertising effectiveness to drive better campaign outcomes.
To get a unified view of the Google ads KPIs you track, you can consider Two Minute Report’s Google ads reporting tool to optimize ads on the go. Just connect your client’s Google ad account, automatically extract key Google ad metrics, and customize reports to get a holistic view of the customer journey. You can also streamline and automate the client reporting workflow without getting bogged down.
Try out all the features by signing up for a free 14-day trial and start producing actionable Google ad reports for your clients immediately.
