Over 80 percent of businesses worldwide say they trust Google Ads for their PPC (pay-per-click) campaigns.
Are you part of this group? If you use Google Ads and want to get the most out of it, you need to make sure you’re consistently tracking the right metrics.
This guide will teach you ten of the most critical Google Ads metrics and why they matter.
1. Impressions
The impressions metric tells you how many times someone has seen your ad in a fixed period.
Ideally, increasing the number of impressions your ads receive will help you build brand awareness and get more people interested in your products or services. However, impressions aren’t the end-all-be-all.
It’s important to note that your ad being “seen” isn’t necessarily a guarantee that someone will read the copy or recognize your business’s name. Whenever an ad is shown on a search engine results page (or SERP), Google Ads considers that an impression.
2. Cost
The overall cost metric tells you how much money you’ve spent so far on an ad campaign.
Unless you’re running a major corporation with an unlimited advertising budget, keeping track of your total ad campaign costs is helpful. It’ll ensure you manage funds well and don’t go over budget.
3. Clicks
If someone clicks on your ad's blue, linked text, Google Ads counts that action as a click.
Keep in mind that if someone can’t get to your website after clicking a link (for example, the link is broken, and they receive a 404 error message), that is still considered a click.
To avoid wasting money (remember, Google PPC ads require you to pay whenever someone clicks on your ad), make sure your links work correctly before you launch your campaign.
4. Average Cost per Click
In addition to monitoring the overall cost of your ad campaigns, you must also look at more specific cost-related Google Ads metrics. For example, the average cost per click.
The average cost-per-click metric lets you know how much you get charged every time someone clicks on your ad. To calculate this number, you’ll divide the amount you’ve spent on the campaign so far by the total number of clicks your ad has received.
Understanding the average cost-per-click gives you a more detailed look at how you’re managing your advertising budget. It also provides a baseline number for you to compare in the future and ensure you’re saving money over time.
5. Conversions
In Google Ads, a conversion occurs whenever someone does two things:
- Clicks on an ad
- Takes an important action (visits a web page, signs up for your email list, etc.)
When you set up your campaign, you get to decide what counts as a conversion based on your unique goals.
Regardless of how you define conversions, monitoring them helps you measure the effectiveness of your campaigns and ensure you’re on the right track. If your conversions aren’t as high as you’d like, you’ll know that you need to go back to the drawing board and optimize your campaign.
6. Google Ads Click-Through Rate
The click-through rate is a ratio that compares the number of clicks on your ad to the number of impressions it gets.
This metric is calculated by dividing the number of clicks by impressions, then multiplying that number by 100. For example, if ten people clicked on an ad that appeared 200 times, you would have a five percent click-through rate.
In addition to measuring your overall click-through rate, Google Ads also lets you measure it more precisely.
For example, you can monitor the click-through rate by ad groups (ads that target a shared collection of keywords) to see which ones produce the best results. You can also monitor the click-through rate by campaigns (sets of one or more ad groups) to learn more about which ones are the most effective.
7. Cost per Conversion
In Google Ads, the cost per conversion metric tells you how much you’re spending for each conversion (purchases, signups, etc.) generated by your ad campaign. To calculate this metric, you’ll divide the total cost of conversions by the total number of conversions in a set period.
Measuring the cost per conversion lets you know if you’re getting a good return on your investment with this particular platform.
It’s helpful to compare your Google Ads cost per conversion to the cost per conversion on other platforms (such as Facebook). This information can help you decide which platform to focus on more often in the future.
8. Google Ads Impression Share
The impression share metric helps you understand how often your ads are being seen compared to how often they could have been seen.
Google prioritizes ads based on which ones they think searchers are likely to click on, as well as each advertiser’s budget. The more often your ad is shown, the better.
By tracking impression share, you can find out if you’re missing out on opportunities for your ad to be seen and find out what’s hindering your online visibility.
9. Google Ads Quality Score
Your quality score gives a ranking from one to ten (7-10 is ideal) and provides an estimate of your keyword quality. It’s calculated based on these factors:
- Ad relevance
- Click-through rate
- Landing page experience
A higher quality score influences where your ad ranks, when it’s shown, and if it’s shown at all. If your ad has a low-quality score, that’s a sign that you might need to adjust the ad copy or improve the landing page experience to make it easier and more enjoyable for visitors.
10. Return on Advertising Spend
The return on advertising spends (or ROAS) metric lets you know how much money you’re getting back on your Google Ads campaigns.
ROAS is calculated by dividing the amount you spend on ads by the amount of money you’ve received from them. To get an accurate number, you must also track the number of sales you make or leads generated and where they came from.
In general, the higher your ROAS is, the more effective your campaign is.
How DashboardFox Can Help With Google Ads Metrics
For businesses that rely on Google Ads to make things work, it is very important for them to check on the metrics to ensure that they are headed in the right direction with their decisions. Checking these metrics will help them make decisions that can be beneficial to their businesses.
Good thing DashbordFox is here to save the day.
With DashboardFox, you can always make things work with our new API querying method that can connect to the Google Ads API.
We do this by connecting to the Google Ads API endpoints to capture the key metrics discussed in the article. DashboardFox offers a comprehensive method for connecting to API endpoints and scheduling the retrieval of data at regular intervals.
The advantages of DashboardFox become evident, including no-code report construction, data-level and role-based security, scheduling and notifications, embedding, mobile access, and a one-time pricing model instead of an annual subscription.
With DashboardFox, you can always control your numbers without hassles.
Reach out to us by setting up a meeting or take advantage of our live demo sessions that we offer free of charge. We’ll be waiting!