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Google Ads are everywhere! They come in many forms, from paid advertisements that appear on the search results of Google to display ads that incorporate images or videos that you might see on your favourite website or app.  

Google Ads work on a bidding process, meaning you compete with others in your field for when your ad will show up. A huge benefit of this is that you only pay when the ad works, meaning you aren’t wasting money for an advertisement that doesn’t reach your target audience.  

 Google Ads are accessible because a company of any size can market to millions of people without having to shell out a huge budget. Again, you are only paying when the ad works, which means you will very quickly be able to determine what type of campaign and ad structure works best for your target audience.

What Matters?

When you look at your Google Ads results, it can be quite overwhelming; there is a lot of data represented through numbers and graphs. The trick is indicating which key metrics are most relevant to your business. Below we've outlined the three key metrics you should be paying attention to.

Conversions

Your conversions represent how effective your ad or website is at making your audience take action. If the goal for a web page is to get people to book a service, your conversion number is how many people booked a service by clicking on the web page link. It is essentially how many people completed the task you intended that tool to do. 

You can then compare your conversions to your traffic, this is your conversion rate. Your conversion rate demonstrates how effective your advertisement was at drawing people in and getting them to take a look at your company. Use your conversion rate as proof of what works best for your audience so you can maximize the effectiveness of your content.

Cost Per Conversion

Cost per conversion is a critical metric in determining if your ads generate a return on your investment. Your cost per conversion refers to how much it costs you to create a lead, whether that lead is a phone call, live chat or a form submission. 

This metric looks at the amount you've spent divided by the number of people who have converted using the ad. Based on how much that sale is worth, you can determine your willingness to continue to spend with that ad or try a different strategy. 

Your cost per conversion will allow you to make intelligent choices for your ad spend. Even if your CPC is $50, a new furnace install is worth $4,000-$6,000, which is still worth investing in as long as your website converts 25% of its users into customers. If your CPC is $50 for a furnace install and your site isn’t converting at least 20% (making your cost per call $250), it's cutting too far into your profit margins to continue bidding.

Impression Share

Impression share is a metric you can use to determine how much of the market you're capitalizing on. Impression share is the percentage of times your ad appeared vs the times it could have appeared. There are two main reasons why you wouldn't show up 100% of the time. First being budget. If you set a limit to your daily spend, you will only appear for the number of searches for which your budget allows. Try increasing your budget to see if you can increase your Impression Share Percentage and capitalize on more potential customers. The second factor is rank. Maybe it's too expensive to bid for the number 1 spot on Google, but it's not too bad to try for third. It's very strategic to analyze this when you're reviewing your ad results. Try playing with your bids to see if you can either get more clicks or start paying less for second or third placement.

Final Thought

Google Ads are relatively straightforward, but there is a lot that goes into them. It can be easy to get lost in the details. The key to success is focusing on the key metrics that will drive results for your business. Therefore, you can make educated decisions on where to spend your hard-earned money.