What the numbers in Google Ads mean, in plain words, and what to do about each one.
How many times your ad was shown.
Each time your ad appears on a Google results page counts once, whether or not anyone notices it.
Lots of impressions and few clicks usually means the ad or the keyword isn't a good match for what people are searching.
How many times someone clicked your ad.
You pay for each click (not each impression) on Search campaigns.
Clicks only matter if they turn into customers: look at conversions next.
Clicks divided by impressions.
Out of every 100 times your ad was shown, how many people clicked. 5% means 5 clicks per 100 impressions.
A low CTR on a keyword suggests the ad text doesn't answer that search. It also pulls your Quality Score down, which makes clicks cost more.
What you paid for a click, on average.
Your cost divided by your clicks. It's usually less than your maximum bid, because Google charges just enough to beat the ad below you.
Compare it with what a click is worth to you: if one in 20 clicks buys and a sale makes you £40, a click is worth about £2.
What you spent.
The total charged for clicks in the period.
Watch for keywords with high cost and no conversions: they are where money leaks.
The actions you count as a result: a sale, an enquiry, a call.
Only what you've set up as conversion tracking in Google Ads. Without it, every keyword shows zero and you can't tell good from bad.
If your conversions are always zero, check the tracking before changing any keywords.
Conversions divided by clicks.
Out of every 100 clicks, how many became a result.
A keyword with a good conversion rate but few impressions may deserve a higher bid.
What each result cost you.
Your cost divided by your conversions. The single most useful number for deciding whether a keyword pays.
Compare it with what a conversion is worth. If a lead is worth £30 and a keyword's leads cost £80, lower its bid or pause it.
What your conversions were worth.
The values you (or your shop) send to Google with each conversion. Blank if you don't send values.
With values, judge keywords by return on ad spend rather than conversion count.
Conversion value divided by cost.
400% (or 4x) means every £1 spent brought back £4 in conversion value.
Below 100% you're spending more than the conversions are worth, before any other costs.
How often your ad showed, out of all the times it could have.
If people made 1,000 searches your keywords were eligible for and your ad appeared on 600, your impression share is 60%. The other 40% went to competitors, for one of the two reasons below.
Low impression share on a keyword that converts well is the clearest sign there's more business available.
Searches you missed because your ad ranked too low.
Ad Rank is worked out from your bid, your Quality Score and the expected effect of your ad's extras. When it's too low, your ad doesn't show at all. Google reports this per keyword.
Raise the bid, or improve the ad and landing page so the Quality Score goes up. Improving quality is cheaper in the long run.
Searches you missed because the campaign's daily budget ran out.
Google spreads your budget through the day, and stops showing ads once it's spent. Google only reports this for whole campaigns, not keywords.
Raise the campaign's budget, or move money away from keywords that spend without converting, so the good ones keep showing.
How often your ad showed above the normal results.
Out of all the impressions you could have had, the share that appeared in the top ads above the organic results.
Ads at the top get most of the clicks. A low figure here with a high overall share means you're showing, but low down.
How often your ad was the very first one.
The share of possible impressions where yours was the first ad on the page.
Being first is rarely worth any price: compare cost per conversion before chasing it.
Google's 1 to 10 rating of a keyword, its ad and its landing page.
Based on the expected click-through rate, how relevant the ad is to the keyword, and the landing page experience. Higher scores pay less per click for the same position.
Scores of 1 to 4 are worth fixing: write an ad that uses the keyword's words, and send people to a page about exactly that.
How closely a search has to match your keyword.
Exact match shows for searches with the same meaning. Phrase match shows for searches that include its meaning. Broad match shows for anything Google thinks is related, which reaches the most people and wastes the most money.
Check the search terms report regularly for broad and phrase match keywords.
What someone actually typed.
Your keyword is what you bid on; the search term is the real search that triggered your ad. One keyword can match hundreds of different searches.
Terms that cost money and never convert are the best candidates for negative keywords.
A word or phrase that stops your ad showing.
Add "free" as a negative and your ad won't show for searches containing it. They can apply to one ad group, a campaign, or many campaigns through a shared list.
Adding negatives from the search terms report is one of the quickest ways to cut wasted spend.
The most you're willing to pay for a click on that keyword.
Used with manual bidding. With automated bidding (like Maximise conversions) Google sets the bid for each auction itself, and keyword bids are ignored.
Change bids in small steps, 10% to 20%, and give each change a week before judging it.