The Best Google Ads KPIs to Track (Beyond Just Clicks)

Achieving a high Click-Through Rate (CTR) is half the battle won. It shows that your ad copy or link is compelling. However, you need other key performance indicators (KPIs) to see how many visitors convert into customers after clicking on your ads. I hope you aren’t falling into the trap of only tracking “clicks” or CTR.

Why deeper KPIs matter for real ROI?

A high CTR could be misleading because not all clicks lead to meaningful actions, such as a purchase, sign-up, or download. Some clicks are accidental, as is the case with “fat finger” clicks on mobile devices. You need deeper KPIs, not just the CTR for performance tracking.

The blog covers the following topics:

• Best KPIs for performance tracking
• Red flags with KPIs
• Detailed study of a real-life case
• A bonus download of the KPI checklist

The objective of this blog is to educate marketers on the value of deeper KPIs in paid advertisements. We’ll start with a detailed checklist of the best KPIs.

KPIs to Track Beyond Clicks

Google has multiple KPIs to track the entire user journey from clicking into an advertisement to taking a meaningful action. These KPIs can help marketers in many ways. Here, we’ll discuss the best KPIs and learn how they work.

1. Conversion Rate (CVR)

It is the percentage of visitors who completed a desired action, such as making a purchase, registering for an account, downloading a PDF, installing an app, or filling out a form.

Why is CVR important?

Measures Performance: It shows how your content drives visitors to take the desired action.

Identifies Snags: A low CVR shows that your landing page needs improvement.

Compares Campaigns: It helps compare the performances of various campaigns and get insights to make decisions.

Improves User Experience: Understand what drives conversion to improve user experience.

How to track?

Divide conversions from visitors and multiply the result by 100

Conversions/Visitors x 100

Example: If you have 100 conversions out of 1000 visitors, the CVR will be

100/1000 x 100 = 10%

2. Cost per Conversion (CPA)

It shows how much a conversion costs. A lower CPA is indicative of higher efficiency and return. However, a higher CPA signals issues with ads or landing pages.

Why is CPA important?

Measures Cost-Efficiency: CPA shows whether you’re making a profit or loss.

Highlights Profitability: It shows how much profit you’re making on each CPA.

Identifies Improvement Areas: A high CPA shows a need for campaign evaluation to identify areas for improvement.

How to track?

Cost Per Conversion = Total Amount Spent / Total Number of Conversions

Example: An ad campaign generates 100 conversions at a budget of $1000. The CPC will be

CPC = 1000/100 = $10

The business spent $10 for each conversion generated through that campaign.

3. Impression Share (IS)

It shows the percentage of impressions registered by an ad. It is calculated by dividing the total number of eligible impressions by the number of registered impressions.

Why is impression share important?

Identify Missed Opportunities: The loss of impression shows how many opportunities are missed.

Understand Market Competition: You can check how your ads are performing in relation to your competitors.

Determine Growth Potential: A low impression share is indicative of opportunities to grow your market share.

How to track?

Divide eligible impressions from registered impressions and multiply by 100

Example: If your ads registered only 4,500 impressions from 10,000 eligible impressions, the impression share will be

4500/10000 x 100 = 45%

4. Search Lost IS (Budget vs. Rank)

It shows impression loss due to low budget or low ad rank. In either situation, opportunities are missed. Analysing the IS loss helps identify and rectify the problem.

Why is Lost IS important?

Lost IS (Budget): The ad stopped showing up before the eligible limit due to low or insufficient budget. Increasing the budget could increase the IS.

Lost IS (Rank): The ad stopped showing up before the eligible limit due to low ad rank. Your bid or quality score, or both, were too low to win the auction.

How to use both metrics together?

High Budget and Low Rank: Optimize the budget

High Rank and Low Budget: Work on improving the ad rank

Both are High: Work on both, but address the ad rank issue first.

5. Quality Score

Google rates the quality and relevance of ads on a scale of 1 to 10. It is called Quality Score. A score of 7 and above is considered good.

Why is Quality Score Important?

Influences Ad Rank and Position: Ads with high Quality Score are placed at prominent positions on search pages.

Affects Cost Per Click (CPC): Ads with a high Quality Score have a lower CPC.

Improves Efficiency: Ads with high Quality Score have better return on investment (ROI).

Key Factors in Quality Score

Click-Through Rate (CTR): The likelihood of ads receiving licks.

Improved Ad Relevance: How closely do ads match with search queries?

Landing Page Experience: Does the landing page design and content match the search intent?

6. Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)

It shows revenue earned for every dollar spent. A high ROAS is indicative of campaign efficiency.

Why is ROAS Important?

Measure Campaign Efficiency: You can check how much revenue your ads generate.

Ads Budgeting: It helps in assigning the maximum budget to profitable ads.

Identify Performance Metrics: You can see what works well for your ads.

How to track?

ROAS = Revenue from Ad Campaign / Cost of Ad Campaign

Example: You generate a revenue of $10,000 on an ad spend of $2,000, your ROAS will be

10000/2000 = 5

ROAS = 5:1 OR 5x100 = 500%

You earned $5 for each dollar.

7. Lifetime Value (LTV) of acquired customers

It is the total of ad revenue you can expect from a single customer throughout their entire shopping journey.

Why is LTV important?

Strategic Decision Making: Keep the long-term value of customers while making decision about marketing and customer acquisition.

Profitability Analysis: Prioritize customer relations according to their profitability.

Resource Allocation: Allocate maximum resources to channels or strategies that retain high-value customers.

How to track?

LTV = (Average Purchase Value) x (Purchase Frequency) x (Customer Lifespan)

Example: An e-commerce retailer tracks the LTV of a customer through their purchases and buying cycle.

$80 (Average Purchase Value) x 3 times per year (Purchase Frequency) x 3 years (Customer Lifespan)

80 x 3 x 3 = 270

LTV = $270

8. Landing Page Experience Score

It shows the relevancy of a landing page design and content with the ad it is connected to. It could be "Above average," "Average," or "Below average," on Google Ad’s Quality Score.

Why is Landing Page Experience Score important?

Lowers CPC: Improved landing page experience boosts overall Quality Score, which lowers the cost-per-click (CPC) for ad groups.

Improves Ad Rank: A high Quality Score improves ad rank and secures prominent positions for ads.

Increases Conversions: A landing page with a user-friendly design and features drives conversions.

Key factors in landing page experience score

Relevance: The landing page layout and content must be relevant to the search intent of targeted visitors.

Convenience: The page should have easy navigation and clarity of information.

9. Call or Form Tracking (lead-based businesses)

It is a lead management process that involves tracking leads with calls or forms. The process is to connect online activities with voice calls or form submissions.

Call Tracking

Each campaign is assigned a unique phone number for tracking.

Why is it important?

• Inbound calls help identify high-performing channels and what works best.
• Call data is used to analyse and improve the performance of sales and marketing teams.

Form Tracking

Collects contact information from form submission in exchange for a resource, such as a PDF download on a website

Why is it important?

• Lead generation directly by potential buyers
• Data collection for tracking leads
• Acts as a channel for lead management and follow-up

10. Click-to-Conversion Time (Conversion Lag)

It shows the time difference between a click and a desired action. The time elapsed could be in seconds or days.

Why is it important?

Accurate Assessment: It shows what prevents a visitor from taking a desired action or delays an action.

Campaign Optimization: It shows which campaigns need improvement.

Opinion Making: It avoids making premature opinions on campaigns, especially for products with longer sales cycles.

How does it work?

• It measures the time difference between a click and conversion.
• A visitor might research other options after clicking an ad and convert minutes, hours, days, or weeks later.
• The conversion is attributed to the date of click, not the conversion date.

When Your KPIs Are Lying to You

Could KPIs be misleading? Let’s understand it with examples.

1. High CTR but no conversions

It is a classic example of a mismatch between the ad and the landing page.

Example: A search ad for “customized leather bags” appears for “cheap leather accessories” gets clicks, but no sales.

2. Good ROAS but limited volume

Your strategy is good, but you fail to reach a wide range of audience.

Example: A business selling vintage watch parts will experience this situation because the products are high-end and the customer base is small.

3. “Conversions” not mapped to real sales

The conversion numbers are high, but the real sales are low. For example, high social media followers, excellent website page views, and a large number of email subscribers. However, they all fail to give real sales.

4. Misattributed conversions due to poor tracking setup

Google Tag does a perfect job, but improper tag implementation could lead to tracking issues. Sometimes there are conflicting tags that spike conversions. Website changes and offline conversion gaps also lead to tracking issues. Redirects, certain forms, or link shortening could break Google GCLID parameters, leading to poor tracking.

Case Example

Company: A mid-sized e-commerce brand of eco-friendly home products started a Google Ads campaign to sell its products.

Campaign Performance: The brand primarily focused on surface-level KPIs, particularly CTRs, to monitor campaign performance.

Results: The brand received 200 clicks from 10,000 impressions at 2% CTR. It was a disappointing performance for the entire team.

Identifying the problem: The brand noticed that the performance remained flat despite a high engagement rate. Cost per acquisition was also high. Many opportunities were lost with impressions.

Findings: Generic keywords, like “eco home items,” were at the root of major clicks. These keywords drove visitors, but those were interested in information and not products.

Solution: After a quarterly review, the brand decided to employ deeper KPIs for performance monitoring. It even hired an experienced PPC management company for the job.

• The brand allocated the maximum budget toward high-intent keywords.
• Landing pages were optimized to increase relevancy with search intent.

Results after six weeks:

• 30% drop in CPA
• ROAS doubled from 2.1x to 4.1x
• CVR improved from 1.8% to 3.5%
• 45% increase in the overall revenue from paid ads

Key Takeaways

The case sets an example of how deeper KPIs help track the real performance and optimize ad campaigns for better results. Focusing on deeper KPIs can help brands get insights for actionable strategies. However, falling for clicks or CTRs only leads to mismanagement.

Final Thoughts

Real success comes from tracking real outcomes. Deeper KPIs answer all the queries related to budget allocation, landing page optimization, and overall performance. They uncover the trends influencing the ad rank and cost per click. Deeper KPIs provide a clear picture of how your ads are working and whether you are missing opportunities.

Request a free Google Ads audit today! Our Google ads consultant will review your campaigns for wasted ad spend, low ad ranks, and missed opportunities. You will receive a detailed performance report, revealing hidden growth opportunities and actionable insights to boost your ROAS, maximize conversions, and reduce CPA.

Download the KPI checklist now to learn what can boost your ad campaigns, increase your ROAS, and reduce your ad spend. Packed with expert insights, the checklist offers proven strategies to optimize the overall performance of ad campaigns and boost revenue.