Paid search is a critical channel for driving traffic, leads and sales. But with so much data available, it can be overwhelming to know which paid search metrics actually matter. Tracking the right KPIs is key to optimizing your campaigns and proving ROI.
In fact, a recent study found that marketers who consistently measure and act on their data are 3X more likely to hit their goals than those who don’t. So which paid search metrics and advertising metrics in general should be on your radar?
Here are the top 5 PPC KPIs we recommend tracking, along with free templates to pull your data instantly.
1. Cost Per Mille (CPM)
CPM measures the cost to serve your ad 1,000 times. It’s a key indicator of how efficiently you are spending your budget. A high CPM means you are paying more to reach your target audience.
Monitoring CPM helps you:
- Identify overly competitive or expensive keywords to pause
- Adjust bids and targeting to lower costs
- Reallocate budget to better performing campaigns
How to calculate CPM: (Total Ad Spend / Total Impressions) x 1,000
While you can find CPM in Google Ads, the data is not always easy to analyze or share with stakeholders.
How Coefficient can help
Coefficient’s Google Ads Performance Report template automatically pulls your campaign data into Google Sheets and calculates CPM for you. See CPM trends over time, compare to benchmarks, and share with your team in just a few clicks.
- Monitor CPM in real-time alongside other key metrics
- Compare CPM across campaigns, ad groups, and ads
- Spot changes and investigate spikes or dips
- Identify your most cost-effective campaigns and placements
2. CTR (Click-Through Rate)
CTR is the percentage of people who click your ad after seeing it. It’s a critical measure of how compelling and relevant your ads are to your target audience. A low CTR indicates your ads or targeting need improvement.
Tracking CTR allows you to:
- Gauge how well your ad creative and copy are resonating
- Identify high performing ads to scale or low performers to pause
- Improve Quality Scores to lower costs and earn better placements
How to calculate CTR: (Total Clicks / Total Impressions) x 100
How Coefficient can help
With Coefficient’s PPC Conversions Report template, your CTR data is automatically synced to Google Sheets. Easily analyze CTR across campaigns, spot trends, and share reports with automated refresh.
- Track CTR for all your paid search and paid social campaigns
- Compare CTR across channels, campaigns, ad groups, and ads
- Analyze CTR alongside conversion data
3. CPC (Cost Per Click)
CPC is the amount you pay each time someone clicks your ad. Keeping a pulse on CPC ensures your ads are driving cost-efficient traffic. Rising CPCs cut into your ROI.
Monitoring CPC empowers you to:
- Assess if your bids are in line with industry averages
- Identify keywords or audience segments that are becoming too expensive
- Optimize bids to maximize clicks while controlling costs
How to calculate CPC: Total Ad Spend / Total Clicks
Analyzing CPC solely in Google Ads or Facebook Ads Manager can be limiting. You may need to pull the data into a spreadsheet for deeper insights and comparisons.
How Coefficient can help
Coefficient’s Facebook Ads Dashboard makes it seamless to import your CPC and other key metrics right into Google Sheets. Customize your reports, calculate additional metrics, and schedule automated updates to stay on top of CPC.
- Track CTR for all your paid search and paid social campaigns
- Compare CTR across channels, campaigns, ad groups, and ads
- Analyze CTR alongside conversion data
- Determine which ads and audiences drive the most clicks and conversions
4. Budget vs Spend
It’s crucial to keep a close eye on your actual ad spend compared to your planned budget. Overspending can quickly eat into your ROI, while underspending leaves opportunities on the table.
Tracking budget vs spend helps you:
- Pace your spending to hit goals throughout the month or quarter
- Identify campaigns that are overspending and may need adjustments
- Reallocate surplus budget to top performing campaigns
How to track budget vs spend: Record your planned daily or monthly PPC budgets in a spreadsheet. Regularly update with your actual spend data and compare the two.
Stop exporting data manually. Sync data from your business systems into Google Sheets or Excel with Coefficient and set it on a refresh schedule.
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How Coefficient can help
Coefficient’s plug-and-play Google Ads Budget Tracker makes this process much simpler. Your actual Google Ads spend data is automatically synced to a Google Sheet and compared to your set budgets. Easily monitor pacing and share updates.
- Import your Google Ads spend data and track it against budget
- Monitor pacing daily, weekly, or monthly
- Drill down into campaign and ad group spend
- Forecast spend based on performance to inform budget adjustment
5. ROAS (Return on Ad Spend)
Ultimately, you want your paid search efforts to drive bottom-line results. ROAS measures the revenue you generate for each dollar spent on ads. It’s a key indicator of your PPC profitability.
Analyzing ROAS allows you to:
- Prove the tangible impact and ROI of your paid search investments
- Identify your most profitable campaigns, ad groups and keywords
- Optimize bids and budgets to maximize revenue
How to calculate ROAS: PPC Revenue / PPC Ad Spend
Calculating ROAS often involves stitching together data from your PPC platforms and your CRM or ecommerce system. This can be manual and prone to error.
How Coefficient can help
Coefficient does the heavy lifting for you with the ROAS Tracker for Paid template. It automatically pulls in your ad spend and revenue data, calculates ROAS, and tracks your progress against goals. Get the insights you need in one place.
- Pull in conversion value data from Google Ads and Facebook Ads
- Calculate ROAS at the account, campaign, ad set, and ad level
- Visualize trends to understand which initiatives are most profitable
- Optimze campaigns to maximize ROAS
Mutiny Saves Hours & Boosts PPC Reporting Confidence with Coefficient
Mutiny, a web personalization platform, was wasting hours each week manually pulling PPC data into spreadsheets. The data was prone to errors and quickly became outdated, eroding trust in their reporting.
By adopting Coefficient, Mutiny was able to:
- Automatically sync their real-time Google Ads, Facebook Ads and Salesforce data into Google Sheets
- Streamline paid search reporting for key metrics like CPM, CPC and ROAS
- Confidently share up-to-date PPC results and insights with leadership
- Save hours each week on manual data pulling and spreadsheet updates
“Coefficient gives me peace of mind. It allows us to confidently report across the org from BizOps to Finance, Revenue, and our C-Suite.” – Adam Spector, Head of Business Operations at Mutiny
Start Tracking These 5 Essential PPC Metrics with Coefficient
Consistently monitoring and acting on the right paid search metrics is critical for driving more efficient and profitable PPC results.
With Coefficient, you can pull all your key PPC data into Google Sheets automatically for easier analysis, reporting and optimization. No more manual exports or questioning data accuracy.
Our prebuilt PPC dashboard templates make it simple to implement best-practice reporting for crucial metrics like CPM, CPC, CTR, budget pacing and ROAS. Customize to your exact needs and share with stakeholders in a few clicks.
Try Coefficient free for 30 days and start making more data-driven PPC decisions.
