Spindustry Blog

6 Most Important Pay Per Click Metrics

Posted by JoAnn Seeman on April 29, 2015
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6-PPC-MetricsOne of the best reasons to run Pay Per Click (PPC) ads is that you can track your stats, monitor what’s working and what’s not, and adjust your marketing accordingly. With all the stats available in Google AdWords, where do you start? We’ve outlined a few of the most important PPC metrics you should watch.

Click Through Rate (CTR)

  • What it is: A percentage that shows the number of times the ad was clicked, divided by the number of times it was shown
  • Why you should care: It’s one way to see which ads are performing the best – the higher the CTR, the more likely someone is to click on your ad.

Clicks

  • What it is: The number of times people click on your ad
  • Why you should care: In addition to the CTR, also look at the number of clicks. If you have a CTR of 2.11% but only 5 clicks as a result of 237 impressions, you’re not reaching that many people. Watching the raw number of clicks can help you keep the CTR in perspective.

Converted Clicks

  • What it is: The number of times someone who clicked on one of your ads and then completes the goal you set up (within the timeframe you choose – usually 30 days)
  • Why you should care: Your PPC ads bring more people to your website – but what do you want them to do when they get there? You might want them to buy your product, sign up for a free trial of your software or join your email list. Whatever you decide, set it up as a Goal in Google Analytics. If your Google Analytics and Google AdWords accounts aren’t connected yet, do that first. This allows you to view conversions in AdWords, so you can see which ads work the best. You can also set up AdWords to optimize for conversions, instead of clicks or impressions.

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Cost per Converted Click

  • What it is: The number of Converted Clicks, divided by the Total Cost of Clicks
  • Why you should care: What are you willing to spend to gain an order or a new lead? This varies greatly by your business and what you sell. This will be affected by your CTR, as well as the average Cost Per Click (CPC) of your keywords.

Phone Call Conversions

  • What it is: If you’ve set up click-to-call tracking for your ads targeted to mobile devices, you can see the number of times someone clicked your ad and called you.
  • Why you should care: This is a great PPC option if a logical next step for potential customers is to call you. After you set up AdWords call tracking, these phone calls count as conversions – and you can see which ads work best.

Average Position

  • What it is: The average location of the space on the Search Engine Results Page where your ad appears
  • Why you should care: If your ad is displayed too low, it’s not likely to be clicked. Placing your ad in a higher position costs more but will also yield better results. This is especially important for ads displayed on mobile devices, where they really need to be displayed high on the page.

Understanding these metrics helps you know which parts of your PPC campaigns are working. A wisely-managed paid ad campaign works like an additional employee for your company – generating leads and showing return on investment (ROI). Use the metrics above to increase efficiency of your AdWords campaigns and boost your ROI.

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Topics: paid ads, analytics