The results you should expect from Google Ads , also know as ad words google or adwords, can vary depending on your campaign goals, industry, budget, and other factors.
However, here are some key performance indicators (KPIs) and results you should typically aim for:
What It Measures: The percentage of people who click on your ad after seeing it. Benchmark: A good CTR varies by industry, but generally, a CTR of 2-5% is considered average. Higher CTRs indicate that your ad is relevant and engaging.
What It Measures: The percentage of clicks that result in a conversion, such as a sale, lead, or sign-up. Benchmark: Conversion rates can range from 2-5% for general campaigns. E-commerce might see lower rates, while lead generation could see higher rates.
What It Measures: The average amount you pay each time someone clicks on your ad. Benchmark: [CPC varies widely by industry. Typically, a lower CPC is better, but it should be balanced with the quality of the clicks.]
The CPC is determined by the competition for the keywords which varies per industry. For service-based businesses, this will typically be from about R20 per click to over R200 per click for Law Firms and Marketing Agencies.
What It Measures: The average amount you spend to achieve a conversion. Benchmark: Your CPA should be lower than the value of the conversion. For example, if a sale is worth R1000 to you, aim for a CPA of acceptably less than R1000.
What It Measures: A score (1-10) that Google assigns based on the relevance of your ads, keywords, and landing pages. Benchmark: Higher Quality Scores (7-10) lead to lower CPCs and better ad placements. Aim to improve low-quality scores by optimizing your ad relevance and landing page experience.
Quality Scores can be very misleading. Blindly accepting recommendations to improve your quality score.can increase your ad spend while decreasing the effectiveness of the Google ad. AI might be getting to rule the world, but not today! Often ads with lower quality scores due to human optimisation give better returns as AI does not have the granular understanding of the real world that a human does.
What It Measures: The percentage of times your ads were shown compared to the total available impressions. Benchmark: A high impression share (above 70%) indicates strong visibility. If low, you may need to increase your budget or improve ad quality.
What It Measures: The revenue generated for every Rand spent on ads. Benchmark: Aim for a ROAS greater than 1.0 (i.e., generating more revenue than the cost of the ads). The ideal ROAS depends on your profit margins.
Ultimately this is the acid test of the viability of your ads. Companies often invest in advertising without being able to clearly distinguish the resulting income or profit due to the complex and intertwined nature of their business operations.
What It Measures: The percentage of visitors who leave your site after viewing only one page. Benchmark: Lower bounce rates (below 50%) suggest that your landing pages are engaging and relevant. High Bounce Rates show that your Landing Page does not contain what your advert promises.
What It Measures: The average position of your ads in search results. Benchmark: Top positions (1-3) generally yield better results, but being in the top spot is not always necessary if your ads are well-targeted and conversion-focused.
Ad Positions are categorized as either Absolute Top of Page or Top 10 on the page, meaning the ad appeared on the first page of the SERPs. For example, an Absolute Top rate of 7% and a Top 10 rate of 70% indicates that the ads appeared on lower pages 23% of the time.
What It Measures: The total revenue you expect to earn from a customer over their lifetime. Benchmark: Your LTV should be significantly higher than your CPA, ensuring long-term profitability.
What It Measures: The performance of individual keywords in terms of clicks, conversions, and cost. Benchmark: Regularly review and adjust your keywords, pausing those with high costs and low returns, and focusing on high-performing ones.
These metrics, mostly to be found in Google Ads manager, provide a comprehensive view of your Google Ads performance, helping you understand whether your campaigns are achieving their objectives and where improvements can be made. Regularly monitoring these KPIs will guide your optimizations and help maximize your return on investment (ROI).
ITM - Google Ads Manager
Getting the most from your Google ads campaign is not something you should leave to chance, especially when it could cost you much more than it should, be much less effective and not reach the market you want. Using a Google Ads Certified expert makes perfect sense.
See our Google Ads rates here.
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