What metrics to include in a Google Ads client report

Sort metrics into three groups

Every metric in a report should belong to one of three groups. Outcome metrics say what the client got for the money. Efficiency metrics say what each result cost. Context metrics explain why the first two moved. The scorecard holds the first two groups. Context metrics go next to the finding they explain.

A metric that fits none of the groups for this client does not go in the report. That rule removes most of the clutter in a typical PPC report.

The minimum scorecard

If you report nothing else, report these four rows for the month and the previous month:

1. Cost: the money spent, in the account currency.
2. The main result: Conversions for lead generation, or Conv. value for ecommerce. Use the Conversions column, which counts only primary conversion actions. All conv. also includes secondary actions, such as page views or newsletter signups, that the client did not pay for.
3. The efficiency figure: Cost / conv. for leads, or Conv. value / cost for sales. Calculate the account figure from totals.
4. One business figure from outside Google Ads: qualified leads from the CRM, booked jobs, or total shop revenue. Label its source and the date you got it.

Metrics by goal

The minimum scorecard changes slightly with what the client sells. Use the goal the client actually pays you for, not the one the campaign type suggests.

Lead generation

• Outcome: Conversions, split into rows by conversion action if calls and forms have different value to the client. Add qualified leads or booked jobs from the client's records.
• Efficiency: Cost / conv. against the agreed target. If you have the CRM figure, add cost per qualified lead.
• Context to keep ready: Conv. rate, Avg. CPC, and Search lost IS (budget) for campaigns that may be limited by budget.

Ecommerce and sales

• Outcome: Conv. value and Conversions (purchases). Add total revenue from the shop system so the client can see Google Ads in proportion.
• Efficiency: Conv. value / cost against the target, and Cost / conv. if average order value is stable.
• Context to keep ready: Avg. CPC, Conv. rate, and value per conversion. If value per conversion changes, product mix or promotions changed, and that belongs in a finding.
• Label Conv. value as the value Google Ads recorded. It can differ from revenue in the shop because of returns, attribution, and the date rule: the Conversions column is dated by the ad click.

Awareness

• Outcome: Impr. (impressions) and Cost against the planned budget, for the audience or area the client chose.
• Efficiency: cost per thousand impressions, calculated from Cost and Impr.
• Context: CTR and Clicks, labeled as signs of interest, not results.
• Say plainly in the report that delivery metrics do not show sales. If the client wants to know whether awareness spend sold anything, agree on a business measure before the campaign starts.

Context metrics: when each one earns a place

Bring a context metric into the report when it is the evidence for a finding. Write the finding first, then add the metric that proves it.

Metrics to leave out of the client report

• Impressions and CTR as headline results in a lead or sales account. They describe delivery, and a client may read a rise in either as success while leads fall.
• All conv. added to Conversions in one total. Secondary actions are not used for bidding unless they belong to a custom goal, and they inflate the count the client sees.
• Quality Score tables. Use Quality Score while you work on the account. Bring it into a report only if a finding depends on it.
• Metrics from another tool mixed into Google Ads rows, such as sessions or bounce rate from analytics. Put them in a separate, labeled row if they are needed.
• Every column you can export. A scorecard of 20 rows hides the 4 that matter.

Worked example: an ecommerce scorecard (hypothetical)

A hypothetical online furniture shop has a target of 3.5 for Conv. value / cost. Here is a September scorecard with the minimum rows and one context row.

Why each row is there

Conv. value and Conv. value / cost come first because the client's goal is revenue at a return above 3.5. Conversions stays because a rise in value with flat purchases would mean larger orders, which is a different story. Cost is shown against the budget, not alone. Shop revenue puts Google Ads in proportion: the ads recorded $48,360 of value in a month when the shop took $102,000 in total.

The context row is there for one finding. The main Search campaign returned well above target but missed 9% of eligible impressions because of budget, up from 3%. That supports a recommendation to move budget to it. Avg. CPC ($1.24 against $1.18), Clicks (10,000 in both months), and Conv. rate (3.10% against 2.95%) were checked but stay out of the scorecard because they did not change the decision. You can confirm figures like these with the metric calculator, and express rate changes in percentage points with the period comparison calculator.

Write a one-line definition for each metric

Put a short metric list in the report's data notes. It stops the client from reading Conversions as sales, or Conv. value as profit, and it keeps definitions stable when someone else prepares the report. Our monthly report template has a data notes section for this, and the step-by-step Report Editor guide shows how to add these columns to a saved report.

Where targets come from

A target in the scorecard needs a source the client agreed to: a margin calculation, a sales team's cost per customer, or last year's result for the same month. Write that source in the data notes. If there is no agreed target, leave the target column empty and show the trend. A target you chose alone makes the scorecard look like a pass or fail test the client never set.

Sources

• Google Ads Help: Understand your conversion tracking data
• Google Ads Help: About primary and secondary conversion actions
• Google Ads Help: Get impression share data