Core KPIs
These are the primary metrics you will use to measure success.
Impressions
What it measures:
How often your ad was shown.
What it tells you:
- Your visibility in auctions
- Whether your targeting is too narrow
- Whether budget or bid limits reach
High impressions:
- Good for branding
- Necessary for Display prospecting
- Less meaningful without engagement
Low impressions may indicate:
- Low bids
- Restricted targeting
- Budget limitations
- High competition
Impressions answer:
„Are we present in the market?“
Clicks
What it measures:
How many users interacted with your ad.
What it tells you:
- Whether your ad attracts attention
- Whether targeting aligns with interest
Clicks alone do not indicate quality.
They are a transition metric between visibility and action.
Clicks answer:
„Did users show interest?“
CTR (Click-Through Rate)
CTR = Clicks ÷ Impressions
What it tells you:
- Relevance (Search)
- Creative strength (Display)
- Message clarity
- Keyword-ad alignment
In Search:
High CTR usually means strong intent match.
In Display:
Moderate CTR can still be effective if the campaign is prospecting-focused.
Low CTR may indicate:
- Weak ad copy
- Irrelevant targeting
- Creative fatigue
- Competitive pressure
CTR answers:
„How compelling is our ad?“
CPC (Cost per Click)
What it measures:
Average cost for each click.
What it tells you:
- Auction competitiveness
- Bid positioning
- Traffic acquisition cost
High CPC is not automatically bad.
It may indicate high-intent traffic.
Low CPC is not automatically good.
It may indicate low-quality traffic.
CPC answers:
„What are we paying for traffic?“
Conversions
What it measures:
Completed valuable actions (purchase, lead, registration, etc.)
Conversions are the bridge between marketing and business results.
Before analysing conversions:
- Confirm tracking accuracy
- Confirm correct attribution window
- Confirm correct dynamic value setup (e-commerce)
Conversions answer:
„Did users complete the desired action?“
Conversion Rate (CVR)
CVR = Conversions ÷ Clicks
What it tells you:
- Traffic quality
- Landing page effectiveness
- Offer competitiveness
Low CVR may signal:
- Weak landing page
- Slow website
- Pricing issues
- Misaligned targeting
High CVR often indicates:
- Strong user intent
- Effective funnel alignment
CVR answers:
„How efficiently does traffic convert?“
CPA (Cost per Acquisition)
CPA = Cost ÷ Conversions
What it tells you:
- Efficiency of conversion acquisition
- Whether performance meets profitability target
CPA must always be evaluated against:
- Margin
- Customer lifetime value
- Sales closing rate (for leads)
CPA answers:
„How much does it cost to generate one result?“
Revenue
Revenue connects campaign performance to business outcome.
In e-commerce, revenue allows:
- ROAS evaluation
- Margin control
- Scaling decisions
Revenue answers:
„What financial value did campaigns generate?“
COS
– indicates the share of cost of turnover → the ratio of cost (price for all clicks) to turnover from goods sold (total value of all conversions).