Is My Google Ads Search Campaign Performing Above Or Below Average?

There are so many statistics available within the Adwords environment it can become quite mind boggling to the uninitiated. Which should you focus on? Is that number good or bad?

To cut through the confusion, in this post we hope to provide 6 key metrics that are easy to focus on and provide general benchmarks to gauge your campaigns performance against the rest of the world.

In a Hurry? Here is the 2018 Average Benchmarks

Read on for some more detailed explanation.

The Basic Numbers to Watch

Of all the metrics available in Adwords, there are a few very basic performance indicators that are shown front and centre.

Impressions

This is the amount of times your ad has been shown in total. It’s a pretty basic number, but is good to know and gives you an idea of how many people in total your ads are appearing in front of.

Clicks

This is the how many clicks you have received on your ads, through to your site. Again, very basic, but good to know how many users are showing interest in your ads.

Click Through Rate (CTR)

Now we are getting a little bit more complex here, but the click through rate is a very valuable indicator of the relevance of your ad. The click through rate takes the total number of clicks and divides it by the by total impressions to give you a percentage value of the portion of times your ad is clicked.

Here you want the percentage to be a high as possible. A high percentage means that your ads are highly targeted and relevant to searches by prospective customers.

As a benchmark, the average click through rate across all industries in 2018 is around 3.17%. For more information on specific industries, see the below table:

Source https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2016/02/29/google-adwords-industry-benchmarks

Average Cost Per Click (CPC)

At one point or another, budget is important to everyone. This metric shows an average on how expensive each click through to your website is.

The average cost per click across all industries in 2018 is around $2.69. For more information on specific industries, see the below table:

Source https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2016/02/29/google-adwords-industry-benchmarks

More Detailed Conversions Metrics

The vast majority of campaigns will aim for some type of user action beyond a simple click. It might be to complete an enquiry form, purchase a product online or watch a video, the options are limitless.

Conversions

Each conversion represents the completion of a predefined campaign goal, such as completing an enquiry form. The more conversions the better.

Conversions Rate

Like the click through rate, the conversion rate takes the total conversions and divides it by the total clicks to give a percentage value on the amount of clicks that turned into an actual conversion.

The average conversion rate across all industries in 2018 is around 3.75%. For more information on specific industries, see the below table:

Source https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2016/02/29/google-adwords-industry-benchmarks