3 Characteristics of a Good PPC Report: What to Look For

PPC, or pay-per-click advertising, is a form of advertising that makes your ads appear when users perform searches. It’s most effective for online users looking for a certain product or service to purchase. Searches that trigger PPC ads are mobile searches, local service searches, gift searches, or high-end item searches. As an advertiser, you pay a set amount each time a user clicks on your online ad.

This form of advertising is an efficient way to attract customers and make sales. But to ensure it works, you must actively monitor your results. For this reason, a PPC report is required. This gives you a complete and comprehensible performance review of your running campaigns. They don’t just contain figures; they demonstrate what exactly happened on your ads during the previous months. To determine if you have a good PPC report, here are several characteristics you must look for:

Aligns with Your Business Goals

At the beginning of a campaign, you must set goals. These objectives will be measured and tracked for your PPC report to focus on them.

Since stats are easily trackable and measured, the truth is there is no gray area between PPC and the results. What proves the performance for the period being measured is how the data is presented in relation to your goals.

To give a clear picture, if your goal is to raise the awareness of your brand in six months, your report could include the number of clicks, impressions, and click-through rate. On the other hand, your report has to cover the cost paid for each lead (CPA) if you aim to generate more leads. In other words, the goals have to be defined to determine the success of your marketing campaign. These guidelines serve as your roadmap, and they are the key to optimizing efficiency.

Contains Historical Data

A good PPC report includes data for a specific period and the measured time up to that point. This means it must contain historical data. As you review your campaign’s performance, you must clearly identify past trends and seasonal spikes. Tese figures will give insights into your current activity.

To see the bigger picture and make sense of it all, use rolling trend charts to show lead and budget data. One way to create this type of chart is to select the date range you want to compare, then check for the performance of certain PPC strategies over time. This will help you determine those strategies that are working best.

Collects Data from the Platforms Needed

Accurate and complete data is crucial, and it is what makes a PPC report excellent. Here are several data points your report must contain:

  • Average cost per click (CPC)
  • Average position
  • Clicks
  • Click-through rate (CTR)
  • Cost
  • Conversion
  • Conversion rate
  • Cost per conversion

Looking into all of this information can seem overwhelming, but this data can be pulled directly from the platform you are using. In addition, you can include other metrics, like budget attainment, ROI, or quality scores when needed and if it matches your marketing goals.

Conclusion

While PPC results are easily measurable, every PPC report is different. Nevertheless, it must tell the story of your campaign and data. This is what allows you to reap the full benefits of this advertising method. Because of this, it’s important to reach out to experts to access good PPC reports.

Magnitude Marketing is a digital marketing agency that specializes in pay-per-click management, SEO services, and web design and development. We offer PPC performance reporting to ensure you are constantly updated and prevent you from guessing with your campaigns. Contact us today to request a consultation!