Are Your Ads Actually Working? Making Sense of Google Ad Metrics in 2026

Think of an impression as a glance. Every time your ad shows up on a screen, that counts as an impression. It’s important to remember that this isn’t a count of how many people saw your ad. One person could scroll past your ad three times, and that would count as three impressions.

You might be used to seeing “Reach” on other platforms, which tracks how many unique individuals saw your ad. While Google does offer reach and frequency reporting in certain campaign types like Display and YouTube, Search campaigns are built and measured around impressions because each ad auction happens per impression, not per person. 

• When it matters: Impressions are great for brand awareness and staying “top of mind.” This is especially true for a public service campaign or a major announcement where the goal is simply to get the word out. In these cases, a high impression count shows that you’re successfully sharing your message with your entire target area.
• When it doesn’t: In many ways, impressions can be a vanity metric. A high number of impressions may look impressive but doesn’t mean much if you’re looking for specific results like sales, donations, or newsletter signups. If people are seeing your ad but don’t have the intent to act, you’re just paying for “eyes” without any real impact.

If an impression is a glance, a click is a handshake. It happens when someone stops scrolling and decides to engage with what you’re saying. A click tells you that your message was relevant enough to make someone want to learn more. 

It is worth noting that Google Ads typically shows you total clicks. This means if one person clicks your ad three times, Google counts that as three clicks. Because you usually pay for every click, Google tracks every single event rather than just unique individuals. They do try to filter out “invalid” traffic like bots or accidental double-clicks, but the final number still reflects total engagement.

• When it matters: Clicks are your best indicator of initial interest. If you’re running a campaign to drive traffic to a specific landing page, a high number of clicks shows that your ad is doing its job. It means your creative and your headline are working together to grab people’s attention.
• When it doesn’t: Clicks alone are not a measure of success. You can get thousands of clicks, but if those people leave your site immediately, that traffic isn’t very valuable. If your goal is a specific action—like a donation or a purchase—a click is just the first step in the process. A high click count without any follow-through usually means there is a disconnect between your ad and your website. It can be a sign that your targeting is off, your site is loading too slowly, or the page is just too difficult for people to use.

If an impression is a glance and a click is a handshake, your CTR is the success rate of those introductions. It’s calculated by dividing clicks by impressions and tells you how effective your ad is at stopping the scroll and getting someone to engage.

Context matters a lot here. A Search ad will almost always have a higher CTR than a YouTube or Display ad because the person is already looking for help. Always evaluate CTR within the channel you’re using. And for our nonprofit friends using a Google Ad Grant, there is one exception worth noting: Google actually requires a 5% minimum CTR to keep your account in good standing.

• When it matters: A high CTR usually means your ad is highly relevant to the people seeing it. Think of CTR as a health check for your strategy. It’s an indicator of how well your creative (the writing, graphics, or video) is landing, how precise your targeting is, and even if your ad groups are organized correctly. If your CTR is low, it might mean you are diluting your message by trying to reach too many different types of people at once. There’s no universal “good” CTR. While third-party sources like Wordstream and Databox often cite Search CTR averages in the 3–6% range, Google doesn’t publish an official benchmark. What matters more is how your CTR trends over time and whether it’s improving compared to your own past campaigns.
• When it doesn’t: Don’t get discouraged by low numbers without looking at the platform first. Comparing a banner ad to a Search ad is like comparing apples to oranges. A low CTR can also matter less if the few people who do click are high-quality leads who take action immediately. This is especially true if you offer a high-value product or service where one “win” covers your costs. 

This is the most straightforward number on your dashboard. It is the total amount of money Google has charged you for your ads during a specific timeframe. You set a daily budget, and Google tries to spend it. It is important to know that Google can spend up to double your daily budget on a busy day if they see a lot of high-quality traffic, but they will never exceed your total monthly limit.

• When it matters: Your total spend is your primary guardrail. It’s the number you check to make sure your campaign is staying on track and not accidentally burning through your entire marketing budget too early.
• When it doesn’t: Spending your full budget isn’t a sign of success on its own. If you spend $1,000 and don’t get any clicks or signups, that spend was just a cost without a return. Always look at this number alongside your results to see if the investment is worth it.

CPM stands for “Cost Per Mille” (which is the Latin word for “thousand”). This is the price you pay for every 1,000 times your ad is shown. In the advertising world, charging for every single view would result in tiny fractions of a cent. Measuring by the thousand makes the math much easier to handle.

• When it matters: This is a key metric for awareness campaigns, especially with Display and YouTube. If your goal is to blanket a specific area with a public service announcement, you want a low CPM so you can get your message in front of as many people as possible for the lowest price.
• When it doesn’t: If you are running a campaign focused on a specific action like sales or donations, your CPM is not the most helpful metric. You don’t care how many thousands of people saw the ad if they didn’t click it.

This is the average amount you pay every time someone actually clicks your ad. Since most Google Ads campaigns are “Pay-Per-Click,” this is the number most people care about. Your CPC isn’t a fixed price. It changes based on how much you and your competitors are bidding, the quality of your ad, and how relevant your landing page is to the search. If your ad is high-quality and very helpful, Google might actually reward you with a lower CPC.

• When it matters: This matters when you have a specific budget and a specific goal. If your CPC is too high, you’ll get fewer clicks for your money, which means fewer chances for someone to donate or buy.
• When it doesn’t: A low CPC is only good if the traffic is high-quality. Paying $0.10 for a click from someone who has no interest in your cause is actually more expensive than paying $2.00 for a click from someone who is ready to sign up.

A conversion is a completed action that you’ve decided is valuable. It is important to remember that what counts as a win depends entirely on your specific setup. For one person, a conversion might be a contact form submission or a phone call, while for another, it could be a donation or a digital purchase. If you haven’t told Google what these actions look like, it won’t be able to track them for you.

• When it matters: This is the ultimate measure of success for most campaigns. Whether you are tracking form submissions, phone calls, or sales, this number shows you exactly how many people crossed the finish line.
• When it doesn’t: This metric is only as good as your tracking. If your conversion tracking is broken, the data is useless. Bad tracking can make a failing campaign look like a hero or a great campaign look like a waste of money. It also might not be the best focus if you have a very long sales cycle. If it takes six months for a lead to become a customer, looking at today’s conversions won’t tell you the whole story. 

This is the percentage of clicks that turned into conversions. It is the best way to see how well your traffic and your website are working together to drive action.

• When it matters: Your conversion rate reveals a lot about the intent of your audience and the quality of your landing page. If you have a high click-through rate but a tiny conversion rate, it’s a major red flag that people aren’t finding what they expected once they arrive.
• When it doesn’t: Like other percentages, this needs context. A 50% conversion rate sounds amazing, but if it only represents one person out of two clicks, it isn’t a large enough sample size to make big decisions. You need a steady stream of traffic before this percentage becomes a reliable guide.

Google usually calls this Cost Per Conversion, though you might also hear people call it CPA (which stands for Cost Per Acquisition). This tells you exactly how much you paid, on average, to get one person to take action. This is usually a much more useful efficiency metric than Cost Per Click.

• When it matters: This is the metric you should watch to see if your ads are sustainable. If it costs you $100 to get a $50 donation, you know you need to adjust your strategy to make the math work.
• When it doesn’t: Lower isn’t always better. Cheap conversions can sometimes be low quality. For example, you might get hundreds of “leads” for a few cents each, but if none of those people ever pick up the phone or open your emails, those conversions aren’t actually helping your business.

This is the total revenue or “weight” assigned to your conversions. For a shop, this might be the exact price of a t-shirt. For a nonprofit, it might be the amount of a donation. If you tell Google, “I’ll pay more for a new customer,” Google may take a $50 sale and record it as $100 in your Google Ads reporting to guide automated bidding. It didn’t actually generate an extra $50. It simply weighted that action more heavily to guide the AI toward similar users.

• When it matters: This is critical for e-commerce, ticket sales, or any goal where a “win” has a clear dollar amount. It allows you to see the actual revenue generated by your ads rather than just a raw count of clicks or leads.
• When it doesn’t: This metric can be misleading if you use “Value Rules.” Google might automatically inflate this number to tell the AI that a new customer is worth more than a returning one. If you aren’t careful, your reports might show you made more money than what actually hit your bank account.
• When to use it: Use this when you are looking at Smart Bidding. It shows you if Google is successfully following your instructions to prioritize certain types of people or actions.

This is a newer, cleaner metric from Google. It shows you the unadjusted value of a conversion before Google applies any of those automation “bonuses” or value rules. It is essentially your Conversion Value minus any artificial adjustments.

• When it matters: This matters most for agencies and in-house teams who need honest revenue reporting. It allows you to compare different campaigns on a level playing field without the AI weighting the results. If you are using Smart Bidding or “New Customer Acquisition” goals, this is the best way to see the actual cash value your ads generated.
• When it doesn’t: If you don’t use any value rules or automation adjustments, this number will be exactly the same as your standard Conversion Value. In that case, adding this extra column to your report just creates unnecessary clutter.
• When to use it: Use this for Accounting and Reporting. When you need to tell your boss or your board exactly how much money actually came in the door, this is the column you want. It prevents you from reporting “bonus value” as if it were real cash.

ROAS is a ratio that tells you how much revenue you earned for every dollar you spent on ads. You calculate this by dividing your Conversion Value by your Total Spend.  It is important to know that Google uses your adjusted Conversion Value to calculate this number. If you have rules that tell Google a new customer is worth a “bonus,” that bonus is included in your ROAS. This helps the AI understand that its aggressive bidding is working, even if those “bonuses” aren’t actual cash in your bank account.

• When it matters: ROAS is a powerful way to measure the efficiency of your budget. It helps you quickly identify which campaigns are “profitable” and which ones are costing you more than they bring in.
• When it doesn’t: It is very easy to misread this number if your profit margins are thin. A 400% ROAS sounds amazing, but if your product costs are high, that might actually mean you are barely breaking even after you pay for shipping and labor.