Ask a Marketer: What is Search Impression Share & How Does It Impact Paid Search Campaigns?

We use our expertise to answer the question. 

\nSearch impression share is a competitive metric that helps you gain insight into how your ads perform compared to your competitors. It’s calculated by taking the total number of impressions your advertisement gets in any given period and dividing that by the total impressions your advertisement could have been eligible for. \n \n

Many factors go into the estimated number of impressions; but the ones advertisers have the most control over are ad quality and bids/budgets. When you have a high impression share, your ads frequently appear in relevant searches. However, a lower impression share may suggest a few areas for improvement in your campaign strategy.

If your impression share isn’t where you want it to be, you can do the following: 

Review ad quality. Look at ad quality first, as this works hand-in-hand with bids. Could your ad copy be more relevant to your keywords? Does the ad copy sound like a robot or does it sound like it was written by a human? Improving ad quality may reduce the bid increase needed to improve your impression share.

Ensure your bids & budgets aren’t limiting you. In Google Ads, looking at the estimated top of page bids can help you determine competitive bids for your keywords. To do this for the keywords in question, check how much the corresponding campaign is spending relative to its budget. If your keywords have a great quality score, your bids are competitive, and impression share is still low, your budget may be the limiting factor. 

Need assistance with your paid search campaigns? Our experienced team is happy to help. Reach out to us for a free profit analysis.