Cordt Digital
A PPC report should answer one question: is my advertising making money? If you need an hour and a glossary to find out, the report is not doing its job. Here is what we think a useful report includes.
Start with the business results
Lead with the numbers that matter to the business: sales or leads, revenue, cost per sale or lead, and return on ad spend. These tell you whether the account is working. Everything else is there to explain why.
Compare against the right period
Look at this month against last month and against the same month last year, especially if your business is seasonal. A drop in January may be normal, while the same drop in November may need attention.
Show what changed and why
Good reporting includes a short note on what was done, what was learned and what happens next. Numbers alone do not tell you whether the person managing your account is making good decisions.
What you can safely ignore
- Impressions on their own. They show reach, not results.
- Click-through rate in isolation. A high rate with no sales is not a win.
- Quality scores for every keyword. Useful for the specialist, rarely useful for you.
Questions to ask your PPC manager
- What is working best, and what are you doing to get more of it?
- What is not working, and what happens to that budget?
- What will you test next month?
Keep it short
A report you can read in two minutes gets read. A report that runs to twenty pages usually hides more than it shows. Ask for clear numbers, a plain-English summary and a plan.
PPC freelancer based in Norwich, running Cordt Digital. Jay helps businesses get better results from Google Ads, Meta Ads and Shopping campaigns.
