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Paid Search Analytics: One Stop Guide For Paid Search Analytics

  • Adam James
  • Jun 24
  • 5 min read

Updated: Jul 7


TL;DR

Paid search analytics helps you understand how your ads are performing, what’s driving results, and where your money’s being wasted. By tracking key metrics like CTR, CPC, and ROAS, and using the right tools, you can optimise your campaigns, boost conversions, and make smarter decisions with your ad spend.




Paid Search Analytics


Paid search analytics helps you understand what’s working in your PPC campaigns, and what’s quietly wasting your budget. With the right tools and data, you can make smarter decisions, improve your ROI, and actually enjoy looking at your dashboards.

If you’re running Google Ads or any kind of PPC campaign, this guide will walk you through the basics, the metrics that matter, the tech behind it all, and how to actually use it. Let’s dive in.


What Is A PPC Campaign?


PPC stands for “Pay per click” and is an advertising method where a business (usually someone working to get more leads or clicks for business) pays a publisher every time an advertisement they’ve made is clicked on. Pay-per-click is primarily offered through platforms such as (Google ads, Facebook Ads and Twitter (X) ads).


The Basics Of Search Analytics


Paid search analytics is the process of tracking, measuring, and interpreting data from paid ads, especially search ads like Google or Bing.


It tells you:


  • Which keywords are converting

  • What your ads are costing you

  • Where your budget is doing nothing (but still getting charged)


It’s not just about clicks and impressions. It’s about outcomes: Are you making sales? Getting leads? Booking demos?



Key Metrics To Follow (And Actually Care About)


There are a lot of metrics in PPC. But here are the ones worth paying attention to.


  • CTR (Click-Through Rate):

    The percentage of people who saw your ad and actually clicked. High CTR = your ad copy is working.

  • CPC (Cost Per Click):

    How much you’re paying for each click. Lower is generally better, unless it’s a cheap click from someone who won’t convert.

  • Quality Score:

    Google’s rating of your ad + landing page. Higher score = lower CPC.

  • Conversion Rate:

    What percentage of clicks lead to an action — purchase, signup, contact, etc.

  • Impression Share:

    How often your ads show compared to how often they could show. If it’s low, your competitors are winning.

  • ROAS (Return On Ad Spend):

    For every £1 you spend, how much are you making back?


Science Behind Search Analytics


Paid search analytics isn’t just about watching numbers go up or down. There’s some real science (and math) behind the scenes. Mainly in the following paid search areas.


Your Campaigns Attribution


Who gets the credit when someone converts? First-click, last-click, or something in between? Attribution models help you figure it out, you can use attribution modeling to help understand and give credit to the touch-points within your marketing channels that are getting you conversions and ultimately sales. 


Here are some examples to gain a better understanding:


  1. Last Click Attribution:

This method gives 100% of the purchase credit to the last interaction a customer had with the business before converting and making a sale. For example, you’ve made a google advertisement and a lead clicked on the ad, then purchased the item immediately. In this case that google advertisement gets all the credit for the sale, even if the customer saw 5 other ads prior to making their purchase.


  1. First Click Attribution: 

This attribution method gives credit to the first interaction the customer had. For example, someone clicks on a facebook advertisement but then later purchased in-store, the facebook ad still gets all the credit. 


It’s important to track these numbers because it helps you understand what is working and what isn't working within your business, and can allow you to make needed improvement on underperforming areas and ramp up areas that are performing well.


  1. Segmentation

Break down your data by device, time, audience, or location to see what’s actually performing. Doing this allows you to make data-driven and well-informed decisions about your business’s strengths and weaknesses. For example, how does your conversion rate differ across devices? Is your conversion better on mobile or desktop? Once you understand this, you can tailor and improve your marketing messages accordingly, which can lead to better conversions across different segments and devices.


  1. A/B Testing

Test headlines, calls-to-action, and landing pages to find out what works best.


  1. Machine Learning

Google uses AI to automatically adjust bids and placements. Knowing how this works can give you an edge.


Search Analytics Tools (Free + Paid)


You don’t need 10 different dashboards. But a few key tools can make a big difference.

Free Tools:

  • Google Ads – The hub for all paid search data.

  • Google Analytics – Tie ad clicks to on-site behaviour.

  • Looker Studio – Build custom dashboards and utilise free templates to plug and track your data.

Paid Tools:


Search Analytics’ Best Practices


Here’s how to not waste money and actually scale your campaigns.


  1. Set Clear Goals: Are you optimising for leads? Sales? Brand awareness? Pick one.


  2. Use UTM Tags: Tag every ad so you know where clicks came from and what they did.


  3. Audit Campaigns Regularly: Don’t set it and forget it. Review your keyword list and ad performance monthly.


  4. Simplify Your Dashboards: You only need 4–5 core metrics per campaign.


  5. Automate What You Can: Use rules or scripts to pause low performers or boost high ones automatically


  6. Update Landing Pages: Match your page content to your ad promise it helps with Quality Score and conversions.


Key Takeaways


Paid search analytics helps you:


  • Track performance

  • Spot what’s working (and what’s not)

  • Optimise your ad spend

  • Improve ROI


Focus on the right metrics. Use tools that help. Keep testing and tweaking and don’t feel shy about getting in touch with a professional to help understand the numbers, we’d be happy to help! 


FAQ 


  1. What are the types of search analytics?


  • Keyword Analytics: Understand keyword performance.

  • Conversion Analytics: Measure what actions people take after the click.

  • Behavior Analytics: How users behave on your site.

  • Competitor Analytics: What your rivals are bidding on.

  • Attribution Analytics: Who gets the credit for conversions.


  1. Common Search Analytics Mistakes?


  1. Obsessing over vanity metrics like impressions.

  2. Forgetting to track conversions.

  3. Not testing new ad variations.

  4. Skipping negative keywords.

  5. Using the wrong attribution model.



Adam has been knee-deep in the world of digital marketing for over 7 years, mastering the art of PPC and SEO for both B2B and B2C brands. As the brains behind Toast Digital, he’s got a knack for turning clicks into conversions. When he’s not busy making marketing magic, you’ll find him passionately talking about his latest vegetable-growing triumphs or showing off his camera roll, which is 90% dog pics. In short, he knows his stuff – whether it’s marketing or marrows.



 
 
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