Data is the lifeblood of search marketers, which means when the data is misleading, bad decisions are afoot. Justin Fried, director of search engine marketing at CMI Media, offers a look at nine of the most misleading PPC metrics, including:
- Impression share: This metric, while sometimes valuable, doesn’t take optimization efforts into account.
- Time on site: If you’re still relying on this metric, you’re stuck in the ’90s. This is becoming more and more irrelevant with campaigns that use sitelinks to send people to the most relevant page on a site.
- Average CPC: Focusing just on the average CPC ignores the influence of your competition and can cause you to underestimate or overestimate what you’re paying per click.
- Average position: This also ignores other factors like competition, how many ads are showing in the top of SERPs, etc.
- Conversion rate: The margins of the products sold and how you value different conversions should be priorities.
- CTR: “If a keyword has a historically low CTR but converts below your target CPA and provides profit for the company, then you shouldn’t worry about CTR. Yes, you should attempt to increase your CTR, but the most important factor is how it works out financially for your business and/or client.”
Nevertheless, some of these metrics and others (e.g., ads per ad group, conversion funnel) should be given a proper amount of attention. It’s also important to set goals for each metric.
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