What are the primary metrics that define success for your PPC campaigns? Columnist Matt Umbro explores the pros and cons of optimizing for some common paid search metrics.
There are many paid search metrics that can define success in an account. In one account, the goal may be to reduce the cost per conversion, while another account may care more about showing a better return on investment.
Often, optimizing for these metrics requires differing strategies. That’s why it’s important to understand each metric as it relates to the entire account, instead of viewing in a silo.
In this post, I will explain the pros and cons of focusing on individual metrics as a way to portray how they are all intertwined. The success of any paid search account requires advertisers to consider all metrics, even if one is preferred. The metrics I will be reviewing are:
- cost per conversion;
- return on investment;
- advertising to sales; and
- average order value.
The common theme you’ll be reading about is efficiency. In other words, if you are solely focusing on improving the efficiency of these metrics, you will lose conversion volume. As you review each metric, consider the importance of new acquisition in comparison to hitting efficiency goals.
[Read the full article on Search Engine Land.]
Some opinions expressed in this article may be those of a guest author and not necessarily Marketing Land. Staff authors are listed here.
