PPC ad campaigns are complicated.
Getting started is easy enough. You can choose a small handful of keywords, set a campaign budget, and watch your advertisements roll out for users that are, presumably, relevant for your brand.
But if you’re interested in making the most out of every dollar you spend on PPC advertising, you’ll need to think critically about your keyword targeting strategy, your campaign budget planning, and more.
That also means making strategic changes to your PPC campaign overall so it performs better, ultimately earning you more visitors and more conversions for less money.
One of the most important concepts to understand in pursuit of this goal is impression share.
But what exactly is impression share and how can you maximize it in your Google Ads PPC campaign?
“Impression share” is a relative measurement of how frequently your ads appear in a given search engine results page (SERP) when a user searches for a relevant query.
For example, let’s say your ad is in position 1 for each search relevant for your settings – and you have unlimited funds to sustain this ad placement indefinitely. In this scenario, you’d have an impression share of 100 percent.
Obviously, impression share metrics are valuable. The higher your impression share is, the more frequently your customers are going to see your advertisements.
But when it comes to PPC strategy, maximizing impression share isn’t just about flatly increasing this metric.
That’s because impression share in Google is usually a byproduct of your ad Quality Score, your budget, and the nature of your competitors. Since you have no direct control over how many competitors are competing with you, and we can safely assume you’re already optimizing your ad Quality Score as much as possible, we can quickly identify the main problem holding back your impression share: budget.
Yes. If your only goal is increasing total impression share, there’s a very straightforward path to achieving it: spend more money.
But if you’re like 99 percent of PPC advertisers, this probably isn’t doable. You’re already spending as much money as you can afford on this strategy.
That means we need to take a different route. Assuming you can’t just throw money at this problem, how can you optimize and rearrange your PPC spending to make your impression share work in your favor?
Ultimately, this strategy boils down to increasing the impression share of your best performing keywords, potentially at the expense of decreasing impression share and spending on your worst performing keywords.
Let’s dig in.
First, why does this really matter?
In your PPC advertising campaign, you’re going to have some winners and losers. There are going to be some keywords and advertisements that return exceptional value to your brand, and some keywords and advertisements that are barely worth pursuing.
If you’re interested in getting the most value from the money you spend, it’s useful to move resources away from underperformers and toward your best performers. Maximizing impression share for your most valuable target keywords achieves this.
Maximizing impression share can also be a competitive advantage. If you’re running PPC advertisements in a highly competitive environment, it may be advantageous to get the highest impression share possible for a contested keyword; in this way, you can minimize the impression share for competitors’ advertisements.
The first step in the process of maximizing impression share for your best performing keywords is identifying your best performing keywords.
There are a few key metrics that are especially important in making this determination. The most straightforward indicator of value is conversion rate, since conversion rate is often tied to revenue.
There are many actions that can qualify as conversions, so it’s important to track all of them. Making a purchase, filling out a form, or even watching a video could be a meaningful user action that predicts revenue generation in the near future.
The higher the conversion rate is for a target keyword, the more generally valuable we can assume it is. Would you rather have 1,000 visitors on a landing page capable of achieving a conversion rate of 8 percent? Or 1,000 visitors on a landing page with a conversion rate of only 1 percent?
In Google Ads, you can do this in the Keywords report, where you’ll see a breakdown of all your target keywords – including conversion rates for those keywords. You can use filters to selectively ignore your worst performing keywords, and bring your best performing keywords straight to the top.
Depending on the goals of your campaign and the nature of your target audience, conversion rate may not be the only variable worth considering. You may also want to consider the value of each conversion, the value of different types of landing page behavior, and other factors.
Still, conversion rate is a great place to start.
In the Keywords report, you’ll also see a breakdown of impression share.
Ideally, all your best performing keywords would have an impression share of 100 percent – but we can pretty much guarantee this isn’t the case.
How can we push that impression share higher?
First, we need to analyze low impression share.
In other words, why are we seeing the impression share that we are?
You’ll need both Keywords and Campaigns reports to uncover more details.
These are the most important steps to take if you’re interested in maximizing impression share to improve the overall return on investment (ROI) for your PPC campaign.
Do you need help understanding which of your keywords are most valuable for increasing impression share in Google Ads?
Are you totally lost when it comes to doing deep dives into the analytics of your Google Ads PPC campaign?
PPC.co is here to help. Whether you’re thinking about starting a brand new campaign or you’re working out the kinks and negative keywords of a nascent Google Ads campaign that’s been running for years, we have the experts and tools you need to succeed. Contact us for a free consultation today!
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When this apartment complex client partnered with PPC.co, their goal was clear: generate more qualified leads through Google Ads. In just 60 days—from January to March 2025—we transformed their paid acquisition performance. Total conversions more than tripled, jumping from 10 to 32, while the overall conversion rate soared by over 300%. At the same time, we drove down the cost per conversion by 44%, delivering significantly more leads at a much lower cost.
By strategically combining Performance Max and high-intent Search campaigns, we not only increased lead volume but improved overall efficiency and ROI. This rapid and measurable improvement underscores the value of data-driven optimization and expert campaign management.
This case study is a testament to what can happen when a well-structured campaign meets expert strategy and continuous optimization. Whether you're launching a new property or looking to boost occupancy in a competitive market, PPC.co delivers real results—fast.
Ready to grow your leads and lower your cost per conversion?
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If you’re running an e-commerce or retail business, you already know that visibility is everything. The best product in the world won’t sell if no one sees it. That’s where paid ads for ecommerce comes in.
Done right, they drive traffic, conversions, and repeat customers.
Done wrong, they drain your budget and leave you wondering what went wrong.
Whether you’re spending $500 a month or $50,000, your goal is the same: profitability. Not just clicks, and certainly not just impressions. You want to turn ad dollars into real, predictable revenue.
So how do top-performing e-commerce and retail brands make their paid ads work?
What are they doing that you’re not?
This guide breaks it down step-by-step, so you can start running profitable ads with confidence.
Before you launch a single campaign, you need clarity on your audience and goals. Are you trying to boost first-time sales? Increase average order value? Each objective requires a different strategy and metrics for success.
Don’t fall into the trap of launching ads just to “see what happens.” Paid media works best when it’s part of a bigger strategy. So before you log in to Google Ads or Meta Ads Manager, get specific about what success looks like.
If you want to run profitable paid ads, knowing your numbers is the foundation of your entire strategy. Without a clear understanding of your margins, break-even points, and how much you can afford to spend to acquire a customer, you’re essentially gambling with your ad budget.
And in e-commerce, that can get expensive fast.
Let’s start with the most critical numbers you need to know:
Your break-even ROAS tells you the minimum return you need on your ad spend to not lose money. It’s calculated by dividing 1 by your gross profit margin.
So if your margin is 50 percent, your break-even ROAS is 2.0. That means for every $1 you spend on ads, you need to make $2 in sales just to break even.
For example, let’s say you’re running Facebook Ads and spending $1,000 on a campaign. If your break-even ROAS is 2.0, you need to generate at least $2,000 in revenue to avoid losing money. Anything above that is profit. Anything below that eats into your cash.
Once you know your numbers, you can reverse-engineer your ad strategy instead of throwing money into the void and hoping for results. For instance, if your AOV is low (say $25), you might struggle to profit from ads unless you have a very low COGS or high conversion rates. In that case, you might want to:
On the other hand, if your AOV is $150 and your margins are strong, you have more room to compete in ad auctions, bid more aggressively, and test multiple audiences and creatives without instantly wiping out your profit.
A lot of beginner advertisers focus entirely on immediate return from ads. That’s understandable – but short-sighted. If you’re breaking even or slightly losing on the first sale, that might still be a smart move if you’re building long-term customer relationships.
That’s where Customer Lifetime Value (LTV) comes in. If you know that your average customer places three orders a year, each worth $60, then their LTV is $180. If you spend $40 to acquire that customer with your first ad, but earn $140 more over the next 12 months, that ad was extremely profitable in the long run.
Top e-commerce brands build their paid strategies around LTV-to-CAC ratio – how much they earn over time compared to what they paid to acquire the customer.
A healthy ratio is usually 3:1 or higher. So if you’re spending $50 to acquire a customer, you want to earn at least $150 from that customer over time.
Once you understand your numbers, you can plan your ad spend with precision. You’ll know exactly:
Let’s say you want to make $5,000 in profit this month, and your product has a 50 percent gross margin. That means you need $10,000 in sales. If your target ROAS is 2.5, you can spend up to $4,000 in ad spend to hit that goal. With those numbers in hand, you now have a roadmap for campaign budgeting, not just a shot in the dark.
Every ad platform has strengths. But if you try to use them all at once, you’ll burn through your budget without learning much. Instead, pick one or two that align best with your business model and customer behavior.
If you’re selling visually appealing products like apparel, skincare, or home goods, platforms like Instagram and TikTok can deliver strong returns – especially with the right creative. If you’re focused on high-intent buyers, Google Search and Shopping Ads are goldmines. And if you’re targeting professionals or B2B retail buyers, LinkedIn may offer surprising results.
Test channels strategically. Start with the one that matches where your customers spend their time and scale from there. The best platform for you is the one where your ideal customers are already shopping, scrolling, or searching.
One of the biggest mistakes retailers make is casting too wide a net. You don’t want everyone to see your ad – you want the right people to see it.
On Google, this means targeting high-intent keywords that signal buying behavior. Focus on terms like “buy,” “best,” “free shipping,” or product-specific searches. On Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok, you’ll want to dial in your custom audiences using demographic data, lookalikes, interests, and behavior.
Don’t forget retargeting. Most people won’t buy the first time they visit your site, but retargeting brings them back when they’re ready. Set up ads that follow people who viewed a product, added to cart, or engaged with your brand but didn’t check out.
The more relevant your targeting, the more efficient your spend and the higher your return.
Creative is the make-or-break factor in most e-commerce ad campaigns. You can have perfect targeting and the right product, but if your ad doesn’t grab attention in the first two seconds, it won’t convert.
Your creative needs to do three things quickly:
Use high-quality product photos or videos. Show your product in action. Highlight a clear benefit or solve a specific problem. Incorporate customer reviews or user-generated content to build trust.
For paid social, test multiple creatives at once – video vs. image, UGC vs. branded, short-form vs. long-form – and let performance data guide your iterations. On search platforms like Google, focus on copy that’s compelling and packed with relevant keywords. Test different headlines and descriptions to see what gets the best click-through rate.
Sending paid traffic to your homepage is a rookie mistake. You want every click to land on a page that’s designed to convert. That means fast load times, mobile optimization, and a clear call-to-action.
If you’re promoting a specific product, send users to that product page and not your full catalog. If you’re offering a bundle or a seasonal deal, create a dedicated landing page with copy, visuals, and layout tailored to that offer.
Remove distractions. Reduce friction. Make it stupid-easy for people to buy. The less effort it takes, the more sales you’ll see. And don’t forget to A/B test. Sometimes a simple tweak to your headline or CTA can double your conversion rate overnight.
Once your ads are live, your job isn’t done. In fact, this is where it really begins. You need to monitor performance regularly, looking at more than just the surface-level metrics.
Click-through rate (CTR) tells you how well your ad is capturing attention. Conversion rate shows how well your landing page is sealing the deal. ROAS tells you how profitable your campaign is. And CPA helps you compare efficiency across different products or audiences.
Watch for early indicators of success – or failure.
Treat your campaigns like living systems. Tweak, test, and improve them continuously.
Once you find a winning combination – an ad, offer, and audience that works – it’s time to scale. Increase your budget gradually while keeping an eye on performance. Scaling too fast can tank your results, so go step by step.
Duplicate high-performing campaigns to test new audiences or creatives. Experiment with upsells, bundles, or time-limited offers to increase AOV. Layer in email or SMS marketing to retarget paid traffic and drive repeat sales.
And just as importantly, don’t be afraid to kill underperforming ads. If something isn’t working after a reasonable test period, cut it. Your budget should be flowing to what works – not what you hope will work.
One of the biggest mistakes in paid advertising is chasing one-off sales without thinking about the bigger picture. Winning e-commerce brands think in terms of customer lifetime value.
If your first sale breaks even, that’s fine. (As long as you have a plan to turn that customer into a repeat buyer. ) You can use post-purchase emails, loyalty programs, and retargeting ads to bring people back.
At the end of the day, when you view paid ads as the beginning of a customer relationship – not the end – you unlock real long-term profitability. And at PPC.co, that’s where we want to help you! We offer industry-leading PPC management services for ecommerce and retail brands who want to stop wasting ad spend and start generating real ROI.
Contact us today to learn more!
