How to Report Google Ads Results to Clients: Metrics, Structure and Common Mistakes

Quick Answer: A good Google Ads client report leads with conversions and cost per conversion (or conversion value and ROAS for stores), then spend, clicks, click-through rate, cost per click and impression share, broken down by campaign, with a short explanation and a next step. Always say which conversion columns you are using.

Google Ads gives you more data than any client wants to read. The skill is choosing what to show and explaining it.

This guide covers what to lead with, a column that causes real confusion, how to read impression share, a structure to follow and the mistakes to avoid. Definitions come from Google Ads Help.

Start with the client's goal

The right lead metric depends on what the client is paying for:

• Lead generation: conversions (leads) and cost per conversion
• E-commerce: conversion value and return on ad spend
• Awareness: impressions, and impression share
• Traffic: clicks and click-through rate

Choose from the goal, not from whatever the dashboard shows first. See the glossary for plain definitions of ROAS, CPA, CTR and the rest.

The core metrics, in order

1. Conversions and cost per conversion. The result and what each one cost
2. Spend and budget pacing. Whether the money is going where planned
3. Clicks, click-through rate and cost per click. How well the ads attract and what that costs
4. Impression share. How many chances you are missing
5. A breakdown by campaign. Where the results and the waste are

Lead with the first, support with the rest. A client who reads only the top should still know how the money performed.

Conversions vs All conversions: tell the client which

This is the column that most often makes two reports disagree.

According to Google Ads Help:

• Conversions counts the conversion actions set as primary, which are used for bidding
• All conversions includes the data in Conversions plus actions you chose not to include there. It also adds cross-device conversions, store visits, certain phone calls and more
• View-through conversions appear in the View-through and All conversions columns, not in Conversions
• The value columns follow the same split: secondary actions appear in the All conv. value column, not in Conv. value

So the two columns can differ a lot, especially in accounts with secondary actions. Pick one for your report, say which it is, and keep it the same each month. If you change which conversion actions count as primary, note the date, because the history will not be comparable.

Read Google's pages on All conversions and primary and secondary conversion actions.

Impression share, and why clients care

Google defines search impression share as the impressions you received divided by the estimated impressions you were eligible to receive. Eligibility is estimated from factors such as targeting, approval status and quality.

The share you missed is split in two:

• Lost IS (budget): your ads did not show because the budget ran out. Google reports this at campaign level
• Lost IS (rank): your ads did not show because of low Ad Rank, which depends on your bid relative to competitors and your ad quality

The fix differs. Budget losses call for more budget or a better allocation. Rank losses call for better ads or bids. Explaining which one applies is exactly the kind of insight clients value. See Google's impression share page.

A structure clients read

1. Summary. Three or four sentences: how it went against the goal and the next step
2. Results against goals. Conversions, cost per conversion and the target
3. What drove the results. One or two causes in plain language
4. By campaign. Which campaigns earn their budget and which do not
5. What we did and what we will do next. With dates
6. Appendix. The detailed tables

The monthly report template follows this and has a filled example.

What Google Ads can send on its own

Google Ads lets you schedule reports to be emailed to you and other people with access to the account, for example daily or weekly, in formats such as CSV or PDF. Reports for an account run starting at 3 AM in its time zone. You can also build custom reports in the Report Editor.

Two details to know: saved reports you have not opened for over 18 months are removed automatically, and these are exports of data, not a branded, explained client report. See Google's page on scheduling reports.

Mistakes to avoid

• Mixing Conversions and All conversions between months or between reports
• Leading with clicks. Clicks are not the client's goal
• Changing conversion actions mid-period without a note
• Comparing different date ranges without saying so
• No explanation. A table is not a report
• Ignoring impression share. It shows growth you could be missing
• Reporting only Google Ads. Show how it fits with the client's other channels

Reporting Google Ads in LedgeSpace

Google Ads is one of LedgeSpace's live integrations. For a connected account it pulls spend, impressions, clicks, click-through rate, average cost per click, conversions, cost per conversion, conversion value and return on ad spend, plus the top campaigns by spend and by conversions. Reports go out as a PDF and a web link with your branding and your commentary, on a schedule.

It does not pull everything in the Google Ads interface. For example, it does not currently include impression share, Quality Score or search terms, so add those to your commentary if the client needs them. Google Ads data refreshes every few hours.

RUSHA, the optional AI add-on, can answer questions across your connected platforms, such as which campaign drove a cost-per-conversion rise, with every number checked against your data. It gives likely causes, not certainties.

Plans start at $39/mo billed annually for up to 5 clients, with a 14-day free trial and no credit card. See also PPC and SEO client reports: what to include and how to tell a client it was a bad month.