Report Types

A report is a collection and rearrangement of data (a tool or a document) in order to produce and present readable information from raw data about campaign performances. Google Ads offers two main categories of reports, standard and advanced. Each category contains different reports.

Standard Google Ads Reports

There are a lot of different types of reports. The standard and most important reports in SEA are the following ones:

+-Campaign Report
Gives the broader type of information, giving an overview of the metrics per single campaign.
+-Ad Group Report
Gives a more detailed overview compared to the campaign report, partitioning the data in smaller subsets compared to campaign reports. It can be created for the entire account (including all given ad groups), or for each single campaign (including only the ad groups of that specific campaign).
+-Ad Report
Gives an overview on the performance of ads. It can be helpful to determine whether differences in performance can be attributed to differences in the message delivered in the ads themselves. It can be created for the entire account, for a specific campaign, or for a specific ad group.
+-Keyword Report
This is the most detailed report. It gives information about the performance of each single keyword. It can be created for the entire account, for a single campaign, or for a single ad group.

These reports should be used in this order to identify elements that can be improved. This means a general report, like the campaign report, is the one to start investigating. After that, you can continue with the other reports, which go deeper and deeper into detail.

Report Metrics

The main metrics visible in Google Ads reports are numbers emerging from the paid search market. They reflect the cost-side of SEA, and SEA consultants can directly influence them. In the table below, you see a brief explanation of the main metrics you should know when working with Google Ads reports. For more information on this, please recap the Basics of SEA.


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Segments

Segments give you the possibility to analyze performance in various ways. They add a dimension to the reports visible in Google Ads, and help dig deeper into analyzing data from each type of report described above. The main types of segments available to insert in a report are:

  • Time: day, week, month etc.
  • Keyword/placement
  • Network: Google Search, search partners, and Display network
  • Device: computer or mobile device

All these options can be found in the Google Ads online interface under “Segment”.

How to Download Google Ads Reports

To download a report from the Google Ads interface, you have to follow the following steps: First, define the time frame of the report. Next, choose the level that will define the report type. Continue by clicking “Download Report”. Moreover, there are segments available in the report to define additional values from the existing data.

After clicking “Download report”, a new window pops up. This is where you can customize the report. You can change the name, choose the desired file-type, and add a new segment to the report as a column. Moreover, a time schedule for this report can be assigned to send it to a specified group of users at a given frequency.

Advanced Google Ads Report’s

+-Ad Extensions reports
Ad Extensions allow you to include additional information with your ad, without being charged an extra fee. Usually, ads with Ad Extensions tend to appear in the top positions of the search results, obtaining higher CTRs.

The types of Ad Extensions available are:

  • Location Extensions:
    e.g. Show your business address
  • Call Extensions:
    e.g. Offer the possibility to call your business (for mobiles)
  • Sitelinks:
    e.g. Link to other pages of your website
  • Social Annotations:
    e.g. The number of +1s your page has amassed on Google+
  • Seller Ratings:
    e.g. Show the external rating given to your business
  • App Extensions:
    e.g. Link to your mobile app

Even if most extensions are created on campaign level, certain types have been upgraded, and can be created on ad group level. To download reports, first select the depth level of the report itself (entire account, single campaign or, if possible for that specific extension, ad group level), then press the ad extension tab and select the type of extension you need to analyze from the “view” drop down menu.

By checking your ad extension’s clicks, impressions, its related costs, and other statistics, you can see how these extensions are performing. This data can help you decide which ad extensions work best for your ad, and whether to add or remove ad extensions.

Keep in mind, when you make changes to any of your extensions, this will delete the extension and reset its statistics to zero.

+-Time Reports
The time report can be found in the dimension tab, under the ”View” drop down menu. It allows you to divide your data by a fixed period of time for the selected time span, across an ad group, a campaign, or your entire account. The available time frames you can select when generating a time report include:

  • Hour of the day
  • Day of the week
  • Day
  • Week
  • Month
  • Quarter
  • Year

This report can be useful when your ads have an above/below average performance, letting you schedule your campaigns for when they are most likely to receive the greatest number of impressions and clicks. In particular, these reports are useful to analyze:

  • Day parting:
    It can be useful to look at “day of week” and/or “hour of day” data to better optimize the way you’re allocating your budget
  • Reporting & Trend Analysis:
    The “day” report can be very helpful in letting you understand different trends, both at high level (account wide) and at ad group and campaign levels.
  • Seasonality & Historical Data:
    The monthly, quarterly, and yearly views can help you understand historical account information, longer-term trends, and seasonality of your campaign.
+-Final URL
The final URL is where customers land after they click your ad. With this report it is possible to see which of your URLs is most effective in engaging your visitors and helping them make the conversions you want. There are three main reasons to create and analyze final URL reports:

  • Testing different landing pages
  • Finding low performing landing pages
  • Checking your account for broken links

For example, if we find that a particular final URL is not performing well from a cost per acquisition point of view, we could find a new page that fits better, or build a new page suited for the ad. In the same way, if a page has above average performance, it can be used as a good template for future pages or underperforming pages. In this kind of report, as with any report in the “Dimension” tab, you can customize the report’s columns by clicking “Customize Columns” in the “Columns” drop down menu.

+-Geographic and User locations Reports
There are two types of reports based on the location of the user:

  • Geographic Report:
    Your geographic data shows your customers’ physical locations or locations they have shown interest for in their searches on Google or Google Maps.
  • User location:
    Your user location data shows only your customers’ physical locations, regardless of any locations they may be interested in.

Both reports can be created for the specified time span in the “Dimension” tab in the “View” drop down menu. There are four possible types of geographical locations clicks could come from: countries, regions, cities, and the most specific location Google Ads can extract from an ad impression. For example, in the U.S., the most specific location is ‘postal code’. In India, the most specific location is ‘region’.

The area can also be “unspecified”. This happens if the IP is not trackable, or the actual location of the webpage is not trackable. It also happens when someone performs the search in one country, but uses another country-specific domain. For example, the user is located in France, meaning they have a French IP, but makes a search using google.de.

Using these reports can help you understand where your business has good or bad performance, so you can understand where to put the focus in terms of effort and budget, or which geographical areas to exclude from your targets.

+-Search term reports

Keyword and search term are two different elements. The search term makes reference to what the user types in Google when looking for something. The keywords are words that you want your ad to be triggered for. Keywords are the ones we have in our account (positives or negatives), search terms can show us new keywords we would like to add to our account. The search term report is another tool, offered by Google, which allows you to see what users look for. It tells you which search terms got matched to your keywords, in other words: which search terms triggered your ads. All this information can be used to refine your performance. The Search Terms Report (STR) is a powerful tool to find:

  • New keywords or new combinations of keywords.
  • If the traffic is going where you want it to go. Helping in the optimization process in order to conduct traffic from broad to exact and phrase keywords.
  • New negative keywords.

To create a Search Term Report, you can go in the “Keywords” tab, access the ´Details´ drop down menu, and select the search term option.