It is quite common for Google Display Network (GDN) campaigns to perform differently to Search Network campaigns and for this reason they can often have very different objectives. But which metrics should we be looking at when analysing the performance of display campaigns? In this blog post, we explore some of the useful stats available within Google Ads.
Conversions and conversion rate
Like with every Google Ads campaign, you can get a good indication of how well a GDN campaign is performing by looking at conversions. If the campaign is generating a healthy number of conversions at a good conversion rate or cost per conversion, relative to your other campaigns and business goals, then you can safely say they are doing well.
However, if your GDN campaign has been created for brand awareness you may see that the campaign is generating a lot of impressions and clicks, but possibly few conversions. But this is OK, as high impressions is what you want for brand awareness, right?
Broadly, the answer is yes, as impressions are the number of times an ad is shown, however there are other metrics available within Google Ads to help advertisers be more confident that these impressions are “good” impressions…
Impressions, unique users, and unique cookies
“Impressions”, like for all types of campaign, is one of the main metrics to look at and is the total number of times the ad(s) is shown, whether it is “seen” or not.
However, unique users and unique cookies give an idea of how many people have actually seen the ads, and can be unearthed by selecting the correct columns under the reach metrics section:
Unique users is the total number of people who saw an ad in your display or video campaigns over your selected time period:
This metric uses cross-device statistical models to measure the total reach of an ad by adjusting for cases when users may see the same ad on different devices or when multiple people share one device. – Google
Unique cookies is the total number of unique cookies that were exposed to an ad over your chosen time period. This differs from unique users, because if, for example, an ad is shown twice on a single device, it’s one unique cookie. This could apply even if multiple people u