What SEM metrics and KPIs do you share with stakeholders?

1 SEM Metrics vs. KPIs

SEM metrics are the data points that you collect from your SEM platforms, such as Google Ads or Bing Ads, and your analytics tools, such as Google Analytics or Adobe Analytics. They help you track and evaluate the performance of your SEM campaigns, such as impressions, clicks, conversions, cost, and revenue. SEM KPIs are the specific metrics that you choose to align with your SEM goals and objectives, such as click-through rate (CTR), cost per acquisition (CPA), return on ad spend (ROAS), or conversion rate. They help you measure the effectiveness and efficiency of your SEM campaigns, and show how they contribute to your business outcomes.

2 Choosing the Right SEM KPIs

When choosing the right SEM KPIs for your stakeholders, there is no one-size-fits-all approach. It depends on your industry, audience, campaign type, budget, and business goals. Generally, you should select KPIs that are relevant, meaningful, and actionable, as well as measurable, attainable, and realistic. Additionally, they should be consistent, comparable, and clear. For instance, if you want to increase brand awareness, you might focus on impressions, reach, and CTR; however, if your goal is to generate sales, you might focus on conversions, CPA, and ROAS. You must set realistic targets and benchmarks based on your historical data, industry standards, and competitive analysis. Additionally, you need to use consistent methods and sources to calculate and report your KPIs and explain them clearly to your stakeholders.

3 Reporting Your SEM KPIs

Once you have chosen your SEM KPIs, you need to report them to your stakeholders in a way that is easy to understand, visualize, and act on. To do this, utilizing dashboards and charts in tools like Google Data Studio, Tableau, or Power BI can be helpful for highlighting trends, patterns, and insights that may not be obvious from numbers alone. Additionally, you can use tables and summaries in tools like Excel, Google Sheets, or Word to provide more details and context for your SEM KPIs. Finally, stories and recommendations created in tools like PowerPoint, Google Slides, or Keynote can be used to communicate the value and impact of your SEM KPIs while also engaging stakeholders and suggesting improvements.

4 Segmenting Your SEM KPIs

Segmenting your SEM KPIs by different dimensions and attributes is an essential part of reporting your performance. Doing so can help you understand where opportunities and challenges lie, as well as optimize your campaigns. For example, you can compare your performance across channels such as Google Ads, Bing Ads, or social media ads. You can also compare campaigns such as search, display, video, or remarketing to see which ones have the highest CTR, CPA, and ROAS. Additionally, you can segment by keyword type (branded, non-branded, generic, or long-tail) to see which ones attract the most qualified leads. Further, you can compare performance across devices (desktop, mobile, or tablet) to determine which ones deliver the best user experience and conversion rate. Finally, you can segment by location (country, region, city, or zip code) to identify which areas generate the most demand and loyalty.

5 Customizing Your SEM KPIs

Finally, customizing your SEM KPIs to your specific business needs and stakeholder preferences is one of the most advanced and effective ways to report them. This allows you to tailor your reporting to your unique situation, goals, and challenges. For example, you can create custom conversions to track and measure important actions or outcomes, custom segments to group and analyze your SEM data based on relevant criteria or characteristics, and custom metrics to calculate and report your SEM data based on meaningful formulas or equations.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?