Ad metrics
Impressions: the number of times your ad is viewed, regardless of shopper interaction Clicks: a consumer clicking on an ad Cost: the cost accrued from clicks on ads Orders: a consumer purchase, after an ad click Units: the number of products purchased Sales: revenue generated from purchases after an ad click Click-through-rate (CTR): Clicks divided by impressions; the ratio of consumers who click on your ad to the number of consumers who viewed it. Cost per click (CPCs): Cost divided by click; the average price of each click. Conversion rate (CVR): Orders divided by clicks; the ratio of conversions (orders) to traffic to the product page. Average order value (AOV): Sales divided by orders; the average value of each order. Sales per click (SPC): Sales divided by clicks; the average value of each click. ACoS: Ad cost divided by ad sales (the inverse of ROAS); an efficiency metric.
Keyword categorization – Brand v. Non-Brand Brand and non-brand, or unbranded, are the two major segments into which we categorize keywords. Keywords containing the brand name, including misspellings, are considered “brand”, while all other keywords, including competitor names, are categorized as “non-brand,” “unbranded” or “generic.”
Performance, specifically efficiency (ACoS), between the two categories can vary notably. Brand terms carry a higher efficiency (lower ACoS), since the user has already determined what they are looking to purchase and who they are looking to purchase from, and therefore have a higher likelihood of conversion. Non-brand terms signify the user has not yet determined the brand they want to buy from, are usually not as far along in the journey to purchase, therefore non-brand terms carry a lower conversion rate. Non-brand traffic constitutes a majority of search (impression and click) volume for accounts. Competitor search terms, still considered non-brand, carry the lowest conversion rate. Competitor search terms are an effort to change the mind of the consumer, who has already identified a preferred brand, in order to acquire market share. While competitor search terms are usually more inefficient than even average non-brand performance, they serve as a tool to grow market share through acquisition of new customers.
While brand terms carry sales volume at a lower ad cost, available volume of searches is lower than non- brand and can cannibalize traffic arriving to purchase through organic methods.