Impression share is how much we are showing up when individuals search for keywords we are bidding on. While all metrics are important, Impression share is one of the most important indicators of campaign health. The higher an impression share is, the more targeted a campaign strategy gets.
Our typical benchmark for a healthy impression share is around 70%. There are factors like campaign budget and market competition that will render a low impression share without a lot of room for optimizations.
The 2 biggest indicators for campaign optimizations when reviewing IS are either High IS or Low IS
High Impression Share
IS above 78% more along the lines of 85% to 90% is an indicator that the campaign is very targeted for the ad groups we are currently bidding on but there is room to add more to the strategy. At this point you are typically able to add in new ad groups, open “Near” ad groups to general depending on the client, or add more keyword variations.
Often if the IS is very high you are likely to experience underspending.
Low Impression Share
IS below 70% more along the lines of 25% - 50% is an indicator that the campaign requires optimizations that might be outside of the monthly budget/competitive market constraints. This is where we start to implement strategic thought on ways we can improve the overall impression share to the best of our abilities to ensure each campaign is effective and showing up consistently.