Common paid ads FAQs answered by experts

What KPIs should you track for PPC?

You should track PPC KPIs that tell you three things: did you get the right leads or sales, what did they cost, and what’s stopping you from getting more at the same budget.

For most Orlando and Central Florida service businesses, we start with a “scoreboard” KPI (qualified leads or booked jobs), then build a short set of supporting KPIs so you can diagnose issues fast. If you’re working with an agency or in-house team, this also keeps reporting honest because everyone is looking at outcomes, not vanity metrics. If you want help setting this up end to end, our PPC management services focus on tracking, lead quality, and profit-first optimization.

Core PPC KPIs to track (what actually drives decisions)

KPIWhat it tells youWhere to track itCommon pitfall
Primary conversions (calls, forms, bookings, purchases)Whether ads are producing the actions that matterGoogle Ads or platform dashboard + your CRMCounting low-intent actions as wins (like page views)
Cost per conversion (CPA or cost per lead)What you pay for each lead or saleAd platform + CRM validationOptimizing toward cheap leads that never close
Conversion rateHow well clicks turn into leads or salesAd platform + landing page analyticsBlaming ads when the landing page is the issue
ROAS or revenue per spend (eCommerce) OR pipeline value per spend (lead gen)Profitability and scalability of the campaignAd platform + eCommerce/CRM revenue trackingUsing revenue that is not tied back to the click
Qualified lead rate (MQL/SQL %)Lead quality, not just quantityCRM stages, call outcomes, intake notesNot defining “qualified” consistently
Lead-to-customer rate (close rate)Whether PPC is feeding real customersCRM closed-won dataJudging performance before your sales cycle finishes
Click-through rate (CTR)Ad relevance and message matchAd platformChasing high CTR on broad, low-intent queries
Cost per click (CPC)Traffic efficiency and auction pressureAd platformFixating on CPC instead of cost per result
Impression share + lost impression share (budget, rank)How much demand you’re missing and whyGoogle Ads campaign metricsRaising budgets when the real issue is Ad Rank
Search terms quality (wasted spend %)Whether you’re paying for irrelevant searchesSearch terms report + negative keyword listNot reviewing search terms regularly

If conversion tracking is shaky, none of the KPIs above are trustworthy, so we treat tracking as a non-negotiable setup step. This includes call tracking (with recorded outcomes if your industry allows it), form tracking, and offline conversion imports when you close deals later. If you need a plain-English explanation of setup and what counts as a conversion, start with what conversion tracking is and why it’s required.

Extra KPIs that matter for local lead gen in Orlando

Local PPC lives or dies on call handling and appointment flow. If you’re a dentist, attorney, HVAC, pest control, or med spa, add these to your weekly view:

  • Call answer rate (missed calls kill ROI fast)
  • Qualified call rate (calls that meet your service, location, and intent)
  • Cost per booked appointment (better than cost per lead)
  • No-show rate (especially for healthcare and consultations)
  • Spam lead rate (forms, calls, chats that are junk)

When these numbers are healthy, scaling becomes simple. When they’re not, raising budget usually just buys more problems. If your landing page is part of the bottleneck, our web design and landing page work is built around turning paid clicks into calls and bookings.

How often should you check PPC KPIs?

We like a simple rhythm: daily checks for spend pacing and conversion drops, weekly checks for search terms, CPA/CPL, and conversion rate trends, and a monthly check that ties PPC leads to closed revenue or booked jobs. That monthly step is where most businesses in Orlando find the real story, because it separates “busy” from “profitable.”

If you want a quick north star: pick one primary KPI (booked jobs, qualified leads, or purchases), then tie every other KPI back to improving that outcome. If you’re unsure what “good” looks like for your market and offer, this breakdown helps: what is a good cost per lead.

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