by Austin LeClear
on January 5, 2026
We’ve lost count of how many times we’ve logged into a Google Ads account only to find a complete mess of random metrics scattered everywhere. None of it organized. None of it useful. And honestly? Google does a pretty terrible job with their default column setup.
After managing millions of dollars across 100+ clients, the Grow My Ads team has developed a specific approach to organizing Google Ads metrics that actually makes sense. In this post, we’re sharing our exact setup — what columns we use, why we use them, and how to analyze the data so you can stop drowning in numbers and start making smarter decisions.
Prefer video? Check out The ONLY Google Ads Metrics That Matter (My Exact Setup) on YouTube:
Still with us? Good, let’s dive in.
Why Most Google Ads Accounts Are a Disaster
Here’s the thing about your Google Ads account: when you click that columns icon and see all the available metrics, it’s overwhelming. There are so many things you could add to your campaign table that most people just end up with a jumbled mess of data that doesn’t tell them anything useful.
Here’s the scoop: You don’t need 90% of what Google offers. Instead, you need a focused set of key metrics that show you two things:
- Primary metrics: How much you’re spending (and what you’re getting for your spend)
- Diagnostic metrics: Indicators that help you spot problems and inefficiencies
That’s it. Everything else is noise.
Our Exact Column Setup (And Why Each Metric Matters)
Here’s a quick walkthrough of our preferred column set, in order. This works whether you’re running Search campaigns, Shopping campaigns, Display campaigns, or Performance Max.
Campaign Basics
- Campaign – This ensures you know which campaign you’re looking at when you review any data.
- Budget – This column shows your daily budget and lets you make quick adjustments. If you’re making money and need to scale, this is where you do it.
- Status – This tells you if there are any issues affecting your campaign’s performance. “Limited by budget” is a big one. If you’re profitable and seeing this, you’re leaving money on the table.
- Bid Strategy – At Grow My Ads, we always want to know what bid strategy is running on each campaign. When something isn’t performing, the bid strategy is usually a major factor. You might need to adjust bid strategy targets or switch approaches entirely.
Performance Metrics
- Clicks and Impressions – Basic, but necessary. These tell you the volume of activity in your campaigns.
- Click-Through Rate (CTR) – This is the percent of clicks a campaign has gotten based on the amount of impressions, and it’s a diagnostic metric we pay close attention to. For Search campaigns, if CTR drops below 2%, that’s a red alert. It usually means your ad copy isn’t resonating with your search terms, or you’ve got targeting issues. A healthy Search campaign should have CTR well above that threshold.
- Average CPC (Cost Per Click) – What are you paying per click? This directly impacts cost per conversion, so we like to keep an eye on it to understand where our ad spend is going.
- Cost – Total spend across date ranges. We often filter campaigns by cost to see where the budget is being spent.
Conversion Metrics
- Conversions – The number of conversions at each campaign level. If you’re running an e-commerce account, this might be purchases. For lead generation, it could be form submissions or phone calls.
- Cost Per Conversion – How much are you paying to acquire one conversion? This is the metric that tells you whether you’re making or losing money on every dollar spent.
- Conversion Rate – Out of your clicks, what percentage actually convert? If this number is low, something is off — maybe the landing page, maybe the traffic quality, maybe your offer. A low conversion rate is always worth investigating.
- Conversion Value – For e-commerce, this shows revenue generated. This conversion data is essential for understanding actual business impact.
- Conversion Value by Cost (ROAS) – This is your return on ad spend. Take your conversion value, divide by cost, and you get a clear picture of efficiency. A 2x (or 200%) ROAS means you made $2 for every $1 spent.
- Value by Conversion – Average order value. Super useful for accounts with fluctuating AOV because it helps you spot trends at the campaign level.
By Time Metrics
Here’s where things get interesting. Google’s default conversion metrics track conversions back to the click date — the day someone clicked your ad, not the day they actually converted. This creates problems when you’re analyzing recent performance.
- Conversions by Time – This reports conversions on the day they happened, not when the click occurred. If you’re looking at the last 7 or 14 days, this gives you a much more accurate picture.
At Grow My Ads, we also create custom columns for:
- CPA by Time – This is cost divided by conversions by conversion time
- ROAS by Time – This covers conversion value by conversion time divided by cost
Google doesn’t give you these metrics by default, but setting up other custom columns takes just a few minutes and completely changes how you understand recent performance.
Competitive Metrics
- Search Impression Share – How often are your ads appearing compared to how often they could appear?
- Search Top Impression Share – How often you’re showing in top positions on the search results page.
- Search Absolute Top Impression Share – How often you’re in the number one spot.
- Search Lost Impression Share (Budget) – Are you losing impression share because of budget constraints? If a profitable campaign shows less than 10% impression share and it’s limited by budget, that campaign has massive room to grow.
How to Set This Up (And Save It)
Inside your Google Ads account, click the Columns icon above your campaign table.
From there, you can modify columns — remove what you don’t need and add what you do.
For custom columns like Conversion value / Cost (by Time), scroll to Custom columns and create formulas using Google’s available metrics.
The formula for Conversion value / Cost (by Time) should look something like this:
Once you’ve got everything set, click Save and name your custom column. This way, you’re not rebuilding your view every time you log in. One click and you’re back to your preferred setup.
Final Thoughts
This column setup isn’t just about seeing numbers. It’s about seeing indicators.
- Less than 2% CTR? Investigate your ads and ad text — the message isn’t resonating.
- High cost per conversion? Check your average CPC and bid strategy.
- Low conversion rate? Time to audit your ad groups, search terms, and landing page experience.
- Limited by budget with good ROAS? Scale your budget.
- Low impression share? You’re not competing — check your ad rank and quality score factors.
Every column serves a purpose. Every metric tells a story. And when you know what to look for, you can stop guessing and start optimizing based on actionable insights.
This setup works across campaign types, client sizes, and industries. It’s not complicated. It’s focused. And it actually helps you make decisions that improve performance and lower costs where it matters.
