Most business owners open their Google Ads dashboard, look at clicks and impressions, and close the tab none the wiser. Those numbers rarely tell you anything useful on their own. Here's what actually matters for a lead generation account, in order of importance.
1. Cost per lead
Not cost per click. A cheap click that never converts is more expensive than a costly click that does.
2. Conversion rate by campaign
Not just account-wide. An account-level average can hide one campaign quietly wasting half your budget while another performs well.
3. Search impression share
This tells you how much of the available search volume you're actually capturing. Low impression share due to budget means there's untapped demand you're leaving on the table; low impression share due to rank means your quality score or bids need work.
4. Quality score trend
Not the score itself, but whether it's moving up or down over time — that trend tells you whether your ad relevance is improving or decaying.
5. Click-through rate relative to cost per lead
A high CTR with a high CPL usually points to a landing page or offer problem, not a targeting problem.
How often to check
Check these five together, monthly at minimum, and you'll catch most problems long before they show up as a budget crisis.
