If a tree falls in the woods, and no one hears it, did it actually happen?

More importantly, if your ad could have been shown to your audience but didn’t, wouldn’t you like to know about it?

Luckily, you dürfen know how often your ads show (or don’t show) to your audience—thanks to a metric known as impression share. While it’s one thing to build out your Google Ads campaigns, it’s another to know they’re actually showing up as much as they could be. That’s where data sets like impression share, top impression rate, absolute top impression rate, and more can be a lifesaver.

However, since impressions don’t always equate to clicks or conversions, how important is impression share really to your overall account health? Plus, it’s no secret that Google Ads costs are rising across industries. Combine that with additional campaign insights and machine-learning capabilities more widely available for accounts, and you might feel like other metrics are taking priority when tracking your PPC progress.

As an advertiser, the last thing you need is to waste your time reporting on data that doesn’t directly impact your business’s bottom line. So, read on to find out if impression share is worth your time (or not) in 2023.

Table of contents

Quick review of Google Ads impression share

First, let’s walk through a refresher of what impression share actually means in terms of your account performance. Impression share is shown as a percentage and is designed to answer this key question: of all the times your ad could be showing, how often is it actually showing up?

Impression share metrics are only available for standard search, Shopping, and display campaigns.

Since the Google Ads auction is highly competitive, it’s nearly impossible for your ad to show every time someone searches for a keyword or browses a placement you’re bidding on. Impression share is there to help you understand how much market share your ads control.

While there are different types of impression share metrics that I’ll get into shortly, there are a few core terms to know when discussing impression share:

• Impression: When at least 50% of your ad is seen for at least one second.
• Impression share: Percentage of potential impressions your ad campaign wins the Google Ads auction for.
• Top impression rate: Percentage of how frequently your ad is above organic results (search campaigns only).
• Absolute top impression rate: Percentage of how frequently your ad is the first ad on the page (search campaigns only).
• Impression share lost to budget: Percentage of times your ad was not shown due to low budget, or in other words, your budget ran out too quickly or was not high enough to win the auction.
• Impression share lost to rank: Percentage of times your ad was not shown due to low ad rank, or in other words, your Qualitätsfaktor wasn’t high enough to win the auction.

How do you calculate impression share?

Impression share is calculated based on the search volume for your PPC keywords. Google takes into account all the times you did show and divides it by all the times you could have shown. Luckily, the platform does the work for us when it comes to calculating impression share.

All you have to do is head to the campaign level of your account and add your impression share columns to see where your impression share and impression rates currently stand.

Types of impression share

Impression share means different things depending on your type of Google Ads campaign. Let’s review some notes for each of the campaign types that have impression share data available.

For Shopping campaigns, it’s important to know that any reported impression share metrics are only taking into account Google search placements and not Google Display Network (GDN) or partner Shopping placements.

Display campaigns only have “display impression share” metrics available. This makes sense as display ads don’t show on the SERP. Display impression share is the same concept as search impression share, but for placements across the GDN.

Finally, for any travel and tourism businesses, hotel campaigns also have impression share metrics available. However, they are calculated a bit differently which Google breaks down here.

For the purpose of this post, I’ll continue to evaluate the impact of impression share on standard search campaigns.

What is a good impression share?

Unfortunately, a common PPC pitfall is thinking that there’s a black-and-white answer to anything involving Google Ads! While I wish there was a clear answer to what the standard Google Ads benchmark for impression share should be, every account is unique. So, depending on your competition, you might find that a lower or higher impression share is feasible for your business.

At first glance, you might assume showing as much as possible to as many people as possible is the best impression share strategy. Instead, think of your impression share like a pool. Your targeting will determine how large or small your impression share pool is. The larger that pool, the more effort it will take to swim a full lap. You don’t want to have to swim all the way to the bottom to find that one search that will convert for you.

That said, you likely want to be showing more often than not. I’ve typically found that an impression share of 60-80% is ideal and realistic for most businesses. As for absolute top impression rate, or being the very first ad on the page, this metric can be a bit harder to achieve. However, a business with a healthy search campaign might find its absolute top impression rate to be around 20%.

Does impression share still matter in 2023?

With so many PPC metrics that take priority, how important is impression share at this point?

I might sound like a broken record, but like with everything in PPC, there’s sadly no clear yes or no answer to this question. How you value impression share will depend on your specific marketing goals and objectives.

That said, we recently saw at Google Marketing Live 2023 that the advertising landscape is rapidly changing with updates like the new Search Generative Experience as well as AI-generated assets for display (to name a few). Ad competition will only increase as more advertisers have the tools to create higher-quality ads. This means that, for advertisers leveraging standard search, shopping, or display campaigns, impression share is actually more important than ever before.

However, with so many different campaign options out there from Leistung max to Video and more, it’s a best practice to have a cross-channel approach to your Google Ads strategy—even if impression share data may not always be available for those other campaign types.

Benefits of a high impression share and impression rate

When you’re hitting all the goals you’re working towards with your Google Ads, like conversion rate or return on ad spend, you might not care as much about your impression share. However, impression share can make a big difference if you start to see your progress go awry.

For example, if you need to increase your click-through rate, improving your impression share can have a direct impact. In fact, ads that achieve a high absolute top impression rate can have a CTR of up to 5% higher than ads below them. Not only that, but cost per conversion can be up to 60% higher for advertisers that end up lower on the SERP.

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All in all, a high impression share means you’re showing more, which is the first step to getting someone to click on your ad. High top and absolute top impression rates mean you’re showing first (or second, or third, etc.), which can make all the difference in a highly competitive ad space, especially as that landscape continues to evolve.

Tips to improve your Google Ads impression share

If you feel like increasing your impression share aligns with your account’s goals, try out these Google Ads impression share tips:

1. Set your impression share goals

You’ll have to benchmark your current impression share metrics in order to track your progress. If you’re not sure what impression share is realistic to shoot for, you won’t know where to start when it comes to implementing the right impression share strategy.

First, take note of all your current impression share metrics across your account. Next, evaluate your campaign budgets to see if reaching a higher impression share percentage is feasible or not.

Lastly, for standard search and Shopping campaigns, advertisers may also want to look at the Auction Insights report when setting impression share goals. Since Auction Insights show how you rank against competitors on the SERP, this report can help inspire your impression share goals.

Looking at Auction Insights, your budget, and your current impression share and impression rates will help you get a better understanding of what’s realistic for your business.

2. Location, location, location

How do you make a higher impression share easier to achieve? You make your impression share pool smaller! A smaller location makes a higher impression share more feasible since you’ll have fewer eligible users to show to depending on their physical location. This can be a great way for a local business to narrow in on audience members nearby with a higher likelihood of converting.

3. Refine your keyword list

Another way to tighten up your targeting so that you can increase youre impression share is to refine your keywords to only high-intent core terms. Search intent is critical when you’re optimizing for a specific metric like impression share since you’ll only want your ad to show when it matters most.

When you focus on keywords with transactional intent rather than informational, you’re narrowing your eligible impressions down to users who are further along in the buyer’s journey.

4. Diversify your campaign types

This Google Ads impression share tip should not come as a surprise considering the rise in popularity of campaign types beyond the typical standard search or display campaigns. When you’re considering your impression share, you’ll want to look at your account holistically. Try to incorporate a variety of campaign types to fill in the gaps your impression share rates can’t.

Leveraging multiple different strategies, like video, Local Services Ads, and more, will help increase your business’s overall performance on Google Ads. Plus, multiple different campaign types ensure you’re maximizing your impression potential across all touchpoints in your customer’s journey.

5. Elevate your ad copy

While you do want to try a few different campaign types to maximize your impression share overall, you should also still focus on ad quality over quantity. A strong ad will show higher up on the SERP–increasing your top and absolute top impression rates as well as overall impression share. (Not to mention, it can help increase conversion rates, too!)

First, look at your ad copy to see if you’re meeting the basics like including keywords, power words, calls to action, and more. Additionally, you may want to leverage more ad assets (formerly known as ad extensions), like images, structured snippets, and so on, to help your ad take up more SERP real estate.

This example of a high-quality ad includes powerful, keyword-rich copy. It also uses ad assets like images and sitelinks.

Grow your impression share, grow your business

While the importance of impression share in 2023 and beyond is dependent on your specific account, use this article as a reminder to check in on metrics you may not be tracking regularly.

Impression share is just one of many metrics that can often be disregarded in favor of “money metrics” like cost per lead or conversion rate. However, your impression share can have a “snowball effect” on your account if it’s not tended to properly. So, use our tips here to help grow your impression share, and ultimately, grow your business!

Here are those tips to improve your impression share:

1. Set impression share goals
2. Narrow your location targeting
3. Refine your keyword list
4. Diversify your campaign types
5. Elevate your ad copy

More advertisers than ever rely on Facebook to promote their products and services to their customers. Over 10 million businesses advertise on Facebook and Instagram, and that number has nearly tripled over the past seven years.

Some veterans of Facebook Advertising remember a time when costs on Facebook were cheap and ROI was unlimited. While Facebook Advertising is still a really worthwhile investment for most businesses, the constant influx of new advertisers is pushing costs up and making the network more competitive. Last year, in 2022, Meta announced that CPMs on Facebook Ads increased by 18%!  

Advertising on Facebook and Instagram increasingly means having to outperform your competitors. Luckily, there’s an underused tool for advertisers to level the playing field and see exactly what ads your competitors are running in the Facebook Ad Library. But that’s not all the Facebook Ad Library can help you with…

In this post, I’ll share:

• What the Facebook Ad Library is
• How to find your competitors’ ads in the Facebook Ad Library
• 4 more ways to use the Facebook Ad Library

Let’s dive in.

What is the Facebook Ad Library? 

The Facebook Ad Library is officially named the Meta Ad Library. It’s a free tool where users can search and view active and past ads from any advertiser. It was originally launched in 2018 for ads related to political and social issues, but it has since expanded to include all advertisers on Meta’s platforms.

Facebook launched the Ad Library to increase transparency for its users. You can access the Facebook Ad Library directly at https://www.facebook.com/ads/library. 

How to use the Facebook Ad Library

The Facebook Ad Library is a free, completely exhaustive, and transparent look into any advertiser on Facebook or Instagram.

Here’s how to use the Facebook Ad Library.

Open Facebook Ad Library and search

The first step is simple: Navigate to Meta Ad Library at https://www.facebook.com/ads/library. 

Within the Facebook Ad Library, you’ll notice the search bar. Start out by selecting a country you want to see ads for and then select “All Ads” from the adjacent dropdown.  

Type in a business name (like a competitor) or a specific topic or keyword in the search bar.

From there, you’ll be able to see all the relevant results for your search.

Click on a result

Each card includes details for different ads, including information like: 

• Is the ad active or inactive?
• When did the ad start running? If inactive, when did it stop running?
• Which platforms (Facebook, Instagram) the ad ran on
• If the ad was flagged for any special categories (such as credit, employment, housing, or social issues)

Additionally, beneath each ad in the Meta Ad Library, you’ll notice a “See ad details” button. Clicking that button will let you explore any variations of that ad running with different media, headlines, descriptions, or calls to action. 

Add a filter

If you want to narrow down a specific element of the resulting ads, you can also add a filter from the Facebook Ad Library. With filters, you can review their specific ads by: 

• Sprache
• Platform (Facebook, Instagram, Audience Network or Messenger)
• Media (Images, memes, images and memes, videos, and no image or video)
• Active status (Active or inactive)
• Active date (Any timeframe from the past seven years)

How to use the Facebook Ad Library to find your competitors’ ads

When it comes to doing research on your competition’s Facebook Ads, there’s no better place to start than using the Facebook Ad Library.

To see what ads a company is running on Facebook Ads (if any), you’ll navigate to the Ad Library, select the country your competitor is targeting with ads, and type in their business name.

Bear in mind that their ads will likely be linked to their Facebook page and will share the same name. 

From there, you’ll be able to see all the associated ads for that advertiser from the past seven years. For instance, Comcast Business’ ~130 ads are all publicly available Hier:

You can then click on each card to see details or use filters to find out even more information about your competitors’ ads.

Verwenden the filters, you can view a competitor’s entire creative strategy from text, image, and video as well as see what ads they ran in past years during specific holidays or promotional periods!  

4 more reasons and ways to use the Facebook Ad Library

Beyond just the ability to view a specific competitor’s Facebook Ads, you can use the Facebook Ad Library to help with other aspects of your marketing strategy.

Find new ideas

Because you can search by keyword or topic, you can use the Facebook Ad Library to inspire new ideas for your own Facebook advertising strategy.

From the search bar, instead of typing in a specific brand, type in a keyword that’s relevant to your business. From here, Facebook will load thousands of recently created ads from other relevant businesses.

For instance, type in “taqueria,” and you’ll be able to browse thousands of restaurants’ real Facebook ads to see how other local businesses are using Facebook to advertise their specials, promotions, new locations, and even hire from Facebook. 

If you’re just getting started with Facebook Ads or just need fresh ideas, this can be a great way to see what a ton of other local businesses are creating every day and brainstorm new ideas for your social ads on Facebook and beyond! 

Find opportunities to stand out

By searching for related ads within the Facebook Ad Library, you can find gaps that will help your ads stand out.

Search for ad keywords related to your business or for your competitors and analyze the results. You may find that many of the ads for businesses in your industry look similar, use the same type of language, or highlight the same value propositions.

Use this analysis to diversify your Facebook ads so you’re standing out. That might mean highlighting an out-of-the-box benefit, adopting a new ad style, or testing new words and phrases that can capture your audience’s attention.

Analyze your own ads

When was the last time you took a hard look at your own Facebook and Instagram ads? You can use the Facebook Ad Library to look at your business’s ad history.

Taking a peek at your results may highlight some opportunities to refresh and optimize your Facebook ads. Is it time to update your creative? Vary your ad copy? Test new calls to action? Feature a new product or service?

Just like you’re using the Facebook Ad Library to spy on your competitors, they may be using it to spy on you—so give them something exciting to look at!

Agency prospecting

Agencies can use the Facebook Ad Library when pitching prospective clients as well. Before even speaking to a prospect, you can use it to: 

Check if your prospect is currently running any Facebook Ads 

A highly technical pitch to a prospect brand new to social advertising may not be understood well. Even knowing if they’re running ads on Facebook or not lets you frame the conversation at their level. If they are running Facebook ads, you’ll be able to view their active ads and do research about their main goals, calls to action, and even provide concrete examples of how to improve their Facebook Ads.

See when your prospect last ran Facebook Ads 

You may discover several inactive ads in their account–understanding when or how recently they paused their campaigns may give you insight into their challenges or goals as well. If you see a lot of ads coinciding around important holidays (Christmas, summer, back to school, etc.), you know that’s a big opportunity for their business and can leverage that into your pitch or even plan to reach out in advance of their upcoming campaigns.

Check the size of your prospect’s marketing team–or current agency

Beyond just seeing what ads a page is running, the Meta Ad Library also shows you who is responsible for that page and where they’re located. Right below the page’s name, click the “About” button to the right to see details about how long the business has been on Facebook and how many people manage that page. For instance, this local orthodontist seems to be managed by one person–likely wearing many hats in the practice! 

Larger companies might have full teams or agencies around the world working on their social campaigns. For instance, according to the Facebook Ad Library, Netflix boasts over 200 people dedicated to managing their Facebook page and campaigns from all over the world!

That many people managing their Facebook page either ensures that you’ll need to manage multiple stakeholders from the onset or even that they’re currently already partnered with a large agency managing their account. Probably both in this case!  

Use the Facebook Ad Library to stand out from the competition

As more advertisers continue to flock to Facebook, competition is bound to rise. But the Meta Ad Library can be a great equalizer in that dynamic Facebook ads ecosystem. New ads are uploaded every day, and any smart advertiser–big or small–can use the Facebook Ad Library to keep an eye on the competition and find the best-performing ads anywhere on Facebook. 

As a co-author of the book “Becoming Artificial: A Philosophical Exploration Into Artificial Intelligence and What It Means to Be Human,” I have been pondering the topic of artificial intelligence for a significant amount of time, even before ChatGPT became a household term.

Our book delves into the evolution of AI, from being considered pure fantasy to becoming a serious topic of debate for policymakers and an increasingly displaced workforce. The past two decades have witnessed game-changing innovations that have elevated the discussion of AI beyond mere speculation.

The integration of AI has been a transformative force in the dynamic realm of digital marketing. However, despite the impressive potential of AI, human intuition, creativity, and empathy remain essential in marketing. Modern digital marketers face the challenge of not just harnessing the capabilities of AI, but also doing so in a way that preserves the critical human touch in their strategies.

This article will:

• Examine the role and impact of generative AI in digital marketing.
• Explore real-world applications of generative AI in marketing.
• Highlight the continued importance of the human touch for success.
• Provide best practices for effectively integrating AI and human expertise within a digital marketing framework.

Let’s get started.

The role of generative AI in digital marketing

Generative AI refers to AI technologies that can generate new, original content, whether that be text, images, or even music. In digital marketing, generative AI is typically used for automating content creation, data analysis, personalized marketing, and enhancing customer interactions.

The benefits of generative AI in digital marketing are multifold. They range from improved efficiency and cost savings to increased personalization and scalability.

Let’s delve deeper into these key use cases, as highlighted in a recent Forbes article:

1. Content generation

Generative AI can write blog posts, social media updates, product descriptions, and more. This automation leads to significant time savings, and because AI can work around the clock, content can be produced at scale.

We talk more about how to (and how not to) use AI for content marketing over on LocaliQ.

2. Personalization

With the ability to analyze vast amounts of data, generative AI can tailor content to individual users based on their behaviors, preferences, and previous interactions. This personalized approach enhances user engagement and can lead to improved conversion rates.

3. Data analysis

AI’s capabilities extend to interpreting complex data sets, drawing meaningful insights, and predicting consumer behavior. These insights can guide the creation of more effective marketing strategies.

4. Design generation

Generative AI isn’t limited to text. It can also create visual content, such as banner ads, social media graphics, and even website layouts, thereby speeding up the design process and enabling more extensive A/B testing.

Product Studio, announced at Google Marketing Live 2023, uses AI to generate product images.

5. Customer interactions

AI can handle customer inquiries via Chatbots, social media, and even over the phone. It can provide instant, personalized responses, improving the customer experience and freeing up human staff for more complex tasks.

In each of these roles, generative AI not only automates repetitive tasks but also offers a degree of personalization and insight that was previously unattainable. These capabilities allow marketers to focus on higher-level strategy and creative work, making the most of both human and AI strengths.

Example of generative AI in digital marketing

Generative AI has already shown its prowess in several areas of digital marketing. For instance, AI can automate the creation of personalized email campaigns, draft engaging social media posts, or even write full blog articles. Additionally, it can analyze vast amounts of data to predict consumer behavior, helping marketers craft more effective marketing strategies.

One significant real-world application of generative AI in digital marketing is the partnership between Google and Wendy’s to use Barde, Google’s AI chat, to improve drive-thru operations. This system has been trained on thousands of hours of data, including order history and customer interactions, to generate responses that are both accurate and personable.

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Bard’s main function is to take customer orders at the drive-thru, allowing human employees to focus on food preparation and other critical tasks. Not only has this resulted in increased efficiency, but it also improved customer experience, thanks to Bard’s ability to offer personalized menu suggestions based on previous orders or popular items.

What makes Bard stand out is not just its technical capabilities, but also the human-like touch it brings to customer interactions. The AI has been designed and trained to understand and respond to a wide range of accents, dialects, and speech patterns, demonstrating a level of empathy and understanding often absent from AI interactions.

This example showcases the potential of generative AI in digital marketing–not just in automating tasks and personalizing experiences, but also in enhancing customer interactions with a human-like touch. Despite being an AI, Bard successfully creates a more personalized and engaging customer experience, embodying the perfect blend of AI capabilities and human empathy.

Related: Learn more about how Google is using generative AI in search results here.

The importance of the human touch in AI-driven digital marketing

While generative AI provides a multitude of benefits, it’s important to remember that it is not a silver bullet. The human touch remains essential for digital marketing success. AI may generate content, but humans are needed to guide its direction, provide creative insight, and ensure the final output resonates with the target audience. After all, human emotions, creativity, and intuition cannot be entirely replicated by AI.

Entsprechend an article from the Marketing Insider Group, there are several key reasons why the human touch is critical in marketing:

1. Builds trust

Genuine human interactions create a sense of trust and reliability. While AI can provide facts and figures, it’s the human touch that can convey authenticity and passion, which are essential for building brand trust.

2. Creates an emotional connection

Humans are emotional beings, and it is this ability to feel and evoke emotions that adds an indispensable element to marketing. AI, as advanced as it might be, still lacks the ability to genuinely feel emotions and respond accordingly.

3. Helps to understand context

While AI is getting better at understanding context, it still struggles in complex situations or when dealing with subtle nuances. Human marketers can understand context better, enabling them to create content and messaging that truly resonates.

4. Ethical considerations

There are numerous ethical considerations in marketing, from data privacy to truthful advertising. Human oversight is necessary to ensure that AI-driven marketing adheres to ethical standards and regulations.

The key takeaway

While AI has a crucial role to play in digital marketing, it should be viewed as a tool to augment human creativity, intuition, and experience, not as a replacement for these uniquely human attributes. By combining the scalability and efficiency of AI with the creativity and empathy of human marketers, businesses can create powerful marketing strategies that resonate on a deeply human level.

Best practices for using generative AI in digital marketing (with a human touch)

To fully harness the power of generative AI while maintaining a human touch, marketers should adopt several key practices. These include training the AI on high-quality data, reviewing and refining AI-generated content, and regularly updating the AI model based on changing consumer behaviors and market trends. The ultimate goal should be a symbiotic relationship where AI and human expertise complement each other.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has recently published a report that provides insights into the best practices for effectively integrating AI and human expertise in digital marketing. In the report, they elaborate on the following key points:

1. Use high-quality data

Quality data is the backbone of effective AI. This means ensuring that the data used to train the AI is not only extensive but also accurate, relevant, and free from bias. It is the marketer’s responsibility to procure, manage, and maintain this data.

Zero and first-party data are your best bets for accurate customer data.

2. Continually review and refine

AI is not a set-it-and-forget-it tool. Marketers should be continuously reviewing and refining AI outputs. This includes checking the content for accuracy, relevance, and appropriateness, and making adjustments as needed.

3. Update AI models regularly

The digital marketing landscape is dynamic, with consumer behavior and market trends changing regularly. Therefore, AI models should be updated frequently to reflect these changes and to ensure the AI remains effective.

4. Consider the ethical implications

Marketers should always consider the ethical implications of AI use, such as data privacy and transparency. This involves being clear with consumers about how their data is being used and ensuring that all AI-driven marketing practices comply with relevant laws and regulations.

Cookie banners can communicate how data is being used.

5. Collaborate

The ultimate goal should be to foster a collaborative relationship between AI and human marketers. This means recognizing the strengths and limitations of both and leveraging them in a way that maximizes the benefits. AI can handle data analysis and (some) content generation, while humans can provide creative insight, emotional intelligence, and ethical oversight.

By following these best practices, marketers can effectively integrate AI into their digital marketing strategies while still maintaining a crucial human touch. It’s not about choosing AI over humans or vice versa, but about finding the right balance to deliver the best results.

Generative AI + human expertise = potential for marketing greatness

The future of digital marketing is set to be significantly influenced by generative AI. With its unparalleled capacity to analyze vast amounts of data, craft engaging content, offer personalized user experiences, and streamline repetitive tasks, AI’s potential for scale and efficiency is undeniable.

Yet, as our reliance on AI grows, it does not render the human touch redundant. On the contrary, the human element becomes even more crucial. As we’ve seen, building trust, fostering emotional connections, understanding complex contexts, and ensuring ethical considerations–these are all deeply human aspects that AI, in its current state, cannot fully replicate.

AI might be the tool that generates content, but it’s the human marketer who guides its direction, provides the creative insight, and ensures the final output truly resonates with the target audience. This delicate balance between AI’s capabilities and human creativity and empathy is the key to unlocking new levels of success in digital marketing.

Here are the best practices for using generative AI in digital marketing responsibly:

1. Use high-quality data
2. Continually review and refine
3. Update AI models regularly
4. Consider the ethical implications
5. Collaborate

As we look to the future, the challenge for digital marketers will be not just to use AI as a tool, but to foster a symbiotic relationship where AI and human expertise complement each other. In this way, marketers can leverage the power of AI while ensuring their strategies and communications remain authentic, ethical, and deeply human. The promise of this future is one of unprecedented opportunities, unlocked by the harmonious blend of AI capabilities and the irreplaceable human touch.

Want more AI resources? We’ve got you covered: