The key to a successfully accomplished Search Marketing Engine Campaign is a well executed management strategy and a good understanding about the project. Whether your PPC Search Engine Advertising campaigns are managed in house or by any notified agency, you will receive some type of reporting regularly. The reporting is important not only for the management team, but also for the managers themselves, as it offers an overview of performance that's they are paying for.

There are many reporting styles for such internet marketing campaigns. The reports can be presented in any format or using any software tool like PowerPoint, Word, or Excel. However, the format is not that important but the metrics in the report that are very much important.

Here are the key metrics that appear in any PPC report:

• Key Performance Indicators

A PPC Search Engine Advertising campaign should not be started before the goals and the KPI's are identified for the project. A good report begins with a restatement of the campaign goals and key metrics, along with a summary of performance against KPIs during the entire reporting period.

• Impressions and Clicks

Impressions and clicks are the foundation of the entire campaign. Even if the campaign goal isn't to drive click traffic, as an advertiser you're most likely to be charged for the click, so this data should be included in your reports. Many online advertisers however don't focus on CTR much, because a click doesn't always equate to a conversion. But according to Google, CTR is the most important factor in quality score. Therefore, CTR is an important metric that should also be a part of the reporting.

• Conversions

Most advertisers are normally looking for the visitor to take some action on their websites, whether it's a purchase, a lead form fill, an email Signup, or even a view of a key page such as a product evaluation sheet. Focusing only to direct traffic is seen very rarely. So, the conversions are indeed the most important metric in a report. Data should be presented for each conversion type, along with ROI measurements such as cost per conversion or return on ad spent.

• Test Data

The ability to test ad copy, keywords, and landing pages is one of the vital elements of the PPC campaign. Many marketing strategies offer a unique and simple testing ability. If your manager is not running several tests each month, make it a priority to start testing immediately as the gain is invaluable. Nevertheless, a test data should always be included in every PPC report as it not keeps management and clients aware of current tests but also keep you informed about other marketing channels.

• Problems and Red Flags

Ignoring the problems or issues is never a good idea and can pay you great loss at the end. The PPC manager should use reports to alert you for any metric that have gone wrong at. Surely, every problem should be presented with a recommendation for improvement in the report. Apart from this, all the reasons for the decrease in performance should be outlined, and corrective action steps should be clearly stated.

• Trends and Analysis

A good PPC report will show data trends, including all the ups and downs that may have altered the results. Including such parameters in the report is very beneficial.

• Details on Key Initiatives or Tactics

PPC has been an ever changing medium as new features are added to it regularly. The new advertisers are eager to test new features and improve their performance from the old tried and tested methods. So, such information should also be included in a PPC report.

Certainly, a good report will also include analysis of the data and will tell the story behind the actual PPC Search Engine Advertising campaign.