Impression Share (IS) reveals how often your ads show relative to how often they could.
It is one of the most diagnostic metrics in Google Ads.
Impression Share Metrics Explained
Search Impression Share: Out of all searches you were eligible for, what % showed your ad?
IS Lost (Budget): % of eligible impressions lost because daily budget ran out.
Fix: Increase budget or reduce spend on low-value keywords.
IS Lost (Rank): % of eligible impressions lost because ad rank was too low.
Fix: Improve Quality Score or increase bids.
Absolute Top IS: % of impressions where your ad was in position 1 (above all ads).
Top IS: % of impressions where your ad showed above organic results.
Diagnosing IS Problems
High IS Lost Budget (>30%): Your ads are being shown less because budget runs out.
Impact: You're missing peak-demand hours. Revenue loss.
Solution: Increase budget, or reduce bids on low-priority keywords to extend budget.
High IS Lost Rank (>20%): Ads not competitive enough to show.
Impact: Lower-quality searches win your placements.
Solution: Improve Quality Score (ad relevance, landing page), or increase bids.
IS Targets by Campaign Type
Brand campaigns: Target 90%+ IS. You should dominate your own brand.
Competitor campaigns: 40-60% IS is often sufficient.
Non-brand: 50-70% IS. Above this level shows diminishing returns in most accounts.
Impression Share analysis and Google Ads campaign optimization: yositeup.com
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