Think you know how your Google Ads campaigns are performing? Think again.

The invisible cost of not knowing where you stand

You’re hitting your KPIs. Your ROAS looks solid. CPCs are under control. Everything in your Google Ads dashboard says performance is… fine.

But here’s the problem: You don’t actually know how you’re performing. Not really.

Why? Because Google Ads tells you what you’re doing, but not how you’re doing compared to the rest of the market.

The truth is, even top-tier marketing teams often don’t know whether their search performance is good enough. Not because they lack data, but because they lack context. Google Ads shows what you’re doing. But it doesn’t tell you how you compare to your competition, or what you’re missing out on.

Without that external benchmark, marketers are left guessing:

• Are we spending efficiently?
• Is our share of voice shrinking?
• Are competitors infringing on our brand?

And guesswork is costly. Missed revenue, wasted spend, and eroded brand value happen slowly and quietly until suddenly, they’re not so quiet anymore.

Why internal metrics aren’t telling you the full story

The PPC world has changed. Search behavior is evolving fast. Search results are increasingly powered by AI. Competitors can outbid you, infringe on your brand, or shift strategies without warning. 

While internal metrics like impression share or auction insights can provide some perspective, they’re limited. As this blog on double serving explains, Google’s auction insights can be skewed when a single advertiser appears multiple times under different accounts or brands, distorting your view of the competitive landscape.

You might be running great campaigns by traditional metrics, but still falling behind where it matters.

That’s because performance in a silo is no longer enough.

You might think your Google Ads are performing well. But you need to ask yourself: are they really?

What you can do right now to regain clarity

Before investing in any new tools, there are a few immediate steps you can take to get better visibility and control:

1. Audit your brand term visibility

Open up your Google Ads auction insights report. Who else is showing up for your brand terms? 

You might find competitors or resellers capitalizing on your reputation and siphoning traffic that should be yours. You’re likely losing clicks and revenue.

2. Monitor impression share trends weekly

Set up reports to track impression share across top campaigns. A drop in impression share might signal aggressive competitor activity or an urgent bidding issue. 

But remember, even this metric can be misleading, especially if competitors are using tactics like double serving that distort your view of the auction. 

3. Look closely at match types and quality

Refine your keyword targeting, especially if you’re seeing lower quality or irrelevant queries. These can quietly eat up budget.

4. Track your CPC and ROAS over time

Compare cost-per-click and return on ad spend across key campaigns and timeframes. It can help you spot declining efficiency, but without market context, you won’t know if your results are improving or falling behind competitors.

These steps will highlight issues that may be hiding in plain sight, but you’re still working with limited intel. You know what’s happening in your account, but not what’s happening around you. That’s where most search strategies fall short.

These tactics give you clues. But they won’t give you the ability to see how your performance compares to the rest of your market.

We could mention comparing CPCs and ROAS over time to evaluate your spend efficiency, but again it won’t show if you’re impacted more than other competitors

To give digital advertisers the clarity they’ve been missing, Adthena created the Search Performance Score (SPS): one clear, actionable metric that benchmarks your Google Ads performance based on real market conditions.

This isn’t just another metric. It’s a strategic overview; a complete scorecard that reveals your competitive position and guides you to take appropriate action.

Built on Adthena’s proprietary, market-leading search intelligence and generative AI-powered insights, the SPS breaks performance into three critical areas:

• Market exposure: Are your ads showing up where they should be? Are you capturing your fair share of visibility in your category?
• Campaign efficiency: Are your budgets working as hard as they can or is your spend going to waste?
• Brand coverage: Are competitors hijacking your brand terms? Are you truly protecting your name and traffic?

Together, these three dimensions generate a performance score out of 360, each of them contributing 120. And if your score dips? SPS explains why, what changed, and where to focus next, all within your Adthena dashboard.

You can even dive deeper within each part of the Score to see detailed performance breakdowns. Whether you’re in a strategic or hands-on role, your entire team gains clarity and direction. 

And if your performance changes? The Score tells you why with key context and suggestions to improve your strategy.

Whether you’re managing dozens of campaigns or millions in budget, SPS gives you the clarity to measure progress, spot opportunities, prove impact, and make faster decisions that drive ROI.

Action, not assumptions

Here’s how SPS works in practice:

• Score dips overnight? SPS flags a drop in Brand Coverage and highlights that a competitor has started bidding on your brand.
• Not sure why efficiency is down? SPS evaluates if your spend is proportionally higher than your click share 
• Looking for quick wins? SPS identifies categories with the most opportunity to improve your score.

It’s your new performance compass showing you where to look, what’s changed, and how to move forward.

Let’s be honest: Google Ads management is more complex, competitive, and chaotic than ever. Marketers are under pressure to deliver results with limited visibility into what’s really driving outcomes.

With the Search Performance Score, you finally get:

• A daily, weekly, and monthly high-level view of how you’re really performing.
• Clarity on what’s working, what’s not, and where to focus your team.
• Email summaries sent directly to your inbox.
• The confidence to act fast and back your strategy with real intelligence.

From score to strategy

Your Search Performance Score can be your roadmap to a smarter, more effective strategy. 

By tracking your score over time, you can clearly see the impact of your optimizations. Use it to quickly assess where performance is lagging, where to reallocate budget, and how to boost ROI. 

When it’s time to share results, SPS makes it easy to communicate your team’s success with one simple, credible benchmark that stakeholders can instantly understand.

It’s not just about reporting. It’s about control.

Book a demo here so you can use SPS to take control of your campaigns and drive measurable results now.