Understanding Search Impression Share in Google Ads (and Why It Matters for Small Businesses)

If you're a small business owner running Google Ads - or even if you have someone running them for you - you’ve probably heard of the term “impressions.” But have you heard of Search Impression Share? And more importantly, do you know what it means and how it impacts your ads?

If you answered no to either of those questions, this is the blog post for you. In this guide, I’ll walk you through everything you need to know about Search Impression Share, including:

• What it is (with easy-to-understand examples)
• Why it matters for your small business
• What causes low Search Impression Share
• How you can improve it to get better results from your Google Ads campaigns

So, get comfy, and let’s dive in!

1. What is Search Impression Share?

Think of Search Impression Share as a visibility score for your Google Ads. It tells you how often your ad appears when someone searches for a keyword (or a group of keywords), you’re bidding on - compared to how often it could appear if you had an unlimited budget, perfect ad rank, and no competition.

Here’s a simple analogy: Imagine you’re at a busy networking event. Every time someone mentions your industry; you have a chance to introduce your business. Search Impression Share represents how often you actually get that chance to speak. The more opportunities you have, the more people hear about your business.

The Formula:

Search Impression Share = (Your ad impressions / Total eligible impressions)

A higher percentage means your ad is showing up more often when relevant searches happen.

Let’s break it down with an example:

• Imagine that, on a given Tuesday, 100 people search for the keyword “tree surgeon near me.”
• Your business is bidding on “tree surgeon near me.”
• If everything were perfect - no competition, unlimited budget, high ad rank - you could appear for all 100 searches, which would give you 100% Search Impression Share.
• But in reality, factors like your bid, budget, and Quality Score affect how often your ad actually appears.
• Let’s say you appear in 50 out of the 100 searches. Your Search Impression Share would be 50%.

So, Search Impression Share essentially tells you: Out of all the times your ad could have shown up, how often did it actually appear?

2. Why Should Small Businesses Care About Search Impression Share?

1. Visibility = Opportunity

If your ad isn’t showing, people can’t click on it. Simple as that.

A common concern I hear from small businesses is, “But my cost-per-click is high!” That’s a fair concern, but keep in mind that you only pay when someone clicks - so you need to show up first! This is where keyword selection and bidding strategies come into play.

2. Competitive Insights (Using the Auction Insights Report)

Google Ads provides a report called Auction Insights, which shows your Search Impression Share compared to your competitors. This is incredibly useful because it tells you:

• Who else is bidding on your keywords
• How often their ads appear compared to yours
• Whether they are increasing or decreasing their ad presence over time

By analysing this data, you can reverse engineer what your competitors might be doing. Are they bidding aggressively? Are they outbidding you? Are they dominating at certain times?

3. Budget & Strategy Decisions

If your Search Impression Share is low, it might mean one of two things:

• Your budget is too low, and you’re running out of money before the day ends.
• Your ad rank is too low, and your competitors are winning more auctions than you.

Checking your Lost Impression Share (Budget) and Lost Impression Share (Rank) metrics will help you figure out the possible reason - and then you can take steps to improve it.

3. Impression Share in Action: Real-World Scenarios

Scenario 1: The Local Bakery vs. The Coffee Chain

• A small bakery runs Google Ads for “best cinnamon rolls near me.”
• They check Search Impression Share and see it’s only 10% - meaning their ad shows up just 1 out of every 10 times someone searches for that term.
• Looking at Auction Insights, they realise a national coffee chain has 90% Impression Share, meaning they are dominating the search results.
• Possible solutions? Adjust bidding strategy, increase budget, or refine keywords to target more specific searches like “vegan cinnamon rolls near me.”

Scenario 2: The Boutique Clothing Store with Low Competition

• A boutique selling sustainable fashion runs Google Ads for “ethical clothing UK.”
• Their Search Impression Share is 80% - which sounds great!
• But in Auction Insights, they notice there isn’t much competition so that could mean not a lot of searches.
• Lesson? If the objective is to get more brand awareness, they could experiment with broadening their keyword targeting (e.g., “organic cotton dresses UK”) or increasing their budget slightly to test reaching more searches.

Remember: Search Impression Share is a moving target. It changes based on search trends, budget, and what competitors are doing!

4. What Causes Low Search Impression Share?

1. Budget Limitations (Lost Impression Share Due to Budget)

• If Google Ads is limiting how often your ad appears because of budget constraints, it means you’re running out of money before the day ends.
• Solution: Increase budget (if the campaign is profitable) or adjust bids to focus on high-intent searches.

2. Ad Rank Issues (Lost Impression Share Due to Rank)

• Even if you have budget left, your ad might not be competitive enough to win auctions.
• Solution: Improve Quality Score (better ad relevance, landing page, and expected CTR) or increase bids for key searches.

5. How to Improve Search Impression Share

1. Increase Your Budget (If It Makes Sense)

If your budget is limiting your visibility, consider increasing spend - but only if the campaign is profitable.

2. Adjust Your Bidding Strategy

If you’re using manual CPC, try switching to Target Impression Share bidding to gain more visibility.

3. Refine Your Keyword Targeting

If your keywords are too broad or too expensive, consider targeting more specific, high-intent searches.

4. Improve Ad Quality (Google Rewards Good Ads!)

Google favours relevant, high-quality ads. If you and a competitor bid the same amount, but your ad is more relevant, Google will show your ad more often.

6. Using Search Impression Share for Smart Business Decisions

• If your Search Impression Share is low, check if it’s due to budget limitations or ad rank issues (there are metrics available in the reports that can helps with this).
• If you have high Impression Share but low clicks, check your ad copy first and foremost but also it maybe time to check and see if you need to be targeting different keywords.

Think of Search Impression Share as your visibility score on Google Ads. The higher it is, the more chances you have to attract customers.

One last analogy: If Google Ads is a high street, Search Impression Share tells you how often people walk past your shop. The higher your share, the more people see your business!

So, why not check your Search Impression Share today and see what improvements you can make? Or, why not book a power hour with me to see how I can help you.