A monthly PPC dashboard with 12 indicators a business owner should track (and those you can ignore)

The principle: few indicators, well chosen

A dashboard with 50 numbers hides the essential. A business owner needs to know: how much was spent, what it brought, with what margin, whether quality is good and whether there are risks. Twelve indicators, on one page, with change versus last month and the same month last year, are enough.

The dashboard’s goal is to decide, not impress.

Group 1: business (five indicators)

1) Total spend (ads, fees, tools). 2) Real enquiries or sales (from your CRM or shop, not just the platform). 3) Revenue attributed to ads. 4) Gross margin after returns. 5) Cost per new customer or per sale, to compare with the ceiling your margin supports.

If the platform says 100 and the shop says 70, show both and explain the difference (attribution, returns, offline sales).

Group 2: quality (four indicators)

6) Qualified lead rate (the sales team confirms). 7) Close rate by source. 8) Return or cancellation rate. 9) First response time to a contact. These show whether volume is good or just browsers, and whether operations capture what ads bring.

An excellent cost per lead with 1% close is worse than an average cost with 10% close.

Group 3: control (three indicators)

10) Impression share lost to budget in main campaigns (shows whether you’re limited). 11) Percentage of spend on irrelevant search terms (weekly review, especially with AI Max). 12) List of active AI features and last review date (image extraction, sourced videos, automatic text).

These three protect you from waste and from claims you didn’t approve.

If an indicator doesn't change a decision, take it off the dashboard.

Metrics that changed in 2026: mark the dates

Video engagement began requiring 10 seconds on 10 October, according to PPC News Feed, and may fall without worse performance. Demand Gen lookalikes became suggestions in March, according to PPC Land, and Demand Gen requires 5 dollars a day since 1 April. Since 17 August, target strategies follow targets more closely.

In the dashboard, mark these dates so as not to draw wrong conclusions when comparing periods.

Indicators you can ignore

Impressions, clicks and CTR alone; ad scores; “conversions” counting button clicks; and global sector averages as targets. They’re useful for the manager to diagnose, not for the owner to decide. A global benchmark of 5.42 dollars CPC doesn’t tell you whether your CPC in Portugal is good: margin does.

If an indicator doesn’t change a decision, take it off the dashboard.

Practical format: one page, three colours

A sheet with the 12 indicators in rows and, in columns, the month’s value, the previous month, the same month last year and the acceptable limit. Colour green, yellow or red. At the bottom, three lines: what changed, what we decided, what we ask of the client. Update on the same day every month.

Simple, consistent and comparable.

Questions for your manager

Do I receive a one-page dashboard with these 12 indicators? Are platform change dates marked? Does business data come from our CRM or shop? Who decides what is green, yellow and red? When do we review?

If you want to set up a monthly PPC dashboard for your company, with the right indicators and clear limits, I can help create the template.

An illustrative dashboard example for an online shop

An online shop fills in, in November: spend 4,200 euros; real sales 1,050 (platform says 1,320); margin after returns 11,900 euros; cost per new customer 31 euros (ceiling 45); return rate 14% (was 11%); message response time 3 hours; impression share lost to budget 22%; irrelevant terms 6% of spend; AI features reviewed on 3 November. The example is hypothetical. The reading is quick: cost per customer within ceiling, returns rising, and budget limiting.

In five minutes, the owner knows where to act.

Summary in three lines

Twelve indicators in three groups (business, quality, control) are enough. Show real revenue and sales, mark the dates of definition changes and take off the dashboard what doesn’t change a decision.

Common mistakes when building the dashboard

Showing only platform data; mixing periods without warning; forgetting the cost of fees and tools; having no acceptable limits; updating irregularly; and leaving the dashboard only in the manager’s hands. A dashboard the owner can’t read is useless. Ask the manager to explain it in a twenty-minute meeting.

Frequently asked questions

Sources consulted

Keep reading

• Independent PPC audit: what to ask, which deliverables to demand and how to use the report to decide
• Meetings with your PPC manager: a 45-minute monthly agenda, the right questions and how to record decisions
• Who owns your ad accounts? How to secure ownership and access in Meta, Google, Merchant Center and Analytics