PPC Report Template: What Every Client Google Ads Report Should Show

Most Google Ads reports fail in the same way. They arrive as a wall of clicks, impressions, CTR and average CPC, and the client finishes reading without an answer to the only two questions they had: is the money working, and what happens next? A good PPC report template fixes that by deciding, before any data is pulled, which client question each section answers.

This guide walks through a client Google Ads report section by section, from the short summary at the top to the changes made and the plan for next month. It uses Google's own definitions for the metrics clients most often misread, such as lost impression share, and keeps the notes on AI Max and Performance Max to what Google documents. Use it to rebuild a report you already send, or as the skeleton for the white label Google Ads reports you send every month.

What should a PPC report template include?

A PPC report template should include eight sections, each answering one client question: a summary against goal, a KPI scorecard, campaign performance, search terms and wasted spend, impression share, device and day of week, notes on automated campaigns, and the changes made with next steps.

Order matters as much as content. Clients read the first page closely and skim the rest, so everything that decides whether they are happy goes first, and the diagnostic detail that supports it comes after. The table below is the skeleton. The sections that follow explain what belongs in each part.

Keep the same order every month. When the structure never moves, the client learns where to look, and a change in a number stands out instead of getting lost in a new layout. The same order also carries over well if the client runs Facebook and Instagram campaigns and needs a Meta ads client report beside this one.

How should a Google Ads report open?

A Google Ads report should open with a short written summary that compares the period's results with the client's goal and says what you will do about it. Two to four sentences is enough: what the goal was, where the account landed, the main reason, and the next action.

Compare two openings for the same month. The first says clicks went up and CTR improved. The second says the client asked for leads under a set cost, names how many arrived and at what cost, and explains that the shortfall came from one paused campaign that is now live again. Only the second tells a busy client whether the month went well. If you write these summaries for many accounts, start from a draft of the period and edit it with the context only you have, such as a sale the client ran or a budget change they approved mid-month.

Which KPIs belong in the scorecard?

The scorecard should hold four numbers: spend, conversions, cost per acquisition (CPA) and return on ad spend (ROAS), each shown against its target and the previous period.

Leave the vanity layer out of this row. Impressions, clicks and CTR explain why the four numbers moved, so they belong further down. For lead generation accounts CPA is usually the number that matters; for ecommerce accounts it is ROAS, and it helps to explain how return on ad spend works the first time it appears, since many clients read it as profit.

Two rules keep the scorecard honest. First, show the target next to every number, because a CPA means nothing until the client sees what it was meant to be. Second, use the same conversion definition every month. If you change which conversion actions count, say so in the report, or a jump in conversions will look like growth when it is really a definition change.

How do you show campaigns, search terms and wasted spend?

Show campaign performance as a table sorted by spend, then show the search terms behind it, including the ones that cost money without converting.

Sorting by spend puts the campaigns that matter most to the budget at the top, and adding CPA or ROAS lets the client see which ones pay their way. Ad group detail is useful to the account manager but usually too granular for the client, so keep it in an appendix or a live dashboard.

The search terms section is where a PPC report earns trust. List the terms that drove conversions, then the terms that took clicks and spend without converting. That second list is wasted spend, and clients respond to it far better when it sits next to the action you took: the negative keywords you added and the reason for each. Presented this way, a cost cut reads as work done rather than as a problem the client spotted first.

How should you explain lost impression share?

Impression share tells the client how much of the available demand their ads captured, and lost impression share explains why the rest was missed: budget or rank.

Google defines Search impression share as the impressions you received on the Search Network divided by the estimated number you were eligible to receive. Search lost IS (budget) is the percentage of time ads were not shown because of insufficient budget, and Search lost IS (rank) is the percentage of time they were not shown because of poor Ad Rank. The wording is on Google's impression share help page, which also notes that these metrics take a day or two to update, so the last days of a period can still shift.

The split matters because the two problems have different fixes, and the report is where you make the case for the right one.

1. High lost IS (budget): the campaign runs out of money. If its CPA or ROAS is on target, this is the evidence for a budget increase.
2. High lost IS (rank): the ads lose auctions. The fix is bids, ad quality and relevance, and more budget alone is unlikely to help.
3. High impression share, little lost: the campaign already captures most of the demand it is eligible for, so growth has to come from new keywords or new campaigns.

What do device and day of week sections add?

Device and day of week breakdowns show when and where conversions happen, which is the evidence behind bid adjustments and ad schedules.

Keep both short: conversions and CPA by device, and the same by weekday. The point is not the chart but the decision it supports. If mobile clicks are cheap but rarely convert, or weekend spend seldom produces a lead, say so and say what you changed. If nothing stands out, one sentence saying the pattern is stable is enough, and it saves the client a page.

How do you report AI Max and Performance Max?

Report automated campaigns by showing what the automation actually matched and where it spent, using the reports Google provides for each campaign type.

For Search campaigns with AI Max turned on, Google's help center describes an AI Max match type label in the search terms report and a "Search terms and ad combinations" view that lists the search terms alongside the headlines and landing pages that served. Google's AI Max reporting guide also recommends waiting at least two weeks after enabling AI Max before making changes such as adding negative keywords. Tell clients that early, so the first fortnight is not over-read.

For Performance Max, Google offers a search terms report and a channel performance report that shows how the campaign delivered across Google's channels. Google's Performance Max search terms page says irrelevant terms can be added as negative keywords. In the client report a short note is usually enough: which search themes drove conversions, which you excluded, and which channels took most of the spend.

How should a PPC report end?

A PPC report should end with the changes you made this period, what they did, and two or three specific next steps tied to numbers earlier in the report.

Write the changes as a short log: date, change, reason. Then the next steps. "Raise the brand campaign budget because it lost impression share to budget at an on-target CPA" is a plan; "continue optimising" is not. This is the part that turns a PPC report template from a data dump into evidence of work, and it is what the client should be able to repeat to their own boss.

If you rebuild this report by hand each month, most of the time goes on the data sections rather than the thinking. In AgencyReportr, a marketing agency reporting tool, the Google Ads reporting software covers campaigns, ad groups, search terms, conversions, devices, day of week, impression share, wasted spend and diagnostics, so most sections above fill from the connected account. Each report opens with an AI-written summary of the period, which gives you a first draft of the summary section to edit.

Delivery is the last piece. Reports carry your logo, colors and custom domain as branded client reports, and scheduled PDF report emails go out on a weekly or monthly schedule, so the client gets the same structure on the same rhythm without anyone rebuilding slides.

PPC Report Template FAQ

What is a PPC report template?

A fixed structure for a paid search client report that decides which question each section answers. A good one opens with a summary against goal, then covers the KPI scorecard, campaigns, search terms and wasted spend, impression share, device and day of week, automated campaigns, and the changes made with next steps.

Which metrics should a client Google Ads report show first?

Spend, conversions, cost per acquisition and return on ad spend, each against the agreed target and the previous period. Clicks, impressions and CTR explain why those numbers moved, so they belong further down the report.

What is the difference between lost impression share for budget and for rank?

Search lost IS (budget) is the percentage of time ads did not show because the budget ran out. Search lost IS (rank) is the percentage of time they did not show because of poor Ad Rank. Budget losses point to a budget decision, while rank losses point to bids, quality and ad relevance.

How do you show wasted spend in a PPC report?

List the search terms that took clicks and spend without converting, then show the negative keywords you added in response. Paired with the action you took, wasted spend reads as work done rather than as a problem the client found on their own.

How often should you send a PPC report to clients?

Monthly suits most accounts, with a weekly report for high-spend or fast-moving ones. Whatever the frequency, keep the same structure every time so the client learns where to look and real changes stand out.