What Your Google Ads Report Should Actually Tell You (And What Most Agencies Leave Out)

Who this is for: eCommerce founders and marketing leaders spending $10K to $100K+ per month on Google Ads who get monthly reports full of impressions and click-through rates but can never answer one simple question: is this actually making me money?

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Key Takeaways

• Most agency reports are built around activity metrics (impressions, clicks, CTR) that tell you what happened but not whether it was worth it

• Your report should connect ad spend directly to revenue by campaign, profit margin by product category, and customer acquisition cost by channel

• If your report shows ROAS based on gross revenue instead of actual margin, your "profitable" campaigns might be losing money

• The five data points below are the difference between a report that looks good and one that helps you make decisions

• Ask your agency the specific questions at the end of this post during your next call, and pay attention to how they respond

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"We don't feel like we have a clear direction. Decisions aren't being made based on data."

That's a direct quote from an eCommerce founder spending over $40K a month on Google Ads. They had an agency. They had monthly reports. They had calls on the calendar. And they still couldn't tell you whether their ad spend was actually generating profit or just generating activity.

If that sounds familiar, you're not alone. And the problem usually isn't that your agency is bad at running ads. The problem is that the report they send you every month was built to show effort, not outcomes.

What a Typical Agency Report Includes (And Why It Looks Fine on the Surface)

Most Google Ads reports from agencies follow the same template. You'll see impressions, clicks, click-through rate, cost per click, and maybe total conversions. If they're a little more sophisticated, you'll get a ROAS number and some campaign-level breakdowns.

On the surface, this looks like real data. The numbers go up, the charts look clean, and there's usually a summary paragraph at the top that says something like "strong performance this month with continued optimization across key campaigns."

Here's the issue: none of that tells you whether you made money.

Impressions tell you how many people saw your ad. Clicks tell you how many people visited your site. CTR tells you the ratio between those two numbers. But none of those metrics connect to the thing you actually care about, which is whether the revenue coming in is greater than the money going out, and by how much.

A report full of activity metrics can look great while your margins shrink. I've seen this a hundred times. The ROAS looks healthy, the clicks are up, and the founder is still wondering why their bank account doesn't reflect the "strong performance" they keep hearing about.

5 Data Points Your Google Ads Report Should Include (But Probably Doesn't)

This is where most agency reports fall short. Not because the data doesn't exist, but because pulling it requires more work and, honestly, creates more accountability.

1. Revenue by Campaign, Tied to Actual Sales Data

Your report should show you exactly how much revenue each campaign generated, and that number should come from your store's actual sales data (Shopify, WooCommerce, your ERP), not just Google's conversion tracking. Google Ads conversion values and your real revenue almost never match perfectly. The gap between those two numbers matters, and your agency should be able to explain it.

If your report only shows "conversion value" from the Google Ads dashboard without reconciling it against real sales, you're making decisions based on estimates.

2. Profit Margin by Product Category

This is the one that changes everything. A campaign driving $50,000 in revenue on products with 20% margins is worth less than a campaign driving $25,000 in revenue on products with 60% margins. But if your report only shows top-line revenue, those two campaigns look like a 2:1 difference in performance.

Your agency needs access to your margin data (or at least your product category margins) to report on this. If they've never asked for it, that's a red flag worth paying attention to.

3. Customer Acquisition Cost by Channel

Not blended CAC across all your marketing. CAC broken out by Google Ads specifically, and ideally by campaign type within Google Ads. Your branded search CAC, your non-branded search CAC, your Shopping CAC, and your Performance Max CAC are four very different numbers. Blending them together hides where you're overpaying.

For context, if you're spending $50K per month on Google Ads and acquiring 500 new customers, your blended CAC is $100. But if 300 of those customers came from branded search (people who already knew you) and only 200 came from prospecting campaigns, your actual new-customer CAC from prospecting is $175 or higher. That's a very different story.

4. ROAS Calculated Against Margin, Not Just Revenue

This is probably the single most misleading metric in eCommerce advertising. A 4x ROAS sounds excellent. But if your average margin is 30%, that 4x ROAS on $100 in spend means you generated $400 in revenue and kept $120. After your ad spend, you're left with $20 in actual profit.

Now factor in fulfillment, returns, and overhead. That "profitable" campaign might be underwater.

Your report should show margin-adjusted ROAS (sometimes called POAS, profit on ad spend) alongside the standard number. If your agency is only showing revenue-based ROAS, you can't tell which campaigns are actually making money and which ones are just moving product at a loss.

5. New Customer vs. Returning Customer Revenue Split

If 60% of your Google Ads revenue is coming from existing customers who would have bought anyway, your report is inflating performance. This happens constantly with branded search and remarketing campaigns. The numbers look good because you're paying to capture demand that already existed.

Your agency should be able to show you what percentage of ad-driven revenue comes from first-time buyers versus repeat customers. Without that split, you can't evaluate whether your ad spend is growing the business or just taxing your existing customer base.

How to Tell If Your Agency Is Reporting on Inputs vs. Outcomes

There's a simple test. Look at your last three monthly reports and ask yourself: could I use this information to make a business decision?

Not "is my CTR up?" That's interesting but it doesn't tell you what to do.

A report built around outcomes lets you say: "Campaign X is generating the highest profit per customer, so we should shift budget there." Or: "Our Shopping campaigns have a strong ROAS on revenue but they're mostly driving low-margin products, so the real return is half what it looks like."

If your reports mostly tell you what your agency did (tested new headlines, adjusted bids, launched new campaigns) without connecting those actions to business results, you're getting an activity report dressed up as a performance report.

Here are some signs you're getting an input-focused report:

• Lots of data about impressions, clicks, and CTR but no connection to revenue by campaign

• ROAS shown without any reference to margins or profitability

• "Conversion" totals that don't distinguish between a $20 order and a $2,000 order

• No breakdown of new vs. returning customers

• Summary sections that focus on what the agency did rather than what the account produced

• Month-over-month comparisons that highlight percentage improvements without absolute numbers (a 50% increase in conversions sounds great until you realize it went from 2 to 3)

What to Ask Your Agency in Your Next Call

You don't need to accuse anyone of anything. Just ask these questions directly and see what you get back.

"Can you show me revenue by campaign reconciled against our actual store data?" If they can only show Google's reported conversion value, ask them to explain the gap. If they don't know there is a gap, that's your answer.

"What's our CAC for new customers from non-branded campaigns specifically?" If they give you a blended number that includes branded search, push back. You need to know what it costs to acquire someone who didn't already know your name.

"Do you have our product margins factored into ROAS calculations?" If they've never asked for your margin data, they can't be reporting on profitability. Period.

"What percentage of our Google Ads revenue is coming from returning customers?" If they don't know, or if the answer is above 50% and your budget is weighted toward remarketing and branded search, you might be paying for conversions that would have happened anyway.

"If we needed to cut 20% of our budget tomorrow, which campaigns would you cut and why?" This is the one that separates a strategic partner from a campaign manager. An agency that understands your margins, your CAC targets, and your customer acquisition funnel can answer this immediately. An agency that's optimizing for surface-level ROAS will struggle with it.

The answers themselves matter, but so does how quickly and specifically your agency can respond. If they need to "get back to you" on most of these, the data isn't at their fingertips, which means it isn't driving their day-to-day decisions on your account.

Start With the Audit

If you read this and realized your reports are missing most of these data points, you've got two options. You can bring these questions to your next agency call and see what happens. Or you can get a second set of eyes on your account first.

We offer a free Google Ads audit that looks at exactly what's covered above: where your spend is going, what it's actually returning, and where the gaps are between what your reports show and what's really happening. No commitment, no pitch deck. Just a clear picture of your account.

[Link to free ads audit]

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FAQ

What should my Google Ads report include?

Your Google Ads report should include revenue by campaign tied to actual store sales data, profit margin by product category, customer acquisition cost broken out by channel and campaign type, margin-adjusted ROAS (not just revenue-based), and a split between new and returning customer revenue. Most agency reports stop at impressions, clicks, and top-line ROAS.

How do I know if my Google Ads agency is doing a good job?

Ask whether they can connect your ad spend to actual profitability, not just revenue. A good agency will have your margin data, report on new-customer CAC separately from blended CAC, and be able to tell you immediately which campaigns they'd cut if budget dropped 20%. If they can answer those questions without hesitation, they're managing to outcomes.

What's the difference between ROAS and profit on ad spend?

ROAS (return on ad spend) measures total revenue generated per dollar spent on ads. Profit on ad spend (POAS) factors in your actual product margins, so it measures real profit per dollar spent. A 4x ROAS on a product with 25% margins means you're only making $1 in gross profit per $1 spent, before accounting for fulfillment and overhead. POAS gives you the number that actually matters.

Why don't agencies report on profit margins?

Reporting on margins requires the agency to get access to your product cost data, which adds complexity and creates accountability. If an agency reports on revenue, a growing revenue number looks like success. If they report on margins, some of that revenue might turn out to be unprofitable, and that's a harder conversation to have.

How much should I be spending on Google Ads for eCommerce?

There's no universal number, but most eCommerce brands we work with are spending between $10K and $100K+ per month. What matters more than the total spend is whether you can see exactly what that spend is producing at the margin level. $30K per month generating $15K in gross profit is a very different situation than $30K generating $5K, even if the revenue numbers look similar.