What is Impression Share (IS)?

Impression share (IS) is a metric used in digital advertising to show the percentage of impressions your ads have received out of the total number of impressions they were eligible to get. It gives advertisers insight into how often their ads are being shown in comparison to their potential exposure.

How Impression Share Works

Imagine running an online ad campaign. Each time someone searches for a keyword related to your campaign or visits a site where your ad could be displayed, there's a potential for your ad to earn an impression. Impression share indicates how many of these potential impressions your ad actually got.

For instance, if there were 100 possible impressions for your ad, but it only appeared 75 times, your impression share would be 75%.

How to Calculate Impression Share

Impression share is calculated using the following formula:

• Impression Share (IS)=(Actual Impressions ÷ Total Eligible Impressions)×100

Using the earlier example:

• IS=(75 ÷ 100)×100=75%

How to Optimize Impression Share

Improving your impression share can increase the visibility of your ads, which is particularly vital for SaaS businesses aiming to capture a larger portion of their target market. Here are some strategies to optimize it:

1. Increase Your Budget: If your ads aren't displaying because of budget constraints, consider increasing your daily or campaign budget.
2. Refine Your Keywords: For search campaigns, ensure you're bidding on relevant and high-performing keywords. Avoid overly broad terms that may not be as effective.
3. Improve Ad Quality: Platforms like Google Ads use ad quality to determine placement. Ensure your ads are relevant, utilize compelling copy, and direct users to a useful landing page.
4. Adjust Bids: If your ads aren't showing often enough, consider increasing your bid amounts for specific keywords or placements.
5. Target Optimal Times and Locations: Analyze when and where your ads perform best and adjust settings to target those peak times and locations.
6. Review Negative Keywords: Ensure that negative keywords aren't overly restrictive or inadvertently blocking valuable traffic.

Conclusion

Impression share is a crucial metric for understanding the visibility of your ads in relation to their potential. For SaaS businesses, where the competition for digital visibility can be fierce, maintaining a high impression share can be the difference between a user discovering your solution or a competitor's. By actively monitoring and optimizing impression share, businesses can ensure they're making the most of their digital advertising opportunities.