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    What is impression share in Google Ads?

    Reviewed by Taylor Moses, Co-Founder, Strategy & Web·

    Direct Answer

    Impression share (IS) is the percentage of times your ad showed when it was eligible to show. 100% means your ad shows every time it could; 50% means you missed half the eligible auctions. The two reasons IS drops: budget (rank IS lost to budget) and ad rank (lost to rank). Both are diagnosable in the Google Ads console.

    Short version

    “Impression share is the percentage of times your ad showed when eligible. Below one hundred percent you are losing impressions to budget or ad rank.”

    Budget loss = raise budget or pause low performers. Ad rank loss = improve quality score, ad relevance, or bid.

    Brand campaigns should run at 95%+ IS — anyone competing on your brand name is stealing high-intent traffic.

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