10.3 Health Check Frameworks¶
What this page teaches: A health scorecard quickly shows what is healthy, risky, or broken in the account.
Why this matters in real accounts: This topic affects money, visibility, campaign control, reporting clarity, or team execution. Understanding the business reason first makes the console steps much easier to learn.
Practical workflow: - Read the definition and linked glossary terms. - Identify what decision this topic affects. - Find the report, console screen, or input data required. - Make a small reversible change first when working in a live account. - Write down what changed and why.
Worked mini-example: Open the relevant report, check the key metric, make one small change, and note what you did and why.
Common beginner mistakes: - Skipping the context and copying tactics blindly. - Changing a live account without checking eligibility, budget, or data window. - Forgetting to log the reason behind the change.
Definition of done: - The learner can explain the topic without jargon. - The learner can name the report, console area, or data input used for this topic. - The learner can describe one safe action, one risky action, and one escalation trigger.
Merged from Complete Data-Filled Guide¶
Complete data-filled section notes¶
Metrics are the language of PPC. Beginners should learn what each metric answers, not just memorize formulas.
| Metric | Formula | What it answers |
|---|---|---|
| CTR | Clicks / Impressions | Is the ad attractive and relevant? |
| CVR | Orders / Clicks | Does the listing convert traffic? |
| CPC | Spend / Clicks | How expensive is traffic? |
| ACOS | Spend / Ad Sales | How efficient is ad spend? |
| ROAS | Ad Sales / Spend | How much revenue per ad dollar? |
| TACOS | Spend / Total Sales | How much the business relies on ads? |
ACOS vs TACOS¶
ACOS measures ad-attributed sales only. TACOS includes organic sales. A campaign can have higher ACOS while TACOS improves if PPC helps organic rank and total revenue grows. That is why serious PPC managers look at both.
Health scorecard starter¶
| Metric | Good | Warning | Danger |
|---|---|---|---|
| ACOS | At or below target | Target + 10% | Target + 20% |
| CTR | At category norm | 75% of norm | 50% of norm |
| CVR | At category norm | 75% of norm | 50% of norm |
| Budget use | 80-100% | 60-80% | Below 60% if campaign should scale |
Break-even ACOS¶
Break-even ACOS = Gross Profit / Price
If a product sells for $50 and profit before ads is $15, break-even ACOS is 30%. Above that, ads are likely unprofitable unless there is a launch or ranking reason.
Operator checklist¶
- Explain the topic in plain English.
- Identify the report, console area, or input data needed.
- Make the smallest safe change first.
- Log the action, reason, and expected review date.
- Escalate if the issue touches policy, inventory, account health, or large budget changes.