Google Ads impression share - Cross-industry medians-2026
37.0%
Avg Impression Share, cross-industry median
Impression share (IS) is the percentage of eligible auctions where your ad was shown. If your campaign was eligible to appear 1,000 times and showed 370 times, your IS is 37%. Lost IS breaks into two buckets: lost to budget (ad stopped showing because daily budget ran out) and lost to rank (ad was outbid or had insufficient Quality Score).
Quick Answer
A good impression share for non-brand Search campaigns is 40 - 60%. For branded keywords, aim for 90%+. For Shopping campaigns, 30 - 50% is typical in competitive categories. IS above 65% indicates strong account health - you are winning more auctions than you lose. Higher IS = better, indicating stronger share of available auctions being won.
Impression share is most actionable when split by brand vs. non-brand campaigns. Branded IS below 90% is a red flag - competitors are bidding on your name and winning. Non-brand IS below 20% usually signals budget is too restricted for the keyword set, or Quality Scores need significant improvement.| Segment | Median IS | Bottom Quartile | Top Quartile |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home Services | 41% | 24% | 62% |
| Legal | 44% | 26% | 65% |
| Education | 42% | 25% | 63% |
| Automotive | 39% | 22% | 61% |
| Healthcare | 38% | 22% | 58% |
| Financial Services | 35% | 20% | 56% |
| Real Estate | 33% | 19% | 54% |
| Ecommerce | 31% | 18% | 52% |
| SaaS | 29% | 16% | 48% |
| B2B Services | 27% | 14% | 45% |
Higher IS = better - indicates stronger share of available auctions being won. Legal and Home Services see higher IS partly because local advertisers dominate specific geographic auctions with smaller eligible impression pools.
| Segment | Campaign Type | Lost to Budget (avg) | Lost to Rank (avg) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Search (Brand) | - | IS Lost Budget: 15% | IS Lost Rank: 20% |
| Search (Non-Brand) | - | IS Lost Budget: 32% | IS Lost Rank: 38% |
| Shopping | - | IS Lost Budget: 41% | IS Lost Rank: 31% |
| Display | - | IS Lost Budget: 22% | IS Lost Rank: 45% |
Shopping campaigns lose more IS to budget than rank - budgets are often under-allocated relative to demand. Display campaigns lose most IS to rank - Quality Score and bid floor issues dominate.
Increase budget for high IS-lost-to-budget campaigns
If IS Lost to Budget exceeds 20% on a profitable campaign, increasing daily budget is the highest-ROI action available. You are already winning auctions - you just run out of money before the day ends. Calculate expected CPA at increased spend before scaling.
2Improve Quality Score to win more auctions
IS Lost to Rank is driven by Ad Rank - a function of bid and Quality Score. Improving Quality Score (expected CTR, ad relevance, landing page experience) raises Ad Rank without increasing bids. Moving from QS 5 to QS 8 can dramatically improve IS Lost to Rank at the same budget.
3Narrow match types to win higher share in key queries
Broad match campaigns spread budget across thousands of queries, winning low IS in many. Phrase and exact match focus budget on high-intent queries where you can achieve dominant IS (60%+). For your most valuable queries, exact match + high bids is the fastest path to 80%+ IS.
4Use IS targets in Smart Bidding strategies
Google's Target Impression Share bidding strategy automates bid adjustments to hit a specific IS target. Use it for brand campaigns (target 90 - 95% IS) and for must-win non-brand keywords where competitive defense is critical.
5Analyze IS by device and adjust bids accordingly
IS often varies significantly by device. If mobile IS is high but desktop IS is low, your desktop bids are under-competitive. Use device bid adjustments to allocate budget to the devices where you are most profitable and increase IS strategically.
For non-brand Search campaigns, a good IS is 40 - 60%. For branded keywords, 90%+ is the target - anything less means competitors are winning auctions on your brand name. For Shopping campaigns, 30 - 50% is typical in competitive categories. IS above 65% in any non-brand campaign is excellent and indicates strong auction competitiveness. Do not chase 100% IS on non-brand terms - the marginal cost of the last 10 - 20% of IS is rarely economical.
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These benchmarks are drawn from a multi-source benchmark cohort aggregated across industries and regions, covering the period Q1 2023 – Q4 2024. Figures on this page come from the Benchmarketing benchmark dataset: thousands of curated benchmark observations spanning channels, industries, and US metro areas, refreshed on a published schedule. Every statistic traces to a named source — no anonymous “studies show.” Data is sourced from:
The Benchmarketing 4-Band Method reads every marketing metric against four percentile bands — P25 (bottom quartile), median, P75 (top quartile), and elite (top ~10%) — for a specific industry and channel, instead of a single cross-industry average. Averages blend brand and non-brand campaigns, $500/month and $500,000/month accounts, and unrelated industries into a number almost nobody actually has.
Benchmarks reflect median values across large sample sets. Your industry, business model, and account maturity will cause variation. Use P25/P75 ranges to understand realistic distribution.
Read full methodologyWritten by
Benchmarketing Research Team
Data & Analytics
Reviewed by
Performance Marketing Editorial
Senior Review
Last updated
Reviewed March 2026
Observation period: Q1 2023 – Q4 2024
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