Impression share benchmarks · 2026
41%
Google Search IS, cross-industry median
Higher IS means more coverage of eligible searches. Home Services leads due to local intent concentration.
Legal 35% Financial Services 32% SaaS 28% Healthcare 38% Ecommerce 42% Education 44% Automotive 40% Home Services 48%SaaS and Legal have low IS partly by design — narrow keyword targeting. Home Services and Education aim for maximum local coverage.
| Segment | Median | P25 (Bottom) | P75 (Top) | Elite |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Legal | 35% | 22% | 52% | - |
| Financial Services | 32% | 20% | 48% | - |
| SaaS | 28% | 16% | 44% | - |
| Healthcare | 38% | 24% | 56% | - |
| Ecommerce | 42% | 28% | 60% | - |
| Education | 44% | 30% | 62% | - |
| Automotive | 40% | 26% | 58% | - |
| Home Services | 48% | 32% | 66% | - |
Bing achieves higher IS than Google due to lower advertiser competition. Google Shopping IS lags Search due to feed optimization requirements.
| Segment | Median | P25 (Bottom) | P75 (Top) | Elite |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google Search IS | 41% | 28% | 58% | - |
| Google Shopping IS | 38% | 24% | 54% | - |
| Bing Search IS | 52% | 36% | 68% | - |
| Google Display IS | 28% | 16% | 44% | - |
Emerging markets achieve higher IS due to lower advertiser competition. The same budget achieves significantly more coverage in MENA or Sub-Saharan Africa than in North America.
North America (US + Canada) 41% Western Europe 38% Asia Pacific (excl. South Asia) 44% Latin America 52% MENA 58% Sub-Saharan Africa 62% South Asia (India + BD + PK) 50%Sub-Saharan Africa and MENA achieve the highest IS due to fewer competing advertisers. North America is the most competitive market with the lowest IS per dollar spent.
| Segment | Median | P25 (Bottom) | P75 (Top) | Elite |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| North America (US + Canada) | 41% | 28% | 58% | - |
| Western Europe | 38% | 24% | 54% | - |
| Asia Pacific (excl. South Asia) | 44% | 30% | 62% | - |
| Latin America | 52% | 36% | 70% | - |
| MENA | 58% | 40% | 76% | - |
| Sub-Saharan Africa | 62% | 42% | 80% | - |
| South Asia (India + BD + PK) | 50% | 34% | 68% | - |
Google Ads shows IS Lost to Budget and IS Lost to Rank as separate columns in the campaign report. These require completely different fixes: budget loss → increase daily budget or narrow targeting to concentrate spend; rank loss → improve Quality Score (CTR, landing page, relevance) or increase target CPA/ROAS bids. Mixing treatments wastes budget.
02Losing impression share on your own brand terms to competitors is the most costly IS loss possible — these are your highest-intent, lowest-CPC conversions. Run brand campaigns separately with budget floors that ensure 90%+ IS 7 days a week. Competitive brand bidding IS loss should be monitored daily, not weekly.
03Broad match keywords dilute your budget across thousands of query variations, many of which are irrelevant. Switching from broad to phrase or exact match on your highest-value keywords concentrates IS on the searches that matter most. A campaign with 60% IS on 50 exact-match keywords outperforms 20% IS on 500 broad-match keywords in revenue generated per dollar spent.
04Quality Score directly affects Ad Rank, which determines whether you win the auction. A 7/10 Quality Score ad can achieve the same position as a 5/10 ad at 40% lower CPC. To improve QS: increase expected CTR (test new ad copy), improve ad relevance (match ads to specific keyword groups), and improve landing page experience (relevance, speed, CTA clarity).
05If a key competitor consistently appears in searches where you have low IS, use the Auction Insights report to quantify the gap. A strategic decision to outbid a specific competitor for category terms may be worth a short-term CPA increase if it shifts market share and builds brand recognition. Set IS targets by keyword category: 90%+ for brand, 50%+ for core category terms, 30%+ for awareness terms.
Impression Share (IS) is the percentage of eligible impressions your paid search ads actually received, divided by the total number of impressions your ads were eligible to receive. If your ads were eligible to show 1,000 times but showed 410 times, your IS is 41%. Share of Voice is a broader marketing concept that includes organic, social, and earned media — in paid search, IS is the practical equivalent.
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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 methodologyImpression Share Benchmarks
Detailed IS data
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