Google Ads · Metric
What is Cost per conversion?
Cost per conversion is the total advertising spend divided by the number of conversions it produced: what one result cost. In Google Ads reports it appears as Cost / conv.; the same idea is called CPA (cost per acquisition) when the conversion is a customer.
Spend divided by conversions: what each result cost.
- Data source
- Google Ads
- Type
- Metric
- Formula
- Cost per conversion = cost / conversions
Why it matters
It is the number a budget conversation ends on. Impressions, clicks and CTR describe activity; cost per conversion describes price, and it is the only Ads metric that can be compared directly to what a lead or a sale is worth.
How to read it
Small conversion counts make it swing: a campaign with 4 conversions doubles its cost per conversion when one fails to fire. Read it over a period long enough to hold dozens of conversions, and read it beside conversion value, because a cheap conversion that is worth little is not cheap.
In a Data Studio report
In a Data Studio (formerly Looker Studio) report cost per conversion is a scorecard on the overview with its change against the previous period, a small trend chart, and a column in the campaign tables, where a rising cost per conversion with flat clicks is the earliest sign of drift.
Where to find it in Google Ads
Google Ads: Campaigns, then the Cost / conv. column (add it under Columns, Conversions if hidden).
