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Visualizing data for analyzing results and finding the actual facts you are looking for demands the right use of chart for your data. Now question is how to choose the right chart for your data? It is simple to select chart in one aspect but on another aspect it is not as simple as you think. Not all charts are made for representing same types of data. So you get a lot of choices while selecting the right chart.
The quality of our lives is determined by the choices we make. Sometimes the choices are simple, like which Pizza type you prefer.
Let’s say the choices are Vegan Hawaiian BBQ, BBQ Chicken, or Pepperoni Pizza. BBQ Chicken is very tasty but what if I am tagging along a vegetarian to eat? I’ll have to select something that’s not stuffed with meat.
Here’s how I analyze my pizza choice:
Choosing the best chart should be governed by the following:
In this framework, you have a question and a goal that you’re trying to achieve. And the goal part motivates how you choose between options to get to the most desirable outcome.
Choosing the best chart or graph for your data is similar. Yes, the outcome depends on your goal. You can even use the same “question, goal, outcome” framework. How to choose the right chart for your pay-per-click (PPC) data boils down to the key insights you want to highlight in your data.
For your data to be compelling to your clients, you need the right type of chart and graph.
Why?
This is to highlight the key insights that support your recommendations.
This blog will walk you through tips and strategies seasoned data visualization experts use to select the right chart for their data stories. This includes the common pitfalls to avoid and the recommended tools to use.
Remember, the tips you’ll learn here have been borrowed from seasoned data visualization experts. So as a PPC manager, be sure to read word by word to improve your storytelling skills. Trust us, you need these skills, especially when you’re engaging your clients.
Besides, these tips you’re about to learn are tested and proven.
So why does it matter to select the right chart for your PPC data ?
Managing pay-per-click ads on behalf of clients is not an easy undertaking. You work with tons and tons of data. And getting overwhelmed or drowning in the ‘sea’ of data is incredibly easy.
You have to provide weekly or monthly reports on how the campaigns perform depending on what you’ve agreed with your client. Imagine you want to ask the client to bump up his ad budget. How would you persuade him?
Yes, you guessed right. You have to create compelling data that supports your recommendation and that is only possible through better visualization.
Charts are the ‘transporters of insights,’ appealing to the logical part of our brains. Whether you’re using a bar chart, scatter plot, or an energy flow diagram, the key is to choose the right chart that highlights the insights supporting your big idea and recommendations.
Let’s revisit our earlier example. As a PPC manager, you need a chart that can highlight opportunities for your client to act on the recommendations. If you want to create a story that compels the audience to take urgent action, you need the correct chart.
Choosing the correct chart depends on any of the 4 goals, namely:
You will find the chart library mentioned in the next section by clicking below.
By stacking multiple bars next to one another, you can compare data from previous periods.
Has performance increased or decreased since the last analysis?
In this sample chart, You can see that how remained the quality score on which Avg. CPC
This allows you to easily compare the values for each category against their historical performance.
The tiles at the top of the visualization showcase the overall averages for the current and past periods.
Question: What is our current cost per click with regard to the Quality Score?
Goal: Compare values (average cost per click) across quality score values (1-10)
Outcome: A Vertical Bar Chart
Single-Axis radar chart is used to compare multiple variables to find interesting or useful differences between variations. There are 3 different cases where the single-axis radar chart is handy.
In this example, a campaign is being measured by the days of the week. The gray shape reflects the current performance, while the gray shape is the current period. Right away, you can see that performance has grown.
The spokes of the shape show spikes of inactivity. In the screenshot, you can see that performance is steady from Thursday to Saturday night. Besides, this chart also shows that Wednesday is the lowest-performing day.
Question: What is our cost per click (CPC): over the week days in two time periods?
Goal: Compare CPC for this week against last week.
Outcome: Single-Axis Radar Chart.
This visualization looks at how individual parts contribute to a collective whole. And this is why it’s also known as a Whole and Parts chart. In PPC, there are many these Whole-Part relationships —multiple metrics that influence a more significant component.
Quality Score is one example of the Whole-Part relationship in PPC. Your Quality Score ratings are decided by several factors, namely:
With the Composite and Detail Chart, it’s easy to see how changes to small details affect the whole Campaign.
It’s easy to see that the overall Quality Score has increased from 5 to 9 in the past few weeks.
Thanks to Whole-Parts Chart, you can easily see that this shift (as shown by the screenshot above) occurred mainly due to:
Question: What is our week-to-week Quality Score Performance?
Goal: To compare Quality Score across time with respect to ad relevance, expected clickthrough rate, and landing page experience.
Outcome: Composite and Detail Chart (Whole-Parts)
Your PPC campaigns consist of lots of moving parts.
Metrics are always dynamic. And this means they (metrics) never stay at the same level for long. So tracking changes in metrics is incredibly vital, especially when optimizing your campaigns.
The slope chart is designed to highlight changes in metrics or dimensions across two time periods.
This is the chart you need to use in your periodic reports about the overall health of campaigns.
Looking at the chart, you can get a great “before and after” of each keyword’s rank. When the slope of a line is dramatically trending up or down, it is a sign of a significant shift in keyword performance.
If the slope is positive, this is a money-earning opportunity for your team to capitalize on it. However, a dramatically negative slope (e.g. keyword #7) is a risk signal. Essentially, the keyword is losing performance and may no longer be relevant to your ads!
Question: How has the cost per click value of our keywords changed compared to the previous period? We want to understand the actions of our competitors.
Goal: To compare the CPC value of our keywords: current versus the previous period.
Outcome: A Slope Chart
The close relationship that many metrics share can also be visualized with a Donut PPC chart. This is an excellent chart to use when you’re looking at closely related metrics, such as:
There are few cases where you can use a Donut Chart. Let’s check them out.
The chart above is a Donut. So how do you read this chart?
The dark blue area of the ring signifies the impression share of your ad, while orange reflects lost impressions by rank and the lighter blue shows lost impression share by budget.
Even though the amount of received impressions is above average, the ad campaign is losing immense impressions because of poor ranking or too small a budget. This is an opportunity if you’re looking forward to scaling your ads.
Question: How budget and ad rank affecting the traffic we receive?
Goal: To compare our impression share (IS), lost due to budget and ranking against what we’re receiving. We want to persuade our client to bump up the ad budget.
Outcome: A Donut Chart
The stacked grid chart can help you compare subtotals contributing to an overall sum. You can deploy this chart, especially when analyzing Quality Score data, as shown below.
The data in each row adds to the overall totals in the first column. And the overall column adds up to 100%. A Stacked Grid Chart can help you see your campaign’s strengths and weaknesses in relation to the components that influence your Quality Scores.
As shown by the chart above, the expected CTR and Landing Page Experience produce the majority of the above-average scores. Conversely, the Ad Relevance is creating the majority of the below-average scores.
This is a vital insight that showcases where you need to focus your efforts to raise your Quality Score ratings.
Question: What is our current Quality Score and why?
Goal: To compare the performance of the Quality Score factors (landing page experience, ad relevance, and expected CTR).
Outcome: A Stacked Grid Chart
A horizontal Dayparting Chart can help you understand the most profitable timing of your campaigns in terms of ROI. This chart looks at both hours of the day (HoD) and days of the week (DoW) to find the peak hours and days.
Use a horizontal Dayparting chart to visualize metrics, such as clicks, impressions, conversions, and more. The darker the square, the higher the value of that particular day/time slot.
Clusters of dark squares signify periods where performance is high. Clusters with low or no activity are essentially quiet times. Avoid scheduling your ads during these periods to conserve the ad budget.
The gigantic rectangle (red) on the left side of the chart shows that performance is pretty good on almost all days between 0000 and 0200 hours.
Saturday is the best-performing day. And this is because almost the whole day has dark-shaded boxes. There is also a hotbed of activities on Tuesdays between 0400 and 1100 hours.
Question: What day and time do our ads receive the highest engagement level?
Goal: To compare clicks received against days of the week (DoW) and hours of the day (HoD).
Outcome: A Horizontal Dayparting Chart
Bidding is a significant part of PPC management because it’s directly tied to your costs and ad spends. The bid chart is used to visualize your bidding data for different keywords. Essentially, this PPC chart shows how costs fluctuate depending on varying ad positions, like the first page, top of the page, and first position.
Use the Bid Chart to decide how much to bid on each keyword, and the budget is necessary to obtain the desired ad position for each keyword.
Deploy this PPC chart to compare and contrast bid values for each position to optimize your spending to achieve the maximum ROI. You’ll be able to detect how CPCs are scaling and whether or not you need to adjust your Max CPC value.
Question: How much should we bid to achieve the top of the page spot?
Goal: To compare bids of different keywords to find the optimum combination that results in the best ad placement.
Outcome: A Bid Chart
Progress or change is a critical factor to measure in PPC marketing. Your campaigns, ad groups, and keywords are constantly changing due to a variety of reasons. Furthermore, customers change their search behaviors, and your competitors switch their strategies over time.
Besides, the niche market may experience a significant shift.
No matter the cause, these changes need to be identified, analyzed, and understood. And then, campaigns need to be adjusted accordingly. The Progress Chart can help PPC managers to discover timely shifts and changes.
This chart visualizes the current data against previous periods and highlights the difference between the two points, Irrespective of whether they’re positive or negative.
Let’s analyze the chart above.
By visualizing the change between the past (previous) and present(current) periods, you can immediately see how your keywords are shifting, positively or negatively. Based on the chart above, several keywords have changed positively. These keywords are potentially valuable opportunities in the PPC market.
Some keywords are performing poorly and need to be culled with immediate effect.
Question: How has the clickthrough rate (CTR) of our keywords changed over time?
Goal: Compare the current CTR of our keywords against the previous period.
Outcome: A Progress Chart
Opportunities in PPC marketing areas with growth potential that’s yet to be harnessed.
Use the Opportunity Chart to visualize profitable opportunities that your client’s campaigns are leaving on the table.
This chart can help you know how much work is left in your campaigns to drive maximum returns on investment (ROI).
This chart visualizes the impression share versus the total eligible impression share and displays the difference as an opportunity percentage.
Use this chart if you want to know opportunities available in your campaign.
Question: What is our current impression share? And what can we do to maximize the untapped opportunity?
Goal: To compare our impression share against the missed opportunity.
Outcome: An Opportunity Chart
A keyword analysis is among the ongoing and never-ending tasks in PPC management that can easily overwhelm you. Almost all PPC strategies you implement require keyword research.
One of the common pitfalls of keyword research and planning is that intent in certain topics experience ebb and flow. And this means your best keywords this month may experience a decline in interest and performance in the future.
Conversely, keywords that aren’t even on your radar right now may suddenly rocket up to the top of your list.
This is where the Search Term Chart comes in to help you visualize data regarding the popularity of related topics and keywords. Besides, this chart makes it easier for you to discover new keyword opportunities and track noteworthy changes in your existing search terms.
The Search Term Chart above shows keywords and their respective traffic volume.
Question: What keywords should we put all our attention on?
Goal: Check for the keywords that recur most (the mode value of the keywords)
Outcome: An Opportunity Chart
A Bar Stacked Comparison Chart shares immense similarities with the typical bar chart. The critical difference is the bars. As the name suggests, the bars in this chart are stacked on top of one another to compare PPC data points easier.
There are 3 ways to use this PPC chart to get the BEST out of your data, namely:
Use this chart to uncover insights into increases or decreases in lost impression share budget versus lost impression share rank.
Let’s assume that this is your data table:
It’s impossible to really understand what the table is telling you and what is actually going on with your lost impression share (IS) metrics. Again, this is the power of visualization. Once the data is visually adapted in diagrams, everything becomes crystal clear.
Let’s analyze the chart above.
You can easily compare the amount of impression share lost by budget versus impressions lost by rank. Plus, you can see the role different keyword match types play on these metrics.
The Bar Stacked Comparison chart can help you see your paid search data from multiple angles.
Question: How do our keywords match types compare with respect to the Lost IS budget and Lost IS rank?
Goal: To compare the performance of our keywords match type using Lost IS budget and Lost IS rank metrics.
Outcome: A Bar Stacked Comparison Chart
In a typical line chart, you have x and y-axes. The dual axes line chart features one x-axis and two y-axes. The Dual Axes allow you to illustrate the relationship between two variables using two unique scales or magnitudes of measurement. Essentially, the Dual Axes Line chart combines data from 2 Line Charts.
Again, this leads to simple and fast comparisons.
So how can you use this chart?
Use Dual Axes Line Chart to check the performance of your campaigns based on a desired or expected ROI. Alternatively, use it to check how two metrics correlate to one another.
Above is the Dual Axes Line Chart and its visualizing the conversion versus non-conversion spend of a hypothetical pay-per-click ad campaign.
Note how it’s easy to identify the days where conversion spend was working in favor of the campaign. And the times when the campaign was wasting budget with non-conversions.
The non-conversion line spikes above the positive conversion line signal that it’s time to act and get to the bottom of this misfire. This could be a landing page error or a problem with ad relevance. Essentially, it’s an issue that needs to be investigated for positive conversion spending to resume. An ideal campaign performance with regard to this chart is: the non-conversion trend line should be on the lower end of the chart.
Question: How are the ad campaigns performing with respect to conversion and wasted spends?
Goal: To compare our conversion spend level against wasted spend across days of the week (DoW).
Outcome: A Dual Axes Line Chart
This PPC chart adds another element to the Dual Axes Line Chart.
The added bars mean you can look at your PPC data across different ranges.
By combining a Trend Line with Bar Chart data, it becomes easier to stop hidden insights.
Here is an example:
Let’s analyze the chart above.
The purpose of this chart is to compare average CPC and CTR across hours of the day (HoD). Visualizing any two of these elements together is effective in its own right, but combining all three adds another layer of understanding.
For example, at 18:00 hours, the CTR is reasonably low, especially compared to other hours like 06:00, 08:00, 14:00, and 15:00 hours. The insights above are gold. In the Dual Axes Line and Bar Chart, you can add an extra metric, such as CPC data.
With regard to the above, 1800 hours is profit-draining because the average cost per click (CPC) at this time is also on the higher end.
Thanks to Dual Axes Line and Bar Chart, you have solid evidence to back up any changes you make to your ad scheduling.
Question: At what hour of the day (HoD) do we experience a spike in CTR and CPC?
Goal: Compare CTR and CPC trends across the HoD.
Outcome: A Dual Axes Line and Bar Chart.
If you thought that Dual Axes Line Charts were powerful visualizations, you haven’t met the Multi-axes line charts. With this interactive data visualization tool, you can configure your chart to include multiple axes.
Why is having multiple x-axes useful?
For one, it allows you to measure multiple metrics at the same time, even if those metrics have radically different scales. For instance, you may be tracking clicks, which can easily number in the thousands, alongside conversions, which require a scale of 1-50.
Without this chart, you can only compare multiple different charts for each metric, which is time-consuming and complex.
Here’s an example of a multi-axes line chart that visualizes average CPC, cost, and clicks by time.
Cost denoted by the sky blue filled area. And the orange line depicts clicks. The darker blue line represents the average CPC.
Based on the chart above, when clicks are reduced, costs go down. This is a common correlation in PPC marketing. The other exciting insight is: the average CPC line continues to increase throughout this period.
One of the benefits of using this chart is that it allows you to simultaneously visualize multiple metrics and trends in a unified view. So you don’t have to flip back and forth between charts to draw insights.
Everything you need is right in front of your eyes on a single screen.
Question: What do costs, clicks, and average CPC compare about days of the week (DoW)?
Goal: Compare costs, clicks, and CPC against the DoW dimension.
Outcome: A Multi Axes Line Chart
Now that you have a solid idea of charts to use for your PPC Data: what’s the tool for the job?
So how can you access the chart templates we’ve just mentioned in a single tool?
Google Sheets similar to an online version of Excel and comes loaded with some basic charts to help you visualize your data. As a PPC manager, you need more than what Google Sheets offer in terms of charts.
You need pretty advanced charts custom-made purposely for paid search data.
Finding Chart templates calibrated with metrics and dimensions in Google Sheets is like finding a needle in a haystack. You can’t really access either of the charts we’ve highlighted above.
Earlier on, we said that choosing a chart depends on the insights you want to highlight.
So you need a tool that provides you with unlimited freedom to highlight the key takeaways without struggling. Google Sheets provides you with limited freedom to customize your charts.
The solution is not to do away with your Google Sheets app but rather to enhance it with an Add-on.
Remember, you need visual diagrams that communicate insights effortlessly for you to create compelling data. So your chart should adhere to the Keep It Stupid Simple (KISS) principle.
We’re constantly preoccupied with our issues. Unless someone is telling us a story (and not a boring one), it’s incredibly easy for us to lose focus. So keeping our data SIMPLE, including the accompanying images (charts), is not something that should be overlooked.
There’s a simple and easy-to-use data visualization tool you can use to create clear and compelling data stories. This app makes charts that you can customize and download EASILY.
So you have all the freedom you need to highlight the key insights you want your audience to take home.
This easy-to-use and affordable Add-on is called ChartExpo.
This budget-friendly data visualization tool comes jam-packed with not only Scatter Plot Chart but also over 50 other chart templates just for YOU to select the BEST chart for your story.
Do you want to know more? Keep reading.
ChartExpo comes as a Google Sheets add-on with an incredibly user-friendly interface to ensure you don’t have to waste time visualizing complex data.
The cost of accessing over 50-plus chart templates is only $10 a month. And this is not to mention a 7-day FREE trial you get once you sign up.
Note, you’re not installing anything on your computer. So you don’t have to worry about viruses and malware because Google Sheets is cloud-hosted.
This brings us to the practical part of the blog: How to install our Add-on in Google Sheets and get going with Scatter Plot.
There are two methods to installing the ChartExpo add-on for Google Sheets.
The first method is to visit the Google Workspace Marketplace and enter “ChartExpo” into the search bar.
Click on the ChartExpo tool and then press the blue Install bar on the resulting page.
This will begin the installation process. You may have to log in to your Google account and accept the plugin’s permissions. Once that is done, the add-on will install and be ready for use the next time you open Google Sheets.
Alternatively, you can download ChartExpo directly from the Google Sheets App. To get started, click on Add-ons in the top toolbar.
In the small menu that appears, press the option to Get add-ons.
Search for ChartExpo in the bar and click the ChartExpo tool when it appears in the results.
Press the blue Install button. Again, you will have to accept some permissions and you may have to confirm your Google account.
Still not installed yet, you can click below any of the links to install this library for your desired tool.
Choosing the best chart to complement your pay-per-click data should always be guided by the following:
This is the framework used by seasoned data visualization experts to select relevant charts and graphs for their stories.
This blog is loaded with multiple examples of how to choose the right chart for your PPC data. ChartExpo Library is the best option to visualize your PPC data for making any type of report for your campaigns to present to your stakeholders.
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