Google Ads Impression Share: How to Diagnose and Recover Lost Share (2026)

Impression share (IS) measures your visibility in Google Ads. It's the percentage of auctions where your ads could have appeared — but didn't. Losing impression share means losing customers to competitors. This guide shows you exactly how to diagnose whether you're losing it to budget constraints or ad rank problems, then fix it with precision.

What Is Impression Share and Why Does It Matter?

Impression share is calculated as:

IS = (Your impressions) / (Your impressions + Lost impressions from all sources)

Example: If you got 500 impressions but could have gotten 1,000 total, your IS is 50%. That means competitors captured 500 impressions you missed.

• 100% IS = You showed for every eligible search (maximum visibility)
• 80% IS = You're missing 20% of searches (above-average performance)
• 50% IS = Competitors are beating you on 50% of relevant searches
• <30% IS = You're losing significant market visibility

Benchmark Impression Share by Industry

• E-commerce: 70-90% typical, <50% = critical issue
• B2B Services: 60-80% typical, <40% = revenue risk
• Local Services: 75-95% typical (smaller addressable market)
• Financial Services: 65-85% typical, <45% = losing deals

How Do You Know If You're Losing Impression Share to Budget vs. Ad Rank?

Google Ads tells you exactly which. In your campaign performance data, you'll see two metrics:

• Impression share lost to budget (IS Lost Budget) — you don't have budget to bid
• Impression share lost to rank (IS Lost Rank) — you don't have strong enough Quality Score or bid

The formula to understand your IS loss:

Total IS Loss = IS Lost Budget + IS Lost Rank. (Both as percentages of eligible auctions.)

Example: Diagnosing Impression Share Loss

Campaign A: 60% IS, 25% IS Lost Budget, 15% IS Lost Rank = Budget is your primary bottleneck. Increase daily budget first.