Google Ads reporting template for marketing agencies

Most agency Google Ads reports are either too thin (a screenshot of the Google Ads summary tab) or too overwhelming (every metric in the interface, exported as a spreadsheet). Neither is useful to clients. Here's the exact structure and metrics that belong in every Google Ads monthly report — and how to stop building it manually.

The 8 Google Ads metrics for client reports

Google Ads has hundreds of columns available. Clients need eight. Here's the complete list, why each one is there, and how to call it out:

The Google Ads report section structure

A well-structured Google Ads report section has four parts in this order:

Part 1: Executive snapshot (top of section)

A 2–3 sentence narrative that answers: was it a good month? Lead with the most important outcome (usually conversions or CPA vs target), acknowledge anything that went in the wrong direction, and flag what you're doing about it. This is the section the client reads. Everything else is supporting evidence.

Example: "Google Ads drove 34 conversions in October at an average CPA of £42 — 14% below your £49 target, the best CPA performance in 6 months. Spend came in at £1,428 against a £1,500 budget. The Brand campaign continued to outperform, while the Competitor targeting campaign underperformed; we've paused the lowest-performing ad groups heading into November."

Part 2: KPI callout box

A visual block showing CPA vs target and ROAS vs target with green/red colouring. This is the fastest way for a client to answer "did we hit our goals?" without reading anything. Make it prominent — it's the most important 2 numbers in the whole report.

Part 3: Core metrics table

The 8 metrics listed above, in a clean table with current month, previous month, and delta. Don't include every metric Google Ads offers. This table exists to provide evidence for the narrative, not to replace it.

Part 4: Campaign breakdown

Top 3–5 campaigns by spend, with spend, conversions, and CPA per campaign. This is useful for clients who manage their own budget allocations, and it shows the agency has visibility across the full account structure — not just the aggregate totals.

KPI callouts: how to flag CPA and ROAS vs target

The single most impactful addition to any Google Ads report is a KPI callout that compares actual performance against the client's stated target. This transforms a table of numbers into an answer to "did we do well?"

The mechanics: before building the report, record the client's target CPA and target ROAS. When the report is generated, calculate whether actual CPA is above or below target (below is good for CPA), and whether actual ROAS is above or below target (above is good for ROAS). Colour the callout green or red accordingly.

This requires knowing the client's targets in advance — which means capturing them at onboarding, not at reporting time. Build target CPA and target ROAS fields into your client setup flow and every report automatically generates the right callout.

How to write the Google Ads narrative without spending 30 minutes

The narrative section is where most agencies burn time. "We need to say something meaningful about the CPA increase." The account manager stares at the numbers, thinks about what to write, drafts something, second-guesses it, rewrites it. 30–45 minutes per client, every month.

AI changes this completely. Feed Claude the metrics (spend, clicks, CTR, avg CPC, conversions, CPA, ROAS, delta vs previous month) plus the client context (industry, KPI targets, any campaign changes made during the month) and it produces a narrative that reads like a senior AM wrote it — in under 5 seconds. This is part of a broader automated reporting workflow that cuts 5–8 hours per client per month. See exactly what Google Ads data Breut pulls automatically.

The key is the context note. "Retail client selling premium kitchenware. Target CPA £45. Increased budget by 20% in week 3 to capture early Christmas demand. Primary conversion is checkout completion." With that context, the AI narrative goes from generic to specific and genuinely useful.

What not to include in a Google Ads report

Quality Score per keyword. Clients don't know what Quality Score means and it doesn't belong in a monthly summary report. It belongs in a quarterly account audit, not a monthly performance report.

Ad copy variants and A/B test results. Unless a test produced a clear winner that affects strategy, ad copy detail clutters the report. Mention it in the narrative if relevant; don't build a section around it.

Search impression share. Useful internally for capacity planning; not useful to clients in a monthly summary.

Every campaign in the account. Show the top 3–5 by spend. A client with 20 campaigns doesn't need a 20-row breakdown in their monthly report — they need the agency to tell them what the most important thing was last month.

The Google Ads reporting workflow that scales

Manual workflow: log into Google Ads (10 min), pull the date range (5 min), export to CSV (5 min), paste into template (15 min), write narrative (30 min), format PDF (15 min). Total: ~80 minutes per client.

With the right tooling: connect Google Ads once via OAuth. Every month, the tool pulls spend, clicks, impressions, CTR, avg CPC, conversions, CPA, and ROAS automatically, compares them to the client's stored targets, generates a green/red KPI callout, writes the AI narrative using the stored context note, and includes it in the branded PDF. Total: 0 minutes.

Across 10 Google Ads clients, that's 800 minutes — over 13 hours — saved every month. That's the difference between an agency that's always behind on reporting and an agency that's always ahead.