Top impression share lost to rank
also called Rank-lost top IS
Definition
The share of available auction impressions above the organic results that you did not receive because your ad rank was too low.
Scope, grain and dimensions
- Grain
- One number per segment and date range, or one row per keyword or campaign.
- Dimensions
- keyword · campaign_name
- Required filters
- segment_id · date_range
- Aggregation
- An unweighted average across keyword-day rows.
- Metric type
- share · share of available auction impressions (stored 0 to 1, shown as a percent)
Data sources
Where you'll see this
Named reports that normally include this metric.
Paid search performance report
Skills and analyses that use it
Skills carry the judgment; the analysis verbs do the reading.
Skills
Analysis verbs
paid_impression_share
Method rungs and levers
A rung tells you what a movement here can and cannot explain, read the rungs below it first.
levers L8 Paid/organic interplay
Ask Quattr
- "Are we losing above-organic placement to rank?" Simulate this →
Caveats, freshness and failure modes
The semantic layer averages Google Ads' own per-row rank-lost top impression share; nothing is recomputed here.
Rank-lost only, the budget-lost equivalent is not measured on this dataset.
The response key drops the rank qualifier; carry it in the sentence.
Always per segment; unweighted average across rows; stored as a fraction between 0 and 1.
- Freshness
- ~1 day behind, Ads reporting settles overnight; same-day spend is provisional.
Common failure modes
- Treating this as total lost top-of-page coverage.
- Reading a rise in this number as an improvement because a direction oracle painted it green.
Not the same as
The confusions that cause the most wrong decisions.
Top impression share lost to rank Top impression share Compare definitions →
One is the top placement you won; this is the top placement you lost on rank. Separate columns, not complements.
Related metrics and workflows
Verification
A definition is the smallest part of this.
The measurement matters because something acts on it. Here is the rest of the showcase, in the order most people find useful.