Performance
Optimising a native advertising campaign
Find the weak stage in a native campaign, choose a measured change and review whether it brought more useful readers or actions.
Optimise a live native campaign by locating where the intended reader journey breaks, then changing the responsible part. Follow the path from reported delivery to recorded arrival, useful activity and the intended action. More clicks are not an improvement if they bring fewer suitable readers.
Establish a baseline
Record campaign dates, destination version, active creatives, buying settings, spend and the outcome definition before making changes. Keep the counting unit visible.
A platform click and an analytics session are different measures; a gap between them does not identify poor traffic on its own. Check tags, redirects, page loading and reporting dates before comparing the figures.
If readership is the goal, define what qualifies as useful activity on the promoted article. A broad engagement measure does not establish that the article was read. An article-specific action may be more useful if implemented and counted consistently.
Platform Click vs Analytics Session: Key Differences
- Platform ClickCounted when a user clicks the native ad on Outbrain or Google Ads.
- Analytics SessionCounted in Google Analytics when a user lands on the destination page and meets session criteria.
- Key Discrepancy RiskRedirects, broken tags, slow loading, or reporting date mismatches can cause gaps between clicks and sessions.
Native Ad Performance Metrics to Track
- Delivery Rate
- Percentage of expected impressions delivered
- Click-Through Rate (CTR)
- Clicks divided by impressions
- Session Rate
- Analytics sessions per platform click
- Engagement Rate
- Users meeting reading rule (e.g., scroll depth, time on page)
Find the weak stage
| What the report shows | First investigation | Possible decision |
|---|---|---|
| Delivery is low | Check budget, bids, targeting and approval status against the campaign setup. | Restore eligible delivery if settings explain the shortfall. |
| Clicks arrive but recorded visits are scarce | Check redirects, loading, tags and differences in counting. | Repair the path before judging a source. |
| Visits arrive but few meet the reading rule | Review the ad’s promise and the destination on the affected device. | Improve the page or retire an inaccurate creative. |
| Useful visits occur but the intended action is weak | Check whether the next step is relevant and recorded correctly. | Revise the next step or reassess the offer. |
| One source appears weak | Compare it with similar sources using the same creative, page and period. | Change that source only when the evidence supports it. |
Trace the first point where counts or quality diverge, then check the relevant tracking or campaign setting before changing delivery. A weakness across most sources points towards a shared page or measurement problem. One confined to a creative or placement deserves a narrower review.
Make and review a change
Write down the proposed change, its reason, the measure expected to improve and what would reverse the decision. Keep other material settings stable where the buying system allows it. If the page, bids and creative change together, a later improvement cannot confidently be assigned to one of them.
Choose a review period that allows enough comparable traffic and time for the intended action to occur. Record counts as well as rates.
A promising rate from a handful of visits deserves less weight than a repeated pattern across substantially more comparable visits. There is no universal click count that makes every placement decision reliable.
Improve the destination when visitors arrive but cannot readily find the promised answer or a suitable next step. Compare placements before reducing delivery to a source.
Change bids only after judging useful outcomes alongside cost. Pause a materially inaccurate creative promptly; for a performance-based pause, check comparable post-click evidence first.
Available controls vary by supplier and bid mode. Check the reporting and adjustment options in the actual account before changing delivery or bids.
For each change, retain the baseline, affected dates and versions, result and remaining uncertainty. Decide whether to continue, repair, adjust, pause or gather more data.
If the objective or destination changes, set a new baseline rather than treating the new period as directly comparable.
If a live ad says a good is in short supply or on sale for a limited time, the ACCC’s Advertising and selling guide says that condition must be stated clearly.
Using Limited-Time Offers in Native Ads: Legal Considerations
- ProsCreates urgency, increases conversion potential, drives immediate action.
- ConsMisleading claims may breach ACCC rules; must clearly state duration, availability, and conditions.
In this guide
- Improving the destination before buying more native trafficCheck arrival tracking, the first mobile screen and the promised answer before increasing native ad traffic.
- Adjusting native bids without rewarding low-quality clicksUse useful visits and eligible actions to guide native bid changes, and check manual controls against automated bidding.
- Pausing a creative that attracts the wrong readersCheck the creative's promise and post-click behaviour, then pause an inaccurate or persistently weak variant with a clear record.
