Some ads have extra flair, be it a short video or an expandable image. If you've created ads like these, some of the possible customer interactions with those ads may be free. These free interactions won't appear automatically in your account statistics tables, but you can customise your view of your data in order to see them.
Knowing how customers interact with your ads can help you understand which formats catch their attention and which parts of your ads keep customers paying attention. This can further help you understand what keeps them focused on your ad, and what makes them click through to your site. You can use this information to refine your ads to a style that your customers find the most engaging.
How to find your free clicks data
Follow these steps to find your free clicks data:
- In your Google Ads account, click the Campaigns icon
.
- Click the Insights and reports drop-down in the section menu.
- Click Report editor.
- Under 'Predefined reports (dimensions)', click View all, and then under and 'Other', select Free clicks.
Your statistics table will contain columns for free interaction type, campaigns, ad groups, free interactions, free interaction rate and impressions.
- Edit the report using the filter icon
. You can also click on the arrows beside the filter icon to further customise how your free clicks data shows.
- Once your statistics table looks the way that you want, you can download the data in a report. Click the download button
, then click on your preferred file type.
.
. You can also click on the arrows beside the filter icon to further customise how your free clicks data shows.Understanding how free clicks and interactions work
A click is considered an ad interaction. Any time a customer places their cursor over your ad, they are interacting with the ad, whether they click the ad or not. If they click certain portions of the ad, and the ad is interactive, some of those interactions will be free. In those cases the interaction is considered a 'free click'.
Example: If your ad is an expandable image ad, you won't be charged if a customer clicks on your ad to expand the image within the ad, due to the interactive nature of the ad format.
Depending on the ad format, you'll be charged if the customer completes an ad interaction that connects them with your business or service or with the key customer interaction that the ad has been designed for.
Example:
- A click on the headline of a standard text ad will take the customer to your ad's landing page. This is a standard click through for which you'll be charged.
- If a customer clicks your ad to initiate your Google Ads for video ad content, you won't be charged straight away. However, you'll be charged if the viewer continues to watch the video for a minimum amount of time.
