Money & metrics · also called revenue per search, revenue per session, revenue per query
RPS (revenue per search / session)
RPS is revenue divided by the number of searches (or, in some reports, sessions), showing how much each search on the feed earns on average.
In feed reporting RPS normally means revenue per search: total earnings divided by the number of search queries sent to the feed. Some dashboards use the same letters for revenue per session, which is closer to RPV, so check the label.
Revenue per search is the feed's favourite yardstick because a search is the unit it serves. It combines two things: how often a search ends in a paid click (Ad CTR, itself shaped by coverage) and how much each click pays. It lets an operator compare keywords, countries and feed providers without the lander's design muddying the picture.
For an arbitrageur the chain is simple. Visits become searches at the Lander CTR; searches become money at the RPS. Multiply them and you have RPV. A falling RPS with a steady lander CTR tells you the problem is on the feed side: fewer advertisers, lower bids, a seasonal dip, or a quality discount.
An example
Say 450 searches produce 270 paid clicks at $1.00: revenue $270, so RPS = $270 / 450 = $0.60. With 1,000 visits behind those searches, RPV = 45% x $0.60 = $0.27.
Related terms
RPV (revenue per visit)
RPV is total revenue divided by the number of visits to the landing page, showing what one arriving visitor is worth on average.
RPC (revenue per click)
RPC is the average revenue earned per monetised (paid ad) click: the "sell" price in search arbitrage. Convert it to revenue per visitor (RPV) before comparing it with CPC.
Search volume
Search volume is the number of searches: either how often people look up a keyword in a search engine, or how many queries a publisher sends to its feed.
Ad CTR (feed click rate)
Ad CTR is the share of searches or results-page views on a feed that end with the visitor clicking a paid ad.
Coverage (ad coverage)
Coverage is the percentage of ad requests for which the search feed returns at least one ad.