Lesson 2 of 7 · 9 min read · intermediate
The metrics dashboard explained
Every number an arbitrage dashboard shows, in the order a visitor creates them, with the formula for each and what a change is telling you.
Open an arbitrage dashboard and you face a wall of three-letter abbreviations. They look unrelated, but they are all measurements of one journey taken by one visitor, read off at different points. Learn the journey and the abbreviations fall into place.
Think of a motorway with toll booths. One counter sits at the slip road, one at the first booth, one at the second, one at the exit. Each counter is lower than the one before because cars leave along the way. The dashboard is just those counters, plus the money taken at each booth.
One journey, measured six times
Follow an illustrative campaign through a day. The traffic source shows the ad 100,000 times and charges $4 per thousand impressions.
| Stage | Count | How it is calculated | Metric it gives you |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ad impressions | 100,000 | Reported by the traffic source | CPM $4.00, so spend is $400 |
| Ad clicks | 2,000 | 100,000 × 2% CTR | CPC = $400 ÷ 2,000 = $0.20 |
| Page visits that load | 1,800 | 90% of clicks arrive | Cost per visit = $400 ÷ 1,800 = $0.222 |
| Searches (term clicks) | 720 | 1,800 × 40% Lander CTR | Searches per visit 0.40 |
| Monetised clicks | 360 | 720 × 50% Ad CTR | RPC $1.20 |
| Revenue | $432 | 360 × $1.20 | RPV = $432 ÷ 1,800 = $0.24 |
Cost metrics
- Ad spend: total paid to the traffic source. The only number in the dashboard that is certain on the day.
- CPM: cost per thousand ad impressions. On Meta and TikTok this is what you are really charged.
- CTR: clicks ÷ impressions. A measure of how well the creative works.
- CPC: spend ÷ clicks. On impression-priced platforms it equals CPM ÷ (CTR × 1,000).
- CPA: spend ÷ the event you optimise for, for example cost per search or cost per monetised click. Here cost per monetised click is $400 ÷ 360 = $1.11, against revenue of $1.20 each.
Revenue metrics
| Metric | Formula | In the example | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|---|
| RPC | Revenue ÷ monetised clicks | $1.20 | What advertisers pay, after revenue share, for your traffic |
| RPV | Revenue ÷ visits | $0.24 | What one arriving visitor is worth: your break-even cost per visit |
| RPS | Revenue ÷ searches (or sessions) | $432 ÷ 720 = $0.60 | How well each search turns into money |
| EPC | Revenue ÷ clicks bought | $432 ÷ 2,000 = $0.216 | Directly comparable with CPC from the traffic source |
| RPM | Revenue ÷ visits × 1,000 | $240 | Revenue per thousand page visits |
| eCPM | Revenue ÷ ad impressions bought × 1,000 | $432 ÷ 100,000 × 1,000 = $4.32 | Comparable with the $4.00 CPM you paid |
Feed-side diagnostics
Feeds report a few further numbers that explain why RPC or ad CTR moved.
- Ad requests: how many times your results page asked the feed for ads.
- Coverage: the share of those requests that came back with at least one ad. Low coverage means advertisers are not bidding on those terms in that country.
- Ad depth: how many ads were returned per request. More ads usually means more competition and a higher chance of a click.
- Traffic quality score: where the feed provider shares one, its rating of how your traffic performs for advertisers. It moves slowly and affects pricing.
- Channel breakdown: revenue split by Channel ID, which is how you attribute feed revenue back to campaigns.
Reading a change
| What you see | Likely cause | First thing to check |
|---|---|---|
| CPC up, CTR flat | More competition in the auction | Day of week, season, CPM trend |
| CPC up, CTR down | The creative is wearing out | Frequency and age of the ad |
| Lander CTR down | The ad is attracting less relevant visitors, or the page changed | Which creative or placement the visitors came from |
| Ad CTR down, coverage down | Fewer advertisers on those terms | Keyword-level and country-level coverage |
| RPC down, everything else flat | Advertiser budgets fell, or the feed has repriced your traffic | Other campaigns on the same feed; ask the provider |
| Revenue missing for some hours | Reporting delay, not a real fall | The feed’s usual reporting lag |
The last row matters more than it looks. Feed revenue usually arrives hours behind spend, and sometimes is restated the next day. This revenue reporting delay means the current hour always looks worse than it is. Most trackers pull feed figures through an reporting API on a schedule, so know how fresh the revenue column is before pausing a campaign on it.
Key takeaways
- All the dashboard metrics measure one visitor journey at different points: impression, click, visit, search, monetised click, revenue.
- Billed clicks exceed loaded visits; that click loss alone can halve a thin margin.
- Pair each cost metric with the revenue metric on the same denominator: CPM with eCPM, CPC with EPC, cost per visit with RPV.
- Coverage and ad depth explain movements in ad CTR and RPC that the buy side cannot see.
- Live revenue lags spend and is only an estimate until the feed finalises it.
Questions people ask
What is RPV in search arbitrage?
RPV is revenue per visit: total feed revenue divided by the number of visitors who reached your page. It combines lander CTR, ad CTR and RPC into one figure and shows what a visitor is worth. If your cost per visit is below RPV the campaign is profitable before deductions. With $432 revenue from 1,800 visits, RPV is $0.24.
What is the difference between RPM and eCPM?
Both express revenue per thousand, but of different things. RPM in arbitrage usually means revenue per thousand page visits on your site. eCPM means revenue per thousand ad impressions you bought on the traffic source, which lets you compare it directly with the CPM you paid. Always check the denominator a tool uses, because naming is inconsistent.
Why are my tracker clicks lower than my Facebook clicks?
Ad platforms count a click when someone taps the ad. A tracker counts a visit when the page starts to load. Slow pages, accidental taps, closed tabs, in-app browser failures and blocked scripts all cause a gap. A gap of several percent is normal. A large or sudden gap deserves investigation, since it can indicate technical faults or invalid traffic.