Tutorial · Report editor and dashboards: building the report the interface doesn't ship, and getting it every Monday

The Basic level introduced reports; this tutorial builds, step by step, the reports the ordinary screens don't give you, gathers them into a dashboard and schedules them. At the end, five concrete reports to copy.

Step 1 · Open the editor

Campaigns → Insights and reports → Report editor (or Reports → + Custom → Table). You get a canvas with a side panel of dimensions (campaign, ad group, keyword, search term, device, day, hour, conversion action, location…) and metrics.

Step 2 · Build a table

1. Drag dimensions into Rows (Campaign, then Device, for example).
2. Drag metrics into Columns (Cost, Conversions, Cost/conv., Search lost IS (budget)…).
3. Date range at the top (and "Compare" if you want two periods).
4. Filters: drag a dimension or metric into the filter area (Campaign status = Enabled; Conversions > 0).
5. Sort by a column; segment by time (day/week) if you want a series.
6. Save it with a name.

Every dimension added to rows nests inside the previous one (campaign → device): a pivot table.

Step 3 · Turn it into a chart

The visualisation type button: table, line, bar, pie, scatter. Rules: line for time series; bars for comparing categories; scatter for two metrics (cost vs CPA by campaign: the points at the top right are the problem).

Step 4 · The dashboard

Reports → Dashboards → +: add cards (each one a saved report, a new table or a note), arrange them on a grid, name it. A typical "Monday" dashboard:

Step 5 · Share and schedule

In the saved report or dashboard → Schedule: frequency (daily, weekly, monthly), day/time, format (PDF to read, CSV/Excel to analyse), recipients (users with access to the account). And Share a link with anyone who has access. Monday 7:00 as a PDF is the classic.

Five reports to copy

1. Spend vs plan (monthly)

Rows: Campaign. Columns: Cost, Budget (daily), Search lost IS (budget), Search lost IS (rank), Conversions, Cost/conv. Range: this month. Filter: Status = Enabled. Sort: Cost descending.

2. Lost IS with a good CPA (opportunity)

Rows: Campaign. Columns: Search lost IS (budget), Cost/conv., Conversions. Filter: Search lost IS (budget) > 20%; Conversions > 10. Range: last 14 days.

3. Search terms that convert without being keywords

Rows: Search term, Keyword, Campaign. Columns: Clicks, Cost, Conversions. Filter: Conversions ≥ 1; (added/excluded status: none). Range: 90 days. Sort: Conversions descending.

4. CPA by device and hour

Rows: Device, Hour of the day. Columns: Clicks, Cost, Conversions, Cost/conv. Range: 30 days. Visualisation: table (coloured by hand) or bars.

5. Quality Score by ad group

Rows: Campaign, Ad group, Keyword. Columns: Quality Score, Exp. CTR, Ad relevance, Landing page experience, Cost. Filter: Cost > €50; QS ≤ 5. Sort: Cost descending.

Limits of the editor

• No formulas across columns (for that, custom columns: the next tutorial).
• No QS history (a snapshot of today).
• No cross-account joins (from a manager account, multi-account reports are limited).
• Email scheduling only to users of the account.

💡 Ninja trick: the Monday dashboard is the one the scripts' spreadsheets replace once they are installed: the Guardian's Dashboard (spend vs plan, lost IS with a good CPA), SQONS's (search terms), the QS Analyzer's (QS by ad group with history). If you don't have scripts yet, this dashboard is the minimum; if you do, the Google Ads dashboard is left for whatever the spreadsheets don't cover.

What you should remember

• Editor: rows (nested dimensions) + columns (metrics) + filters + range; save it; pick the chart to suit the data.
• A dashboard of cards built from saved reports; schedule it as a PDF on Mondays.
• Five base reports: spend vs plan, lost IS with a good CPA, converting search terms, CPA by device × hour, QS by ad group.
• No formulas and no history: for that, custom columns and scripts.