How to track the real impact of out-of-home advertising

Posted 22 Jul

(Yes, you can measure it — here’s how)

Out-of-home advertising has always been a powerful tool for building brand visibility — but it’s often misunderstood as “untrackable.” The reality? When set up properly, it drives measurable shifts in search behaviour, website traffic, and customer engagement. You just need to know where to look. At goa, we make sure clients don’t just get impressive billboard placements — they get clear visibility on how those placements fuel real marketing outcomes.

Why tracking matters more than ever

Out-of-home is designed to make your brand famous in the real world. It builds memory, trust, and brand preference long before someone is ready to buy. And in a crowded digital market where acquisition costs are rising, that top-of-funnel brand salience makes all your other marketing work harder.

More importantly, with the right tracking approach, you can actually see the effect of outdoor campaigns reflected in your:

• Branded search volumes
• Direct website traffic
• Campaign-specific landing page engagement
• Lead generation and enquiry rates

THE SIGNALS TO WATCH THE SIGNALS TO WATCH

Branded search uplift

When OOH is working, people don’t just Google your product — they search for your brand name.

• Use Google Search Console and Google Analytics 4 (GA4) to monitor branded search traffic.
• Compare the period during your OOH campaign to previous periods (or the same time last year) to see if awareness is converting into search intent.

Direct traffic increases

OOH drives a rise in people going straight to your website.

• Track direct sessions in GA4 — people typing in your URL or using bookmarks.
• Spikes in direct traffic, especially during or right after campaign periods, are strong indicators of OOH working.

Campaign landing pages

• Use short, memorable URLs on your billboards (e.g., brand.com/summer) and track engagement.
• This provides simple attribution when you have a clear call-to-action

THE KEY TO SUCCESS
THE KEY TO SUCCESS

Smart tracking starts before you go live

Before launching your campaign, always set a clear benchmark:

• Track your average weekly website visits, enquiries, and search traffic.
• Note any other marketing activity happening at the same time (PR, email, digital ads) that could influence results.
• Set up campaign date annotations in GA4 to easily correlate traffic changes with OOH activity.
• Review year-on-year data to account for seasonality.

This gives you a realistic baseline to understand OOH’s incremental impact, not just raw volume.

Beyond clicks: it makes your entire funnel work harder

Out-of-home doesn’t generate direct clicks — it generates interest, demand, and momentum. When done right, out-of-home:

• Drives more branded searches (which convert better and cost less in paid media)
• Boosts your direct traffic (fewer competitors involved = higher conversion rates)
• Fills your remarketing pool with fresh, qualified audiences
•  Makes your digital channels more cost-efficient by warming up your audience before they click

In fact, studies from MOVE 1.5 show that OOH can deliver a 14% higher uplift in branded search. International studies from Kantar and Meta show that adding OOH to campaigns can improve total campaign ROI by 20% or more.

The takeaway: track it right, see the difference

OOH is high-visibility, but that doesn’t mean it’s unmeasurable. With simple, effective tracking — from Google Analytics to branded search uplift — you can see exactly how outdoor advertising feeds your brand momentum.

At goa, we provide transparent reach, frequency, and audience data, but we also help clients set smarter tracking expectations. Because a billboard shouldn’t just be seen — it should drive real business results.

Want to make your next campaign visible and measurable? Let’s chat.