Growth Audit — May 4, 2026
US Users · roomsketcher.com · Mapped to Q2 OKRs

RoomSketcher Growth Audit: The Outside View

Search visibility, AI discovery, paid efficiency, and progress against the Q2 marketing OKRs — an external read on what's working, what isn't, and what to act on this cycle. Scoped to US users on roomsketcher.com.

Prepared for RoomSketcher May 4, 2026 Prepared by Kworq
Report Period: Apr 20 – May 3, 2026  ·  Issue #3  ·  Next Report: May 18, 2026
Headline This Cycle
Conversions are recovering — meaningfully over 4 weeks, but partly a rebound from a mid-April dip, not pure greenfield growth. All-source US new subscriptions sit at 23.7/day (vs 17.4 last period and 19.4 four weeks ago) — that's +36% vs last cycle but +22% on the more reliable 4-week view. Purchases follow the same dip-and-recover pattern (+27% vs last, +12% vs 4 wks). Sign-ups are the cleanest signal: a steady gradual climb, +6% over 4 weeks. At the same time, combined paid spend (Google + Bing) doubled (+79%) while combined paid conversions rose just +1.6%. The volume is genuinely up, but the +36% headline overstates it. For Q2 OKR 1 (subs at lower CAC), the paid CPA jump (+77% vs last, +89% vs 4 wks) needs structural attention.

How the Period Maps to Q2 OKRs

Jo's Q2 marketing OKRs define three objectives. This section reads each one against the data this cycle. The rest of the report contains the supporting detail.

Objective 1Boost Paid channels through structure & campaign optimization
Action Needed
Key Result Tracked Via This Cycle Direction
Increased subs at lower CAC Combined Google+Bing New Subscription, US, paid CPA New Sub +20% / CPA +77% Mixed

Subs grew via Bing scale-up, but the CPA component of the goal got worse, not better. Section 1 + Section 8 detail the campaign-level moves. Recommend pausing further Bing scale until CPA stabilizes (Action #2).

Objective 2Expand SEO/GEO visibility through adjacent topics
Watch
Key Result Tracked Via This Cycle Direction
#1 in LLMs incl. "floor plan creator" GSC position for "floor plan creator" (US) ~16.8 (vs ~19.1) Improving
Increased organic non-brand clicks (NORAM) GSC clicks/day (US) 1,373/day (vs 1,363) Flat

"Floor plan creator" rose another 2.3 positions organically — but Cedreo has a dedicated /floor-plans/floor-plan-creator/ page (Section 5), joining SmartDraw and Planner 5D — RoomSketcher is the only one of the four named OKR competitors without a dedicated page. Org clicks are flat — expansion topics not yet contributing.

Objective 3Strengthen communication through consistency and benefit-focus
On Track
Key Result Tracked Via This Cycle Direction
Increased sign-up rate (NORAM) GA4 sign_up + new_subscription (US, 4-wk view) sign_up +6% / new_sub +22% (4 wks) Improving
Key pages updated Key Page Audit & Update (initiative) Pending TBD

All-source US conversion volume is up across the 4-week view (Section 1, GA4 Conversion Events block) — sign_up steadily, new_subscription with a mid-April dip then recovery+. The +36% vs last cycle is partly rebound; the +22% over 4 weeks is the cleaner read. The Key Page Audit can build on real momentum, but the magnitude is more modest than the 2-week comparison suggests.

Initiative status (external read): The three Q2 initiatives that would be detectable from outside the team have not shipped yet — /floor-plan-creator/ (Floor Plan Creator Action Plan), /affiliate/ (Affiliate Pilot), and FloorCapture comparison pages all return "URL is unknown to Google" via Search Console inspection, and zero impressions for "affiliate" or "floorcapture" queries from US in this window. Section 10 actions are tagged with the OKR objective they serve.

Growth Scorecard

Trackable KPIs updated every two weeks. Designed for quick scanning so trends surface immediately. All metrics are filtered to United States users on roomsketcher.com only.

Scope: United States users on roomsketcher.com. GA4 and GSC filtered to country = USA. Google Ads filtered to user_location_view.country_criterion_id = 2840 (United States). Timeframes (three 14-day windows for trend visibility): Current: Apr 20 – May 3, 2026. Last Period: Apr 6 – Apr 19, 2026. 4 Weeks Ago: Mar 23 – Apr 5, 2026. Session metrics shown as daily averages. The Δ column compares Current vs Last Period; the 4-Wks-Ago column lets you spot when a movement is genuine improvement vs recovery from a dip. Note: Some prior-issue baseline numbers (Google Ads conversions in particular) have settled higher than originally reported as attribution catches up — values below reflect the current settled data.
KPI 4 Wks Ago
Mar 23 – Apr 5
Last Period
Apr 6 – Apr 19
Current
Apr 20 – May 3
Δ vs Last Status
Website Traffic (US) — daily averages
Total Website Sessions 4,528/day 4,460/day 4,511/day +1.1%
Direct Sessions 2,017/day 2,005/day 2,052/day +2.3%
Organic Search Sessions 1,577/day 1,528/day 1,517/day -0.7%
Paid Search + Cross-network 702/day 598/day 510/day -14.7%
Paid Other (Microsoft Ads, GA4) ~0/day 80/day 149/day +86.3%
Bing / Microsoft (US)
Bing Organic Sessions 138/day 114/day 78/day -31.6%
Copilot Sessions 0.9/day 1.1/day 2.9/day +156.3%
AI Referral Traffic (US) — ChatGPT + Gemini + Perplexity + Copilot + Claude
All AI Platforms (total) 40.4/day 37.7/day 37.5/day Flat
  ChatGPT 26.0/day 26.0/day 22.4/day -14.0%
  Gemini 8.0/day 6.7/day 7.8/day +16.0%
  Perplexity 4.6/day 3.4/day 3.2/day -4.3%
  Copilot 0.9/day 1.1/day 2.9/day +156.3%
  Claude 0.9/day 0.5/day 0.9/day +85.7%
Search Console (US) — current covers 12 of 14 days due to GSC reporting lag
GSC Total Clicks 1,387/day 1,363/day 1,373/day +0.7%
GSC Total Impressions 134,881/day 134,384/day 133,035/day -1.0%
Avg. GSC Position 8.64 8.66 8.55 +0.11 ↑
Key Keyword Positions (US) — OKR 2 anchor terms (4-wk view shows steady creator/maker progress)
"Floor Plan Creator" Position ~26.0 ~19.1 ~16.8 +2.3 ↑
"Floor Plan Maker" Position ~27.5 ~18.9 ~17.8 +1.1 ↑
"Floor Plan Software" Position ~8.0 ~9.5 ~6.7 +2.8 ↑
"Best Floor Plan Software" Position ~8.6 ~5.6 First Δ measurement
"Free Floor Plan Software" Position ~5.1 ~7.0 First Δ measurement
Google Ads (US) — Spend & Efficiency (NOK)
Google Ad Spend 15,067 NOK/day 12,735 NOK/day 12,429 NOK/day -2.4%
Google Ad Spend (USD equiv.) ~$1,370/day ~$1,158/day ~$1,131/day -2.4%
Google Ad Clicks 890/day 762/day 663/day -13.0%
Google Ad Conversions (all) 113.0/day 102.8/day 99.5/day -3.2%
Google Ads (US) — Conversions by Goal (14-day totals)
Google — Free Account (Personal) 1,209 1,134 1,056 -6.9%
Google — Free Account (Business) 186 144 167 +15.6%
Google — New Subscription 138 112 125 +11.2%
Google — Premium Project 23 25 21 -16.0%
Google — Ready Made Purchase 9 8 8 Flat
Google — Renew Subscription 16 17 16 -4.8%
Microsoft (Bing) Ads (US) — USD — spend doubled this period
Bing Ad Spend $1,951/day $2,370/day $5,183/day +118.7%
Bing Ad Clicks 195/day 269/day 325/day +20.7%
Bing Ad Conversions 15.2/day 24.1/day 29.4/day +22.0%
Bing Ad Revenue (attributed) $2,047/day $4,190/day $5,822/day +39.0%
Bing CPA $128 $98 $176 +79.0%
Microsoft (Bing) Ads (US) — Conversions by Goal (14-day totals)
Bing — Free Account (Personal) 165 252 301 +19.4%
Bing — Free Account (Business) 23 37 46 +24.3%
Bing — New Subscription 19 41 59 +43.9%
Bing — Premium Project 5 3 4 +33.3%
Bing — Ready Made Purchase 1 4 2 -50.0%
Combined Paid Media (US) — Google + Bing (USD) — OKR 1 lens
Total Paid Media Spend ~$3,321/day ~$3,528/day ~$6,314/day +79.0%
Total Paid Conversions ~128/day ~127/day ~129/day +1.6%
Combined Paid CPA (USD) ~$26 ~$28 ~$49 +76.5%
Google Share of US Paid Spend 41% 33% 18% -15 pts
Bing Share of US Paid Spend 59% 67% 82% +15 pts
Combined Paid Media (US) — Conversions by Goal (daily avg, Google + Bing)
Free Account (Personal) — combined 98.1/day 99.0/day 96.9/day -2.1%
Free Account (Business) — combined 14.9/day 12.9/day 15.2/day +17.6%
New Subscription — combined 11.2/day 10.9/day 13.1/day +19.7%
Premium Project — combined 2.0/day 2.0/day 1.8/day -10.7%
Ready Made Purchase — combined 0.7/day 0.9/day 0.7/day -16.7%
Renew Subscription — combined 1.1/day 1.2/day 1.1/day -4.6%
GA4 Conversion Events (US, all sources) — OKR 3 lens (4-wk view shows the cleaner trend)
Sign-ups (GA4 sign_up) 221/day 226/day 234/day +3.3%
New Subscription (GA4) 19.4/day 17.4/day 23.7/day +36.1%
Purchase (GA4) 34.9/day 30.6/day 39.0/day +27.3%
Order Ready Made (GA4) 9.3/day 6.3/day 9.1/day +44.3%
New Premium Project (GA4) 3.6/day 3.4/day 3.8/day +12.8%
Site Performance — PageSpeed Insights, avg of 2 runs (May 3, 2026); 4-wks-ago = Issue #1 measurement (Apr 14)
Lighthouse Performance (Mobile) 69 / 100 48 / 100 45 / 100 (43–47) -3 pts
Mobile LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) 12.9s 13.75s 13.67s Flat (still bad)
Mobile FCP (First Contentful Paint) 2.4s 3.35s 4.02s +0.67s
Mobile TBT (Total Blocking Time) ~595ms ~618ms +23ms
Mobile CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) 0.031 0.000 0.000 Flat (good)
Lighthouse Performance (Desktop) 98 / 100 85 / 100 75 / 100 -10 pts
Desktop LCP 0.75s 1.06s +0.31s
Desktop TBT ~340ms ~554ms +214ms
Accessibility Score 97 / 100 97 / 100 97 / 100 Flat
SEO Score (Lighthouse) 100 / 100 100 / 100 100 / 100 Flat
  Baseline / Neutral   Good / Improving   Watch   Needs Attention   Volume Too Small to Interpret %
Reading the trends (US, 4-week view): Five headline movements this cycle. (1) GA4 conversions are up vs last period — but the 4-week view tempers the headline. Sign_ups have climbed steadily: 221 → 226 → 234/day (+6% over 4 weeks). New_subscription dipped then recovered: 19.4 → 17.4 → 23.7/day — the +36% vs last is partly rebound; the +22% over 4 weeks is the real signal. Purchase is the same pattern: 34.9 → 30.6 → 39.0/day (+27% vs last, but only +12% over 4 weeks). Order_ready_made is essentially flat over 4 weeks (9.3 → 6.3 → 9.1) — this one is recovery, not growth. Underlying fundamentals are improving but more modestly than the 2-week comparison alone suggests. (2) Bing Ads spend nearly tripled vs 4 weeks ago ($1,951 → $2,370 → $5,183/day). Conversions grew +22% vs last but CPA worsened from $128 (4 wks ago) to $98 (last period, the efficient peak) to $176 (current). The Issue #2 win broke when pushed too hard. (3) Combined paid CPA went $26 → $28 → $49 over 4 weeks — nearly doubling. This is the OKR 1 structural watchout. (4) Google Ads improved on the goals that matter — New Sub +11% vs last (though still below the 138 from 4 wks ago), Free Business +16%, Branded CPA -5%. P-Max pulled back further; rest of the account healthier. (5) Cedreo has a dedicated /floor-plans/floor-plan-creator/ page — meaning three of the four Q2-OKR-named competitors (SmartDraw, Planner 5D, Cedreo) now own dedicated pages on the exact term and only RoomSketcher does not. RoomSketcher's own position on "floor plan creator" climbed steadily 26.0 → 19.1 → 16.8 over the same 4 weeks. The natural-momentum window for OKR 2 is real but the gap is increasingly visible.

The 30,000-Foot View (US)

US users drove 63,158 sessions across all channels during this 14-day period — up slightly from 62,444 in the prior window. The mix is stable: Direct and Organic Search dominate, paid is a meaningful minority, AI is small but growing in the LLMs that matter most.

Direct
28,726 (45.5%)
Organic Search
21,242 (33.6%)
Paid Search + Cross-net
7,138 (11.3%)
Paid Other (Microsoft Ads)
2,083 (3.3%)
Bing (Organic)
1,093 (1.7%)
Referral
1,584 (2.5%)
AI Referral
525 (0.8%)
Social + Email + Other
954 (1.5%)
Data period: April 20 – May 3, 2026 (14 days), US only. All figures from Google Analytics 4 filtered to country = United States. Microsoft Ads now appears as its own large channel ("Paid Other") because Bing-paid spend doubled this period — up from 80/day to 149/day (+86%). The Bing organic and AI Referral lines are carved out of the Organic Search channel for visibility.

AI Search in the US Market

AI referral traffic from US users held flat overall at 525 sessions over 14 days — but the mix shifted meaningfully. ChatGPT pulled back -14% on a real base; Copilot/Claude moved directionally on small bases. The Microsoft ecosystem (Copilot citations + click-throughs) is the standout surface this cycle.

Data source: Google Analytics 4 (property 346957354), sessionSource dimension by sessions metric, filtered to country = United States. AI sources identified by the following sessionSource values: chatgpt.com (ChatGPT), gemini.google.com (Gemini), copilot.com (Microsoft Copilot), perplexity.ai + perplexity (Perplexity, summed), claude.ai (Claude), duck.ai (DuckDuckGo AI). Period: Apr 20 – May 3, 2026 (14 days). The Copilot citation figure (~698K cited references over 3 months) referenced later in this section comes from Bing Webmaster Tools' AI Performance dashboard (BETA), surfaced in Issue #2; this is a separate measurement from GA4 click-through sessions.
ChatGPT
313 (59.6%)
Gemini
109 (20.8%)
Perplexity
45 (8.6%)
Copilot
41 (7.8%)
Claude
13 (2.5%)
Duck.ai
4 (0.8%)
Microsoft Ecosystem — Small Volume

Copilot Click-Throughs Grew Directionally (16 → 41 Sessions Over 14 Days)

Copilot referrals to roomsketcher.com from US users went from 16 sessions (1.1/day) to 41 (2.9/day). The directional move is consistent with the Issue #2 finding that Microsoft Copilot cites the site ~7,500x/day across ~311 pages/day — so the citation base is starting to produce some click-through volume — but at single-digit daily averages a single good day or bad day moves the % dramatically. The signal worth tracking is whether the trend continues over the next two cycles, not the magnitude of the % change. The more reliable finding is the divergence between Bing organic (down -32% on a much larger base) and Copilot (up directionally) — both are powered by the same Bing index. Worth investigating in Bing Webmaster Tools whether specific pages were de-prioritized in organic but stayed authoritative in Copilot's grounding.

Watch

ChatGPT Pulled Back 14% — Still the Largest Channel

ChatGPT drove 313 US sessions vs 364 baseline (-14%). Still 60% of all US AI traffic, but the first material drop in three issues. ChatGPT's citation base for floor plan content has been stable across periods, so the drop is more likely query-mix or prompt-level — users may be asking questions that route to other sources. Worth a manual audit of the top 10 floor plan queries in ChatGPT to see if RoomSketcher is still being cited for the queries that historically converted.

Lift on a Reasonable Base

Gemini +16% (94 → 109 Sessions) — Claude Moved Too But Volume Is Tiny

Gemini went from 94 to 109 US sessions over 14 days (+16%) — a base big enough to call this a real signal. Claude moved from 7 to 13 sessions, which reverses the Issue #2 drop, but at single-digit weekly volumes the % swing is mostly noise — treat as directional only. Both surfaces favor structured Q&A content and editorial authority — the same content patterns that fuel ChatGPT citations. The OKR 2 "adjacent topics" expansion (broaden FPG, FloorCapture comparisons) would help all three engines simultaneously.

AEO Note

Perplexity Held Roughly Flat — Reddit Absence Still the Constraint

Perplexity went from 47 to 45 US sessions (-4.3%) — effectively flat after the -26% drop last cycle. Perplexity's citation graph is heavily Reddit-weighted (~47% of citations). Until RoomSketcher has a visible Reddit presence in r/InteriorDesign, r/HomeImprovement, r/floorplan, and the real estate subs, Perplexity will stay capped here. This is a structural constraint, not a content problem.

Keyword Expansion Opportunity (US) — OKR 2 Detail

Three of the four OKR 2 anchor terms moved positively in US SERPs this cycle — "floor plan software" rose 2.8 positions to ~6.7, "creator" rose 2.3 to ~16.8, "maker" rose 1.1 to ~17.8. The natural-momentum window the Q2 OKR is built around is real and still open.

Head-Term Position Movement (US GSC, 14 days)

Head Term Current Impressions Current Clicks Current Position Baseline Position Δ
"floor plan software" 569 15 ~6.7 ~9.5 +2.8 ↑
"floor plan creator" 403 6 ~16.8 ~19.1 +2.3 ↑
"floor plan maker" 205 3 ~17.8 ~18.9 +1.1 ↑
"best floor plan software" 321 13 ~5.6 First measurement
"free floor plan software" 279 2 ~7.0 First measurement
"free floor plan creator" 569 3 ~5.5 ~3.9 -1.6 ↓
OKR 2 Momentum

"Floor Plan Software" Recovered 2.8 Positions — the Anchor Term Is Healthy Again

The US anchor keyword went from ~9.5 to ~6.7 in 14 days — that's recovery from the slight dip flagged in Issue #2 plus another full position of lift. This is the term that drives the most qualified buyer-intent traffic, and the existing comparison page (/blog/best-floor-plan-software-tools/) is doing the work organically. With the page now firmly in the top half of page 1, a refreshed publish date and an AI-era competitor update could push it into the top 3.

OKR 2 — Window Is Closing

"Floor Plan Creator" Still Climbing — But Cedreo Now Has a Dedicated Page Too

RoomSketcher's position for "floor plan creator" continues to drift up organically (26.0 → 19.1 → 16.8 over the last three cycles). This period we confirmed cedreo.com/floor-plans/floor-plan-creator/ exists alongside SmartDraw's and Planner 5D's — meaning three of the four Q2-OKR-named competitors own dedicated pages on the exact term, and RoomSketcher is the only one that doesn't. (We can't confirm exactly when Cedreo's page launched — the page has no published-date metadata and isn't archived in the Wayback Machine for this URL — but it's live now and is a copyright-2026 page.) The "natural momentum" window the OKR is built around is real but the asymmetry is increasingly visible. Shipping the planned RoomSketcher page in May — even as a v1 — locks in the 16.8 position before the existing competitor pages consolidate further authority.

Long-Tail Detail

Long-Tail "Creator/Maker" Variants Now Convert

Specific qualified queries are already pulling US clicks despite no dedicated landing page: "free floor plan creator" (7 clicks at position 4.3), "floor plan creator app free" (3 clicks at position 7.3), "wedding floor plan creator" (3 clicks at position 9.8), "restaurant floor plan maker" (9 clicks at position 8.1), "easy floor plan maker" (5 clicks at position 6.9). The dedicated landing page should include sub-sections for these high-intent variants — each gets its own H2 and a pre-filled use-case template image.

Watch

"Free Floor Plan Creator" Slipped Further (3.9 → 5.5)

The "free" modifier variant continued the slide flagged last issue. Highest-intent qualified term in the family. Indicates a competitor (likely SmartDraw or Planner 5D, both of whom market "Free Floor Plan Creator" prominently) is consolidating that variant. The dedicated creator page should explicitly include "free" in the H1 or hero tagline, not buried in body copy.

Competitive Landscape

A snapshot of who owns which keyword terms in the US SERP — and what's changed since Issue #2. One competitor moved this cycle in a way that directly affects OKR 2.

Who Ranks for Key US Terms

Competitor "Floor Plan Creator" Page "Floor Plan Maker" Page AI Features Key Differentiator
Cedreo Yes — /floor-plans/floor-plan-creator/ Blueprint Maker page None promoted Professional 3D, builder/remodeler-focused
SmartDraw Yes — "Free Floor Plan Creator" No "Works with ChatGPT & Claude" US-based, 1,000+ templates; AI-hybrid positioning
Planner 5D Yes — "Free Floor Plan Creator" No AI Floor Plan Converter, AI Interior Design, Smart Wizard 7,000+ objects, mobile-first, AI-forward homepage
Floorplanner No (uses "floor planner" branding) No Unknown 30M+ users, browser-based
Homestyler No (generic page) No Yes Autodesk-backed, rendering
Canva No (generic "floor plans") No AI tools Massive brand, design suite
Matterport N/A N/A Reality capture Different approach entirely
RoomSketcher No — US position now 16.8 (was 19.1) No — US position now 17.8 (was 18.9) AI Convert #1 overall per multiple reviews

What Changed This Period

Competitive Move

Cedreo Has a Dedicated "Floor Plan Creator" Page (and a Blueprint Maker One)

cedreo.com/floor-plans/floor-plan-creator/ is live, with a sibling /floor-plans/blueprint-maker/. The page is positioned at builders and remodelers (Cedreo's existing audience), not consumers, so the immediate SERP threat is moderate — but it's a direct hit on the OKR 2 "floor plan creator" term, and Cedreo's domain authority is strong. We could not verify when the page launched (no published-date metadata, no Wayback Machine snapshots for this URL); the takeaway is the existence of the page, not its newness. Combined with SmartDraw and Planner 5D, three of the four Q2-OKR-named competitors now have dedicated pages on the exact term — the planned "Floor Plan Creator Action Plan" should ship in May.

Holding

Planner 5D Continues to Lead on AI Messaging

Planner 5D's homepage still leads with "AI Interior Design Tools," "AI Floor Plan Converter," and "Room Design with AI" as the three primary feature pillars. This is the messaging template the US category is converging on. RoomSketcher's AI Convert is arguably a stronger proof point but doesn't headline the homepage in the same way — ties to OKR 3 (Strengthen Communication).

Strength Holds

RoomSketcher Still #1 in Multiple US "Best Of" Lists

Editorial dominance continues. RoomSketcher's own comparison page for "best floor plan software" now ranks at position 5.6 in the US (first time we've measured this). Strong vehicle for OKR 3's credentialing update and for capturing the recovering "floor plan software" head term.

What's Working Well (US)

Before diving into gaps, what's strong this cycle. These are the underlying signals the OKR 3 "benefit-focused communication" can amplify — not problems to fix.

Underlying Lift (4-Week View)

All-Source US Conversions Are Genuinely Up Over 4 Weeks — Just Not as Dramatically as the 2-Week Comparison Suggests

The 2-week headline (new_subscription +36%, purchase +27%) is partly rebound from a mid-April dip. The 4-week trajectory tells the cleaner story:

  • sign_up: 221 → 226 → 234/day — steady gradual climb, +6% over 4 weeks. Most reliable signal.
  • new_subscription: 19.4 → 17.4 → 23.7/day — +22% over 4 weeks. Genuine improvement (not just dip recovery), but ~60% the magnitude of the +36% vs-last-period headline.
  • purchase: 34.9 → 30.6 → 39.0/day — +12% over 4 weeks. Same dip-and-recover shape.
  • order_ready_made: 9.3 → 6.3 → 9.1/day — essentially flat over 4 weeks. The +44% vs last is pure recovery, not growth.

Sessions held roughly flat over the same 4 weeks (4,528 → 4,460 → 4,511/day), so this is conversion-rate improvement on stable traffic — the sign that the funnel is genuinely working better, just by a smaller margin than the headline numbers imply. Worth verifying the dip in mid-April wasn't a tracking artifact before celebrating the rebound; the 4-week view does suggest underlying improvement either way.

Strength

"Floor Plan Software" Anchor Term Recovered to Position 6.7

From the dip last cycle (8.0 → 9.5) all the way back to 6.7 — firmly in the top half of page 1 for the highest-volume buyer-intent US term. The /blog/best-floor-plan-software-tools/ page is the workhorse and is doing the lift naturally.

Strength

Brand Search Remains Dominant

Direct US sessions grew +2.3% (2,005 → 2,052/day). The homepage drove 1,518 GSC clicks at 4.9% CTR (position 22.2 — meaning the homepage is appearing for many head terms beyond brand). The brand and AI Convert search variants continue to hold position 1.

Strength

Google Ads NORAM Improved on Goals That Matter

Google Ads US conversion-by-goal: New Subscription +11% (112 → 125), Free Business +16% (144 → 167), Branded CPA -5% (91 NOK → 86 NOK). Search NORAM held volume; Branded improved efficiency. The Google side of the paid story is healthier than the headline -3.2% conversion number suggests.

Microsoft Ecosystem — Small Volume

Copilot Click-Throughs Trending Up From a Small Base (16 → 41 Sessions)

Copilot referrals went from 16 to 41 US sessions over 14 days — a real directional move but on a base small enough that the % is noisy. Combined with the ~698K cited references discovered last issue, the Microsoft ecosystem is the fastest-growing AI surface for the brand on the citation side; the click-through side is small but trending the right way.

OKR 2 Momentum

All Three OKR 2 Anchor Terms Moved Up Organically

"Floor plan software" +2.8 positions, "floor plan creator" +2.3, "floor plan maker" +1.1 — all without any new pages or content shipped. This is the second consecutive cycle of natural drift in RoomSketcher's favor on the OKR-targeted terms. The structural conditions for the OKR are favorable.

Strength

Total US Sessions Grew Through End of April

4,511 sessions/day current vs 4,460/day baseline (+1.1%). Modest but in the right direction in a period when the prior baseline included strong post-Easter recovery. Underlying demand is healthy.

Marketing Site Performance Audit

Site speed audit run May 3, 2026, averaged across two runs per strategy. Mobile held at 45 (was 48); desktop fell another 10 points (85 → 75). This cycle, Kworq completed a full Lighthouse-level diagnosis — the root cause is identified and the fixes are prioritized. Implementation is now Kworq-owned (was previously open as a diagnostic in Issue #2). Section 10 Action #1 has the P0 work scheduled this cycle.

Desktop Performance
75
Slipped from 85
Mobile Performance
45
Held bad (was 48)
Accessibility
97
Stable — good
SEO Score
100
Perfect — technical SEO is clean
Data sources for this section: Lighthouse audit run via PageSpeed Insights API against https://www.roomsketcher.com/; LCP element + subpart breakdown taken from the same Lighthouse audit's largest-contentful-paint-element and lcp-discovery diagnostics; resource sizing and unused-bytes figures from Lighthouse's unused-javascript, unused-css-rules, and resource-summary audits.
Diagnosis Complete

Mobile LCP Root Cause: the Homepage Hero Image Is Mis-Flagged

The mobile Largest Contentful Paint element is the homepage hero image (roomsketcher-introduction-video-...webp — the mascot-with-tablet figure in the "Work Smarter" hero block). Lighthouse's LCP-discovery checklist scores it 0/3:

  • loading="lazy" is on the LCP element (it should be eager)
  • ❌ no fetchpriority="high"
  • ✅ discoverable in HTML (only bright spot)

LCP subpart breakdown for that image:

Subpart Duration Note
TTFB 1,070 ms Server response time
Resource load delay 1,429 ms Caused by lazy-loading the hero image
Resource load duration 62 ms Image itself downloads fast
Element render delay 954 ms Caused by render-blocking CSS/JS

The image downloads in 62ms. The other ~3.5s is delay before/after that download — both fixable. The CSS selector for the offending element is div.wp-block-columns > div.wp-block-column > figure.wp-block-image > img.dk-bci-thumbnail — a Gutenberg image block with the dk-bci-thumbnail class (managed by a "better core iframe" plugin). The fix has to happen wherever that block is rendered (the homepage editor).

Prioritized Fixes

P0 / P1 / P2 Plan — Should Reclaim ~2.5s of LCP Plus ~50% of TBT

P0 — near-zero risk, ~2.5s LCP reclaim (this cycle):

  • Remove loading="lazy" from the hero <img>. WP block editor → image block → Advanced → uncheck "Lazy loading" (set to eager). If the dk-bci-thumbnail class is forcing lazy via the plugin, the plugin needs to be told this image is above the fold.
  • Add fetchpriority="high" to the same image. WP 6.3+ supports this via Advanced → "Fetch priority" or programmatically.
  • Fix the srcset breakpoint. Hero is served at 768×432 but displayed at 380×214 on mobile — wasting ~26KB. The current sizes="auto, (max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px" picks the wrong candidate on mobile. Correct sizes like (max-width: 600px) 400px, (max-width: 1024px) 800px, 1280px lets the browser pick a smaller srcset entry.

P1 — should cut TBT ~50% and remove ~500KB JS (next cycle):

  • Defer the Forethought chat widget. Loading 752KB on the homepage with 499KB unused; owns the single longest main-thread task (620ms). Most visitors never open chat. Options in increasing effort: load on requestIdleCallback after page interactive; load only when user clicks a "Chat" button (replace the auto-launcher with a stub); load only on pages where support is most expected (pricing, app help).
  • Audit GTM. 108KB unused, 89ms task. Move non-essential tags (heatmaps, A/B tools, anything not first-party measurement) to fire on Window Loaded or a custom event.

P2 — render-blocking cleanup (subsequent cycle):

  • Conditional CSS loading. A bunch of T2 block-library stylesheets (selling-points, factbox, accordion, image-compare, gallery, faq, link-list, tabs) are blocking render. WordPress can be configured to only enqueue block CSS when the block is on the page (should_load_separate_core_block_assets).
  • wp-polyfill.min.js is 14KB blocking — only needed for old browsers, shouldn't be on the critical path.
  • Gravity Forms CSS (20KB unused) loading sitewide. If there's no form on the homepage, dequeue its CSS there.
Implication for OKR 1

Mobile + Desktop Speed Pressure Is Hurting Quality Score Cross-Engine

This matters specifically for the paid CPA story (OKR 1). When both mobile and desktop Lighthouse fall, paid Quality Score on both engines drops together — which raises CPC even when bid strategy is unchanged. The Bing CPA worsening (+79%) and Google Search CPA worsening (+14% on the campaign) are consistent with site-speed Quality Score pressure, not just a bidding-mix issue. Fixing the regression is partially a paid-CPA fix.

Holding

CLS, SEO, Accessibility All Still Strong

Mobile CLS 0.000, SEO 100/100, Accessibility 97/100. The page loads slowly but renders cleanly when it does. The performance issues are isolated to JavaScript loading, not structural page or HTML problems — which means the fix is targeted (find and defer one or two scripts), not a rebuild.

What Needs Help (US)

Items that show up in the data this cycle as concerns or untapped levers, organized so the OKR 1 paid story comes first (most pressing operational decision) and the OKR 2 / OKR 3 structural gaps follow.

OKR 1 — Pressing

Bing Ads Doubled Spend But CPA Worsened 79% — the Scale-Up Broke Efficiency

Issue #2 celebrated Bing Search NORAM as the best paid story of the period: 22x scale-up with CPA improving 21%. This cycle, the campaign-level data tells a different story: spend roughly doubled across all three Bing NORAM campaigns (Branded +94%, Search +148%, Competitors +155%) but CPA worsened on each one. Branded CPA $147 → $224 (+52%), Search $58 → $113 (+95%), Competitors $113 → $277 (+145%). The campaign that worked at $9K/period is showing diminishing returns at $23K/period.

Campaign (Bing US) Spend Δ Clicks Δ Conv Δ CPA Now CPA Δ
B. Branded NORAM +94% -16% +27% $224 +52%
B. Search NORAM +148% +61% +26% $113 +95%
B. Competitors NORAM +155% +11% +3.4% $277 +145%
Bing P-Max NORAM -44% -40% Flat $71 -45%

For account-team review (Action #2): the previous scale point produced the strongest Bing CPA we've measured; the current scale is producing the worst. The +22% conversion lift from doubling spend doesn't appear to justify the +119% spend increase, but we don't have visibility into bid strategy, dayparting, or recent creative changes. Recommend the team running the account look at the data and decide whether to hold, pull back, or reallocate.

OKR 1 — Diagnostic

Google Search NORAM CPA Also Worsened (+14%) — Likely Quality Score

Google Ads US campaign-level breakdown:

Campaign (Google US) Spend Δ Conv Δ CPA Now CPA Δ
0. Branded - NORAM -3.1% +2.8% 86 NOK -5.5%
1. Search - NORAM +0.3% -12.2% 104 NOK +14.0%
2. Competitors - NORAM +65% +34% 255 NOK +24%
3. P-Max - NORAM -15.7% -11.8% 159 NOK -4.7%

Google Search NORAM CPA worsened 14% on flat spend — clicks fell -27% but conversions only -12%, suggesting weaker click quality (or fewer clicks at any given quality threshold). This pattern is also consistent with site-speed Quality Score pressure (see Section 7). Google Competitors NORAM had its spend pushed up 65% but the marginal click is much more expensive (CPA +24%) — suggests bidding into less qualified auction inventory.

Bing Webmaster Tools

3,200 Technical SEO Errors Across 2,800 Pages

Bing Webmaster Tools' Recommendations panel (per the screenshot Jo shared) flags 3,200 errors across 2,800 pages: 36 high-severity, 1,900 moderate, 1,300 low. The largest single buckets are 801 pages with identical meta descriptions, 797 pages with identical titles, and 261 pages with too-short titles — almost certainly the template gallery (which we know has ~1,600 pages receiving impressions). Templated meta on a large gallery is a fixable issue: pattern-based titles like "{Template Name} Floor Plan — {Sq Ft} sq ft, {Bedrooms}BR | RoomSketcher" would resolve hundreds of pages at once. This ties directly to the OKR 2 "Optimize FPG" initiative. Useful signal that Bing's view of the site is being held back by a fixable structural issue.

OKR 2 — Visible Externally

Three Q2 Initiative Pages Are Not Yet Indexed by Google

Search Console URL Inspection: roomsketcher.com/floor-plan-creator/ — "URL is unknown to Google." roomsketcher.com/affiliate/ — same. Zero impressions for "affiliate" or "floorcapture" queries from US in this 14-day window. The three Q2 initiatives that an external search audit can detect ("Floor Plan Creator Action Plan," "Affiliate Pilot," "FloorCapture Comparisons") have not shipped yet from Google's perspective. Per Section 5, three of four Q2-OKR-named competitors already have a dedicated creator page — the cost of slippage is the asymmetric authority they're accumulating on the exact term.

OKR 2 — Still Open

Bing US Organic Continued to Slip (-32% This Cycle)

Bing US organic sessions dropped from 114/day to 78/day. This is a continuation of the trend flagged last cycle (-18%), now at -32% over two cycles combined. The same Bing index powers Copilot — but Copilot click-throughs grew 2.6x. The likely interpretation: Bing's organic SERP for floor-plan terms has shifted to favor competitor pages, while Copilot's grounding logic still pulls authoritative reference content from the site. The fix is the Bing Webmaster Tools cleanup above plus targeted refresh of the top 10 Bing-traffic pages.

Still Open

No US Reddit or Quora Presence (Perplexity Capped Until Then)

Perplexity held flat this cycle at 45 US sessions. Perplexity cites Reddit at 6.1x the rate of YouTube. Until there's visible RoomSketcher discussion in r/InteriorDesign (3.8M), r/RealEstate (1.5M), r/architecture (1.2M), r/HomeImprovement (5.4M), r/floorplan, the engine is structurally capped from the brand's side. This belongs in OKR 2's "expand SoMe & 3rd party platforms" initiative.

Still Open

Blog Content Needs AEO Formatting Pass

Top 20 US-traffic blog posts (e.g., /blog/floor-plan-symbols/, /blog/electrical-symbols/, /blog/ada-bathroom-requirements/, /blog/floor-plan-dimensions/) are all in the Copilot citation top-10 from last issue. A systematic AEO retrofit (FAQ schema, Q&A blocks, structured data) on the top 20 would compound the Copilot growth and likely lift Gemini and Claude further. Low-effort, high-leverage. This pairs with OKR 3's "Credentialing Update" if the byline / "About RoomSketcher" snippet is added at the same time.

Market Context

No new market-size data this cycle — carrying forward the category baseline. Two industry-trend updates worth noting given the Q2 OKRs.

Market Size (2024)
~$1.2B
Floor plan software category
Projected (2032–33)
$2.5–3.5B
8–9 year forecast range
CAGR
9.5–12.5%
Compound annual growth rate
Market Trend

Dedicated Topic Pages Are Becoming Table Stakes

SmartDraw, Planner 5D, and now Cedreo all have dedicated /floor-plan-creator/-style URLs. Floorplanner, Homestyler, and Canva still don't. The category is splitting into "topic-page-optimized" and "homepage-only" players. RoomSketcher's planned page closes the gap with the topic-optimized cohort. Beyond the immediate ranking lift, having the page also makes the brand discoverable in AI tool comparisons (LLMs cite specific URLs more often than they cite brands generically) — reinforcing OKR 2's GEO/LLM goal.

Market Trend

"Hybrid AI" Messaging Continues to Spread

SmartDraw's "Works with ChatGPT & Claude" headline was unique two cycles ago. Planner 5D now leads its homepage with three AI features. Expect Cedreo and Floorplanner to follow within the quarter. RoomSketcher's AI Convert is a stronger product proof point than anything competitors are messaging — the OKR 3 "Credentialing Update" is well-timed to lock in that positioning.

Positioning

RoomSketcher Is Well-Positioned for the US Market

#1 in multiple US editorial reviews, strong AI feature (AI Convert), established brand presence in US AI search (ChatGPT 60%, Copilot growing 2.6x). All-source US conversion volume up double-digits this cycle. The foundation is stronger than the paid efficiency story alone implies.

Next Steps Before Next Call

Action items to run before the next biweekly call (May 18, 2026). Each is tagged with the Q2 OKR objective it serves. Ordered roughly by sequence — items 1-3 unblock the rest.

OBJ 1OBJ 2KWORQ — Ship P0 Hero Image Fixes (Mobile LCP)

Diagnosis is complete (Section 7). The mobile LCP element is the homepage hero image, which is mis-flagged: loading="lazy" + no fetchpriority="high" + wrong sizes attribute. Three near-zero-risk fixes should reclaim ~2.5s of LCP:

  • Remove loading="lazy" on the hero <img> (set eager)
  • Add fetchpriority="high" on the same image
  • Replace the sizes attribute so mobile picks a smaller srcset entry (saves ~26KB on mobile)

P1 (defer Forethought chat widget, audit GTM) and P2 (conditional block CSS, drop wp-polyfill, dequeue Gravity Forms CSS on homepage) are queued for the next two cycles. Section 7 has the full plan.

Owner: Kworq  |  Outcome: mobile LCP drops ~2.5s in this cycle; mobile Lighthouse should move from 45 toward the mid-60s once P0 ships  |  Affects OKR 1 (Quality Score / paid CPA) + OKR 2 (organic ranking)

OBJ 1Account Team to Review Bing CPA at Current Scale

Surfacing the finding for the team running the account: Bing US spend roughly doubled this period across all three NORAM campaigns, and CPA worsened on every one (Branded $147 → $224, Search $58 → $113, Competitors $113 → $277). Section 8 has the full breakdown. The previous scale point produced the strongest Bing CPA we've measured; the current scale is producing the worst. Worth the account team's review — whether the right move is to hold scale and wait, pull back, or reallocate within Bing is theirs to decide. Happy to pull additional cuts of the data on request.

Owner: RoomSketcher paid media team  |  Outcome: account team has reviewed the divergence and decided the next move  |  Direct OKR 1 KR

OBJ 2Ship the "Floor Plan Creator" Landing Page (v1)

Direct OKR 2 initiative (#1 on Jo's slide). Three of four Q2-OKR-named competitors (SmartDraw, Planner 5D, Cedreo) already own dedicated pages on the exact term — RoomSketcher is the only holdout. Even a v1 page at roomsketcher.com/floor-plan-creator/ with the existing screenshots and the "free" modifier in the H1 locks in the 16.8 position before competitor pages consolidate further authority. Sub-sections for high-converting long-tail variants (free, app, restaurant, wedding, easy) are listed in Section 4.

Owner: RoomSketcher  |  Outcome: dedicated page live, compounds existing organic momentum  |  Direct OKR 2 initiative

OBJ 2Fix Duplicate Titles & Meta Descriptions on the Template Gallery

Bing Webmaster Tools flags 801 pages with identical meta descriptions and 797 with identical titles — almost certainly the template gallery. Pattern-based templated metadata (e.g., "{Template Name} Floor Plan — {Sq Ft} sq ft, {Bedrooms} BR | RoomSketcher") resolves hundreds of pages at once via WordPress template logic. Direct contributor to the "Optimize FPG" Q2 initiative and to the Bing organic recovery (-32% this cycle).

Owner: WP admin / SEO  |  Outcome: ~1,600 gallery pages with unique meta  |  OKR 2 "Optimize FPG"

OBJ 1Account Team to Look Into Google vs Bing Competitors NORAM Divergence

Surfacing the divergence for the team running the accounts: Google Competitors NORAM converted +34% on +65% spend (CPA +24%). Bing Competitors NORAM only +3% conversions on +155% spend (CPA +145%). Same campaign theme, very different efficiency. We don't have visibility into the creative or landing-page configuration on either side — recommend the account team take a look at whether the two are still aligned and whether anything specific to Bing is dragging Quality Score.

Owner: RoomSketcher paid media team  |  Outcome: divergence understood and any cross-engine drift addressed

OBJ 3Identify the 5 "Key Pages" for the Audit & Update Initiative

OKR 3's "Key Page Audit & Update" initiative needs a defined target list before it can ship. Recommend: homepage, /pricing/, /features/roomsketcher-app/, /features/draw-floor-plans/, and the /blog/best-floor-plan-software-tools/ comparison page. The first four are top-3 GSC pages by clicks; the comparison page is the ranking workhorse for "best/floor plan software." Also confirms which pages are in scope before the credentialing update lands.

Owner: RoomSketcher  |  Outcome: defined scope, audit can start  |  Direct OKR 3 initiative

OBJ 2Add FAQ Schema & Q&A Blocks to Top 5 AEO Pages

Top Copilot-cited pages (floor-plan-symbols, electrical-symbols, ada-bathroom-requirements, floor-plan-dimensions, gross-floor-area-gfa) drive most of the Microsoft-side citation volume. Adding FAQ schema and clean Q&A subheads to these five would compound the Copilot growth (+156% this cycle) and likely lift Gemini (+16%) and Claude (+86%) further. Five-page pilot first, then scale to 20 if measurable lift in next cycle.

Owner: RoomSketcher  |  Outcome: AEO formatting on the highest-leverage pages  |  Supports OKR 2 "#1 in LLMs"

Terms Used in This Report

SEO = Search Engine Optimization — ranking in Google/Bing traditional search results.
AEO = Answer Engine Optimization — optimizing content to get cited by AI search engines (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Google AI Overviews).
GEO = Generative Engine Optimization — same goal as AEO, different name. Both describe getting your brand recommended in AI-generated answers.
GSC = Google Search Console — Google's tool showing how your site appears in search results (impressions, clicks, position).
FPG = Floor Plan Gallery — the /floor-plan-gallery/ section of the site (~1,600 template pages).
LCP = Largest Contentful Paint — how long the main content of a page takes to appear. Google's most important speed metric.
CLS = Cumulative Layout Shift — how much the page "jumps around" during loading.
CTR = Click-Through Rate — percentage of people who click after seeing your listing.
CPC = Cost Per Click — what you pay per click on ads.
CPA = Cost Per Acquisition — ad spend divided by conversions. If spend grows faster than conversions, CPA rises.
P-Max = Performance Max — AI-driven campaign type running across Search, Display, YouTube, and more.
OKR = Objectives & Key Results — the quarterly goal framework Jo's team uses (slide deck shared March '26).