Google Ads Search Terms Report: How to Read It

The Google Ads search terms report shows what people really typed into Google before they clicked your ad. Find it under Campaigns > Insights and reports > Search terms. Sort it by cost, mark every term that spent money and never sold, and add the word behind it as a negative keyword. Besides Scaley, I run ZenoX Media, a Google Ads agency, and this report is where we see store accounts leak first. Your keywords and the searches they really match are rarely the same.

Keywords vs Search Terms: What Is the Difference?

Google's own definitions:

• A keyword is "a word or set of words that Google Ads advertisers can add to a given ad group."
• A search term is "a word or set of words a person enters when searching on Google or one of our Search Network sites."

You add one keyword. Google matches it to many searches. Broad match reaches furthest, phrase match less, exact match least. Our match types guide shows what each one catches.

So a keyword like trail running shoes can pull in "trail running shoes women", which can sell. It can also pull in "free trail running shoes", which never buys. Both show up under the same keyword. Only the search terms report splits them apart.

Where to Find Search Terms in Google Ads

1. Select Campaigns in the left menu.
2. Open Insights and reports, then Search terms.
3. Pick a date range at the top. 30 days is a good start. Use 90 days if you spend little, so each term has enough clicks to judge.
4. Click Columns and add Cost, Conversions and Conv. value. Without these you only see clicks.

The Match type column tells you, in Google's words, "how closely the search terms that triggered your ads on Google are related to the actual keywords." Lots of broad match rows full of junk is a sign your broad keywords need tighter negatives.

What a Search Terms Report Looks Like: A Worked Example

The table below is an invented example for a made-up online store selling trail running shoes. No real client, no real account. The numbers are made up to show the pattern we see over and over in real store accounts.

The store sells trail running shoes online only, ships in the US, and can pay about $25 in ads for one sale. Last 30 days, top 10 terms by cost:

Add it up. The 10 terms cost $528.70. The 7 terms with zero sales cost $214.40. That is about 41% of this spend gone on searches that were never going to buy. Add "hiking boots" and the waste is $278.30, about 53%.

Look at what the waste has in common. Nobody typed something weird. They typed normal searches with one word that says they will not buy: free, used, repair, jobs, how to, near me, or a brand you do not stock. That one word is what you block.

"Wide fit" is not waste. It sold 4 times, so it earns its own keyword and its own ad. "Hiking boots" did sell once, but it cost $63.90 for that sale, about 2.5 times the $25 target. And the store does not sell boots. One sale does not save a term that costs more than a sale is worth.

How to Read the Report: Three Questions per Row

Go top to bottom by cost. For each term, ask:

1. Did it sell? If yes, keep it. If it sold a lot, add it as its own keyword so you can bid on it on purpose.
2. If not, did it spend more than one sale is worth? If you can pay $25 per sale and the term spent $25 with no sale, it has had its chance. Block it.
3. If it spent less, can it ever buy from you? "Free", "jobs", "repair" and "DIY" never buy a shoe, so block them now. A real product search with $6 spent and no sale gets more time.

Small terms add up. A long tail of $3 terms with no sales can cost more than your top waste row. Filter for Conversions = 0 and sort by cost to see the whole tail at once.

The Block-List Method: Turn Waste Into Negative Keywords

1. Block the word, not the whole search. Add "free" as a negative, not "free trail running shoes". One word stops every future version of that search.

2. Pick the right negative match type. Google's rules:

For single killer words like free or jobs, broad and phrase act the same. Use exact when the word is fine inside other searches but bad on its own.

3. Add plurals and spelling versions yourself. Google says: "Negative keywords won't match to close variants or other expansions." So "job" does not block "jobs". Add both.

4. Use a shared list. Words that are bad for every campaign go in one negative keyword list, applied to all campaigns. Google allows 20 lists per account, with up to 5,000 negatives each. Account-level negatives (up to 1,000) also reach Performance Max.

5. Check before you save. Google warns: "Make sure that your negative keywords don't overlap with your regular keywords." Blocking "women" in a store that sells women's shoes kills your best row. Google also warns that too many negatives can mean your ads "reach fewer customers."

6. Do it again next week. New searches show up all the time. New products bring new junk.

New to negatives? Start with what a negative keyword is. Need words to start your list? See negative keyword examples for ecommerce. For the other places spend leaks, see five places Google Ads wastes money. Want a quick check of the whole account first? Run the free Google Ads audit.

What the Search Terms Report Does Not Show

It hides rare searches. Google only lists terms "that a significant number of people have used." It drops the rest "to keep with our standards on data privacy." So the rows will not add up to your campaign total. The hidden part is real spend. You just cannot see the words.

It also says nothing about who you competed against for those searches. That lives in auction insights.

Search Terms in Shopping and Performance Max

Shopping has no keywords. Google says terms "matched to Dynamic Search Ads or Shopping targets won't return a keyword in the keywords field." The term is there. The keyword column is just empty. Your product titles do the keyword's job, so the report also shows which words belong in your feed. Our keyword research guide covers that.

Google's help page says the report also helps you find search terms from Performance Max. Read them the same way. Account-level negatives also reach Performance Max. For the full how-to, see Performance Max search terms and Performance Max negative keywords.

How Often Should You Check It?

Catch a bad term before it spends more than one sale is worth. If a term can burn your target cost per sale in three days, a monthly check is too slow.

Or Just Ask Which Terms to Block

The hard part is opening the report every week. A lot of store owners I talk to mean to, then skip it for a month.

That is an answer from Scaley, blurred because it is a real account. Scaley Media Buyer connects to your Google Ads read-only. Ask it "which search terms spent money and never sold this month?" and it answers from your live account. It only looks when you ask. It never scans on its own. It lists the terms that spent and never sold, and you can ask which word to block. It cannot change anything. You add the negatives yourself.

Two other ways in:

• Scaley Consultant connects nothing. Upload your search terms export or a screenshot and ask the same question.
• Scaley Suite finds the terms to block and adds each negative only after you say yes to that one change. It is a Google Ads automation tool that asks first.

Start the free trial and ask Scaley Media Buyer which terms to block. A card is required for the trial. Prices for all three are on the pricing page.

The example above is invented. The pattern in it comes from running store accounts at ZenoX.

Where These Facts Come From

Checked on 2026-11-03:

• About the search terms report, Google Ads Help - keyword and search term definitions, where the report lives, the Match type column, hidden low-volume terms, Shopping targets with no keyword, and the Performance Max note.
• About negative keywords, Google Ads Help - negative broad, phrase and exact behavior, no close variants, and the warning about too many negatives.
• Add negative keywords to campaigns, Google Ads Help - the overlap warning, 20 lists with 5,000 negatives each, the 1,000 account-level limit, and Performance Max support for account-level negatives.