A successful Google Ads campaign entails having more than a great ad copy–it starts with ensuring your ads show up in front of users who actually need what you are offering.
But how do you gain access to this information? How can advertisers know what search queries are triggering their ads?
Enter, Google Ads search term report.
A search term report is a feature on Google Ads that lists specific search queries or terms that users typed into Google, triggering the display of your ad. It gives you a peek into actual search queries your potential customers are looking up that led them to see your ad.
With the data from the google ads search terms report advertisers can target relevant profitable keywords, discover negative keywords, and understand user intent to optimize their Google Ads campaigns.
In this blog, we will explore how to access the Google Ads search terms report, how to use it, the benefits, the difference between search terms and keywords and more.
Table of Contents
- What is Google Ads Search Terms Report?
- How to Access the Search Terms Report in Google Ads?
- Differences Between Search Terms and Keywords
- How to Use the Search Terms Report to Improve Ad Performance?
- Benefits of Using the Google Ads Search Terms Report
- Search Terms Report for Performance Max Campaigns
- Monitoring and Exporting Your Search Terms Report
- Conclusion & Key Takeaways
- FAQs
What is Google Ads Search Terms Report?
A search terms report in Google Ads helps advertisers understand how their ads are performing based on the actual searches that triggered their ads within the Search Network.
Use the data in the search terms report to refine targeting, optimize ad copy, and improve overall campaign performance. Advertisers can identify relevant searches to target, as well underperforming or irrelevant searches to exclude (negative keywords).
An example of a Search Terms Report on Google Ads
The report reveals:
- Search term – The actual query the user typed during the search that led to the display of your ad.
- Match type – Match type indicates the closeness of the search term that triggered your ad to the targeted keyword(s). The three match types are exact match, phrase match and broad match.
- Added/excluded – Added means the search terms are added to your ad group as keywords. Excluded means the search terms are being used as negative keywords by a campaign or ad group. These terms did trigger ads at one point, though they’ve since been excluded via negative keyword settings. None indicates the search terms have not been added as keywords or negative keywords.
- Interactions – The interactions denote the main action associated with an ad format and help determine if your ads meet your performance goals. For example, the action for a text ad and Shopping ads would be a click or views or video ads.
Other metrics that the search terms report reveals:
Campaign, Ad group, Average cost-per-view, Impressions, Interaction rate, Average cost, Cost, Campaign type, Conversion rate, Conversions and Cost per conversion.
| The search terms report and search terms insights are two different datasets. Search term insights organizes search terms into broader themes and subthemes by analyzing user intent and product/service relevance. Search terms report lists the exact search queries that triggered your ads. |
How to Access the Search Terms Report in Google Ads?
Accessing the search terms report in Google Ads is a simple process. Follow the steps below to access it.
Step 1: Go to your Google Ads account > Insights and reports > Search terms
Step 2: And done! You will have access to all the search terms triggering your ads.
Differences Between Search Terms and Keywords
Advertisers often use the phrases “search terms” and “keywords” interchangeably. While the core concept might be the same, the two phrases have different meanings.
Keywords are words and phrases that advertisers target and bid on in their Google Ad campaigns. The keywords define which searches they want to trigger their ads.
Search terms on the other hand are the actual queries that users type into Google Search.
Let’s understand the difference between the two through an example.
You are an advertiser selling shoes and running a Google Ads campaign . The keywords you target are “running shoes”, “sports shoes”, “best running shoes”.
A user looking for running shoes performs a Google search “running shoes for beginners”.
Now based on this, Google will match your ads to possible search terms (the user query). Google uses something called “keyword matching” to facilitate this process.
Keyword matching determines how closely a user’s search query must match your target keyword to trigger your ad.
Google offers 3 main match types: broad match, phrase match, and exact match. Broad match may show your ads on searches related to your keywords, phrase match is when the search includes the meaning of your keyword, and exact match is when searches have the same intent or meaning as the keyword.
| Search Term (User Query) | Matched Keyword | Match Type |
| running shoes | [running shoes] | Exact Match |
| buy running shoes online | “running shoes” | Phrase Match |
| best shoes for jogging | red running shoes | Broad Match |
Note: Spelling mistakes or punctuation marks can match any of the keyword match types. Advertisers don’t have to manually add misspelled words or punctuation versions to their keyword list or negative keyword list. Google’s smart matching already ensures your ads still show for relevant searches, even if there are typos.
How to Use the Search Terms Report to Improve Ad Performance?
So how does one actually use the search terms report to optimize their Google Ads campaigns? The search terms report in google ads is a treasure trove of data and can increase conversions and your Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) if used correctly.
The google ads search terms report also offers a variety of filters to help you navigate through the large volume of data.
Here are a few actionable tips to leverage the search terms report to boost campaign performance:
Identify High Performing and New Keyword Opportunities
With the Google Ads search terms report, you can uncover new and relevant keywords that you might not have considered before. Beyond this, you can identify certain keywords that are driving more conversions.
Convert top-performing search queries found in the report into exact match keywords in your campaign. This will help ensure your ads appear for high-intent searches, improve ad relevance, and increase your chances of driving qualified traffic at a lower cost.
The report also reveals the conversions, conversion rate and cost per conversion for the search term. These metrics can help you pinpoint lucrative opportunities.
Add these newly discovered keywords to your Google Ads campaigns to help you reach a wider audience–ensuring you are capturing all relevant and profitable searches.
| Pro Tip: When identifying keyword opportunities, try asking yourself the following questions: Which search queries are actually driving conversions? Which queries are unrelated or misaligned with your product or service? Which terms are generating high impressions but failing to attract clicks? How user searches are being matched to your current keywords and ad groups? |
Implementing Negative Keywords
Identify search terms that are not relevant to your business and add them as negative keywords. Negative keywords are words or phrases you add to ensure your ads don’t appear for irrelevant or unwanted search queries.
This filters out irrelevant traffic ensuring your ads reach the most relevant audience, improving your ad campaign’s efficiency, Quality Score, and ROI. They also prevent wasted ad spend on non-converting queries.
To add negative keywords to your Google Ads campaigns:
- Account level – Admin > Account settings > Negative keywords
- Campaign level – Audiences, keywords, and content > Keywords > Negative keywords
| Pro Tip: Look for high-cost, low-conversion terms and then add them as Negative Keywords. |
Refining Ad Copy and Landing Pages
Using the search terms uncovered in the report, advertisers can refine or tailor their ad copy to be more relevant to their needs, increasing click-through rates.
If certain search terms show that users are looking for specific benefits or keywords, you can incorporate those elements into your Google Ads copy.
Furthermore, by understanding the search terms that are actively bringing in conversions you can optimize your landing pages for better alignment with user intent and improve relevance.
Essentially, you need to look for search terms with specific intent that don’t quite match the content of your landing page. It can reveal user intent that you are not serving well on your current landing pages. It could also mean you might have to create new and focused landing pages.
Optimizing Budget Allocation & Beyond
The search terms report goes beyond revealing the terms that triggered your ads. It also reveals important corresponding metrics of the terms such as CTR, conversions, cost per conversion, and ROAS (calculated as – conversion value/cost), helping you make smarter budget decisions.
Use the same metrics to bid on better keywords and create dedicated campaigns or ad groups for keywords driving conversions.
So, for example,
Let’s say the search term “buy trail running shoes online” shows:
- CTR: 7.5%
- Conversion rate: 9%
- Cost per conversion: $8
- Conversion Value: $360
- ROAS: 4.5x
From these metrics, we can infer that the search term is driving qualified traffic and solid returns.
Thus, the advertiser should:
- Add it as a keyword with match type (phrase or exact match keyword) so they can control the bidding, ad copy, and ensure visibility.
- Create a dedicated ad group or campaign because high performing terms should have custom ads and focused landing pages.
- Increase budget allocation to a proven profitable term.
Create New Campaigns and Ad Groups
One of the most overlooked benefits of the Google Ads search terms report is its ability to reveal how customers actually search for your product or service. Often, there is a misalignment with how your audience is searching for your product vs how the company is describing their product or service.
The search term report can help bridge this gap. Identify similar themes or intents in the search terms report in google ads, and then group them together by creating an ad group or a new campaign altogether. Grouping by intent or theme allows for smarter bidding strategies, since not all keywords hold equal value.
Align the messaging to how users describe their needs and helps adjust your keyword strategy to align with true user language, not assumptions.This will help improve both keyword performance and product positioning.
Benefits of Using the Google Ads Search Terms Report
Applying the above mentioned strategies can significantly strengthen your overall advertising performance. Here’s how they make an impact:
Improved Targeting & Quality Score
When you refine your keyword targeting strategy based on the data and insights from the Google Ads search terms report, you reach a highly relevant audience. An audience that is actually interested in what you are offering.
By discovering high intent terms and filtering out irrelevant queries, advertisers can improve audience quality and ad efficiency. This in turn also improves your Quality Score–a better quality score also means lower CPC and improved ad rank. A Quality Score is how close a user search is to your ad copy and landing page.
Cost Savings
The google ads search terms report helps identify negative keywords which reduces wasted ad spend. By focusing your Google Ads budget on high converting terms, you decrease CPC and overall ad costs.
When you identify high-performing search terms and allocate more budget to them, you’re optimizing spend for maximum returns. It leads to more efficient bidding and better overall campaign performance. Ultimately, you’re driving more conversions without increasing your ad spend.
This targeted approach leads to higher ROI and more effective marketing within the same budget.
Enhanced ROAS
When you refine your campaigns based on the insights from the search terms report you spend your budget more effectively. Advertisers make data driven decisions which contribute to campaign success.
By investing in high performing search terms, advertisers allocate resources more effectively, concentrate on the areas that promise the highest ROAS. Adapting your campaigns to consumer behavior and trends in real time ensures relevancy. All of these elements together achieve sustained growth and profitability.
Search Terms Report for Performance Max Campaigns
Performance Max campaigns previously were not included in the search terms reports. This changed in March 2025 when Google rolled out a significant update for PMax campaigns that allowed advertisers more transparency and control over their ad placements. PMax search terms became available in the standard search terms report.
Now advertisers can view search terms of their PMax campaigns. The process is the same–the only extra step is selecting the PMax campaign from the campaigns section. Et viola! You can access the search terms that are triggering your PMax campaigns.
Monitoring and Exporting Your Search Terms Report
An advertiser’s task does not end simply by adding newly discovered keywords from the search terms report to their campaigns. They have to regularly monitor the report for ongoing optimization. Essentiall,y they should add monitoring the report as part of their daily tasks and Google Ads audit.
Additionally, they can also export the report to collect historical data. What this does is it helps build a comprehensive dataset for trend analysis and benchmarking.
Why regularly monitor the Google Ads search terms report?
- By regularly monitoring the report you can uncover specific search queries that are driving traffic–allowing you to capitalize on high performing terms fast.
- Identifying irrelevant keywords or underperforming search terms can help you catch wasted ad spend early.
- Frequent checks keep your targeting aligned. What worked last month may not work now. Audience behavior is continually changing. Continuous analysis helps you adapt your content and ads to meet evolving search patterns.
| 💡 Pro Tips: Set a weekly review habit, especially if you’re running broad or phrase match campaigns. Use filters in the report to quickly spot search terms with high spend but low conversions. Tag and label newly discovered high-ROAS terms to track them over time. Watch for intent shifts; some terms may look relevant but indicate top-of-the-funnel behavior, not purchase readiness. Use match type analysis to understand how Google is matching your keywords to queries and adjust accordingly. |
Best Practices for Using Exported Data for Analysis:
- Collect historical data consistently for trend analysis.
- Group and segment keywords by relevance and performance (branded vs. non-branded, high traffic vs. low traffic) to gain actionable insights. You can also group them by intent to identify negative keywords.
- Break down data by impressions, clicks, conversions, CTR, and cost to identify high-performing and underperforming search terms.
- Use findings to adjust match types, bidding strategies, ad copy, and landing page relevance.
- Track how certain queries perform week-over-week or month-over-month to uncover seasonality and shifting intent.
Conclusion & Key Takeaways
Using the insights from the Google Ads search terms report can transform your marketing strategy. Use the tool to make data-driven decisions, optimize your ad spend, and engage more effectively with your target audience on Google Ads.
Let’s recap what we have learned in this blog.
Key Takeaways:
- The search terms report uncovers the actual user queries that are triggering your ads.
- Use the report to identify new keyword opportunities. Add the identified terms to your keyword list. You can create new ad groups or campaigns targeting those keywords to effectively spend your budget.
- Add high-performing terms as exact match keywords.
- Improve ad copy and landing pages by aligning them with real user intent and search behavior.
- High cost and low clicks terms are wasting your budget.
- Add irrelevant searches as negative keywords.
- Regularly monitor the search terms report at least once a week.
- Export the data to create historical data to identify emerging trends and purchase intent. Adjust your strategy accordingly based on the analysis.
Implement these strategies in your next Google Ads campaign for improved results. Harness the full potential of the search terms report to drive your ad success and ROI.
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FAQs
What is the main purpose of the search terms report in Google Ads?
The main purpose of the search terms report in Google Ads is to show which queries triggered your ads. It helps identify high-performing keywords and eliminate irrelevant ones to optimize targeting and budget.
How can I use the search terms report to optimize my ad copy?
Incorporate high-performing search terms into your ad copy to increase relevance and click-through rates.
What should I do if I find irrelevant search terms in my report?
Add them as negative keywords to prevent these queries from triggering your ads. Negative keywords can be added at the account or campaign level.
Why are some search terms missing from my report?
Google may not display all terms due to privacy thresholds. Increase campaign traffic to capture more data.
How often should I review the Google Ads search terms report?
Analyze the report at least weekly to maintain effective campaigns.
How do I handle search terms with high impressions but low clicks?
Review ad copy for alignment with user intent and adjust messaging or landing pages.
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