Search Terms Report

The search terms report shows the actual searches people typed that triggered your ads, which is a different thing from the keywords you chose.

You bid on keywords, but people do not search in your keywords, they search in their own messy words. The search terms report is where those two worlds meet. It lists what was really typed to trigger your ad, and it is the single most useful screen you have. This is where you catch the junk to add as negatives, and where you spot the searches converting so well that you promote them into keywords of their own.

If you only look at one report each week, make it this one. Sort by cost, read down the list, and your money tells you the truth. You will find searches you would never have guessed, some worth doubling down on, plenty worth blocking. Broad match especially only stays safe if you are reading this report and feeding what you learn back in.

Know its blind spot. For privacy reasons Google omits search terms that do not have enough query activity, so the report is incomplete by design. You cannot see every search you paid for, and a chunk of your spend sits behind terms that are simply never shown to you. Work the terms you can see, and treat the gap as a permanent fact of the platform.

The report tells you most of the truth, never all of it.