If you want to know where your Google Ads budget is leaking, the search terms report will show you in under 10 minutes.
This is the first place I go in every account audit. It shows you exactly what people were searching when they saw your ad — not the keywords you’re targeting, but the actual queries that triggered your ads.
The gap between those two things is where the money goes.
What Is the Google Ads Search Terms Report?
The search terms report shows you the actual search queries that triggered your ads and resulted in clicks. It’s different from your keyword list, which shows you what you’re trying to match.
When you run broad or phrase match keywords, Google interprets your keywords and shows your ads for related queries. The search terms report shows you how Google interpreted your keywords — and sometimes the interpretation is creative.
I’ve seen ‘plumber near me’ keywords triggering ads for plumbing school programs. ‘Personal injury attorney’ triggering ads for people searching ‘personal injury settlement calculator’ (someone trying to estimate their settlement, not hire a lawyer). The clicks happen. The money is spent. Nobody was ever going to buy.
How Do You Access the Search Terms Report?
In Google Ads: Keywords → Search terms. Or navigate directly under the Keywords section in the left menu.
Set your date range to at least the last 30 days. 90 days gives you more data to work with.
How to Audit Your Search Terms Report in 10 Minutes
Step 1: Sort by cost, descending. You want to see where the money is going first. The high-cost queries at the top deserve the most scrutiny.
Step 2: Scan for queries that don’t match your service. Read the actual search queries. Ask: would someone searching this query be a potential customer? Yes or no.
Step 3: Add irrelevant queries as negative keywords. Any query that doesn’t match your target customer, add as an exact match negative keyword immediately. Do it in bulk — select all the irrelevant ones and add them in one action.
Step 4: Look for patterns. Are there categories of irrelevant queries showing up? Informational searches when you want transactional? Job seekers when you want buyers? That’s a signal about keyword match types or missing negatives at the campaign level.
Step 5: Look for queries worth adding as keywords. Sometimes you’ll find high-intent queries that are converting well but aren’t in your keyword list. Add those as exact match keywords with dedicated ad copy.
How Much Wasted Spend Should You Expect to Find?
In a typical audit of an account that hasn’t been actively managed: 20-40% of spend going to irrelevant queries is common. I’ve seen accounts over 50%.
In a well-managed account with a strong negative keyword list: under 10%, and that’s continuous — there will always be some percentage of spend on queries that aren’t perfect.
How Often Should You Review the Search Terms Report?
Weekly in the first 90 days of a new campaign. Monthly once you have a solid negative keyword list built out.
The work compounds. Every negative you add prevents future spend on that query. After 6-12 months of consistent review, you end up with a negative keyword list that represents the institutional knowledge of everything that doesn’t work for your business — and it’s one of the most valuable things in your account.