Reading a Google Ads search terms report: what to exclude and what to keep

A search terms report shows the real searches behind your Ads clicks, and in a local service account a noticeable share of spend usually goes on searches for the wrong job, the wrong product or a DIY fix. On a five day report from one of our client accounts, we could see about A$55 of wasted clicks, which was 31 percent of the spend that Google shows by name. Nearly all of it came through broad and phrase match keywords, not through exact ones. The report also showed terms that looked wasteful and were not, which matters just as much.

What the report covered

The window was 1 to 5 October, for a local appliance repair business whose account spent about A$368 over those five days. Google lists search terms only above a privacy threshold, so the report named searches for 56 clicks and A$175 of spend. The remaining 63 clicks and A$193 sat under "other search terms" and could not be inspected. That is common. Any waste figure from this report is a floor, not a total.

Of the 375 rows, 42 had clicks.

The terms that were waste

These were searches for work the business does not do:

Those are eight of eleven wasteful terms, and all eleven came to roughly A$55 over five days. The business already had 22 negative keywords for coffee machines and 12 for vacuums, and searches for them still got through.

Why exact match negatives fall behind

Most of the waste came through close variants of phrase match keywords and through broad match, not through exact keywords. The account already held 706 negative keywords, mostly short exact-match fragments such as an exact phrase for aircon installation. That approach catches the precise search someone saw last month. It does not catch next month's variation, so the list keeps growing without closing the leak.

A more useful approach is to add a few negative words at the campaign level that cover whole categories: car, vehicle, vacuum, coffee, "how to", "cheap" and similar. A word excludes every search containing it, in any order, if added as a broad negative. Be careful, because a word can exclude something you do want. Check it against the list of terms that did convert before adding it.

The terms that looked like waste and were not

The report also contained searches a quick scan would exclude:

• Searches for parts, such as an oven element replacement for a particular model, a fridge door shelf, rangehood filters or gas cooktop knobs. This business sells spare parts as well as repairing, so those are customers.
• Searches naming a brand, such as Fisher and Paykel. Those are people looking for a repairer of that brand, which this business offers.
• Short, cheap-sounding terms like "cost of oven repair", which is a buyer asking a price.

So on this account there is a standing rule: do not add negatives for parts or spares. Whoever sets negatives needs to know the business's actual offer. A generic list copied from another appliance business would have blocked paying customers. We only found out because the owner told us in advance what the business sells.

How we handle changes

We do not change an account from the report alone. The process is:

1. Pull the report for at least a week, so a single odd day does not drive decisions.
2. Sort terms into keep, waste and unsure.
3. Check unsure terms against actual orders or enquiries.
4. Propose a list of negatives, each with the reason, and the owner approves each change before it goes in.
5. Review again after two weeks, looking for new leaks.

We also could not see what was in one shared negative list the account already used, because the page that lists its contents would not load, so we checked proposed terms against the keywords tab and let Ads warn us about duplicates. If you work with an agency, ask whether the list you are paying to maintain is documented somewhere you can read.

What to do on your own account

1. Open Campaigns, then Insights and reports, then Search terms, for the last 30 days.
2. Sort by cost, not clicks.
3. For each costly term, ask if it is the job you want. If not, add a negative.
4. Look at the match type column. If the waste comes through broad and phrase, the fix is in negatives and in tightening match types.
5. Keep a note of terms you must never exclude.

Where we fit

Search terms review is the repeating task in Ads management. With our Ads management add-on at $549 a month, month to month, you keep your own Google Ads account, you pay Google directly for clicks, and we handle the review and make changes with your approval. See pricing for the rest of what we offer. The conversion numbers behind judging an account are covered in why Google Ads can report ten times your real leads.