So, you analyzed your industry and competitors, come up with keywords to suit your services or products and built a functional website with good, clean copy utilizing these keywords. Ad impressions and site visits have increased, as expected. You are done with Google Ads now, right?
Not quite.
The next step in the process is to review the Search Term report, which will tell you in detail which of the terms people typed resulted in actual ad clicks. This is a critical aspect of any Google Ads campaign strategy because the Search Term report is your main resource in deciding which keywords to pause and which to continue sponsoring.
Here’s how to check the report:
- From your Google Ads account, select Keywords.
- Select Search Terms.
Like data reports in Google Analytics, this report will indicate the search terms people typed, how many times people used each term and saw your ad as a result, how many times each term produced a click, and more.
Why You Should Check this Report
If you are running Google Ads, it is important to understand which search terms resulted in clicks to your ads. The process of optimizing your keywords continues long after the initial launch of a search campaign, and it includes looking at historical data to identify which keywords have been productive and which have been a waste of advertising dollars.
However, be aware that this report will not give you a complete list. As Google recently stated, “…due to privacy and volume requirements, the system will only show stats for data that is deemed as ‘significant’ as you can see in the info icon in the Search Terms report. Because of this we may not always see the exact search term for every click reported in the keywords section…”
Although the Search Terms report is not complete, it does shed light on how people are seeing your ads.
Review the Search Terms Report Regularly
Check this report regularly, as new search terms are consistently used.
Add Bad Search Terms as Negative Keywords
If you check the report often enough, you will soon notice that some search terms are not producing the desired results. Add these terms as negative keywords to stop them from producing useless clicks.
The number of irrelevant keywords will depend on your keyword strategy. For example, if you use mostly broad match keywords, the chance of your ad appearing for an irrelevant search term is much higher than it would be for phrase match keywords.
By checking the Search Terms Report regularly, you will be able to identify what search terms are triggering your ads, and can limit irrelevant terms by adding those terms as negative.
If this seems like too much effort, you can always hire us to help you!
