Google Ads search term reports reveal that broad match keywords typically pull 30-50% off-target traffic, representing the largest single source of controllable waste in most accounts. Categorizing search terms by intent (commercial, informational, navigational) and building negative keyword lists from irrelevant high-volume terms recovers 15-25% of wasted budget. Monthly search term reviews combined with negative keyword maintenance prevent waste accumulation and unlock 20-40% ROAS improvements.
Search terms analysis reveals the actual queries users typed that triggered your Google Ads. By analyzing intent, match type relevance, and performance patterns, you can identify high-value keywords to expand and wasteful terms to block. This granular visibility is critical for optimizing budget allocation, improving Quality Score, and reducing wasted spend across your account.
âś… Key Takeaways
- Search term reports contain the ground truth of user intent; analyzing top 50-100 terms usually reveals 30-50% of optimization opportunities
- Intent tagging (commercial, informational, navigational) helps categorize terms and predict conversion likelihood before testing
- Match type mismatch—broad match terms far from your keyword intent—is the #1 source of controllable waste in most accounts