Search terms report
search query report / search terms
The search terms report lists the actual things people typed before your ad appeared, next to what each one cost. It is where you find out whether you are paying for searches you would never want. Google omits low volume terms from it for privacy, so it is not a complete list.
If you want to know what your advertising money actually bought, this is the report to open. Google describes it as a way to see how your ads performed when triggered by actual searches, and it is the only place the two halves sit side by side: the real words somebody typed, and what that click cost you.
The distinction it rests on trips up almost everybody. Google puts it plainly: a search term is what a person entered, while a keyword is what an advertiser added to an ad group to target them. You choose keywords. You do not choose search terms. The report is where you see how far apart those two things drifted.
Now the part that matters most, and that very few explanations mention. This report is not a full accounting. Google states that some search terms without enough query activity are omitted from the report to keep with its standards on data privacy. So there is spend in your account that you cannot see itemized, no matter how carefully you read. That is not a bug and it is not somebody hiding something from you, but it does mean the report is a sample of your waste rather than a complete ledger of it.
In practice
A commercial cleaning company opens the report and finds it paid for searches like cleaning jobs near me and how to start a cleaning business. Both look plausible next to a keyword like cleaning services. Neither will ever hire anybody. Those two terms are candidates to exclude, and the money they took is the clearest argument for reading this report every month rather than once a year.
Not the same as
- Keywords
- Keywords are the words you added. Search terms are the words real people typed. The report exists precisely because they are not the same list.
- Search volume data
- This is your account's own triggered searches, not a picture of total demand in your market.
Why it matters to you
This is the one report that shows waste in words you already understand, with no jargon in the way. You do not need to know anything about bidding to look at a line that says somebody searched for a job at your company, clicked your ad, and cost you money. It is also the fastest way to judge whether whoever runs your account is actually watching it.
What to ask or check
- 01Can I see the search terms report for last month, sorted by cost?
- 02Which of these terms have already been excluded, and when?
- 03How much of the spend sits in terms the report does not itemize?
What people get wrong
That the report shows everything you paid for. Google omits terms without enough query activity for privacy reasons, so some spend is never itemized.
Where you will see it
In Google Ads under the Search terms view for a campaign or ad group, and as an equivalent report in Microsoft Advertising.