How-to · Updated October 11, 2026
Fix keywords marked Low search volume in Google Ads
Updated October 11, 2026
15 minutes
Filter your search keywords by Status reason to find the ones marked Low search volume. Check whether a broader keyword in the same ad group already catches those searches. If none does, add a shorter version of two or three words as phrase or broad match. Google may reactivate the original if searches grow.
Before you start
- Standard or Admin access to the Google Ads account. Read-only access can view keywords and use Keyword Planner, but cannot add keywords.
- The words customers use for the service the keyword was meant to catch, such as "teeth whitening" rather than a long description of one treatment.
Find the keywords marked Low search volume
Google lists Low search volume under the Eligible (limited) status: the keyword is active but has so little search traffic that it is not eligible to show ads often.
- In Google Ads, click the Campaigns icon, open the Audiences, keywords, and content drop-down and click Search keywords.
- Click the filter icon, type Status reason and tick Low search volume, then click Apply. If that option is not offered, read the Status column instead: these keywords show Eligible (limited) with Low search volume.
- For each one, note its ad group and its Match type. Google says such a keyword may not be relevant to many searches, or may be too specific or unusual.
Check whether another keyword already catches the searches
If a broader keyword in the same ad group covers the same words, the searches are already being caught and nothing needs adding.
- Look in the same ad group for a shorter keyword with the same core words in phrase or broad match. Google says broader match types capture all the searches of narrower ones.
- Open the search terms report for the last 30 days with the Keyword column added. Searches that contain the low-volume keyword's words, listed against another keyword, show the demand is already covered.
- If it is covered, leave the low-volume keyword alone or remove it as housekeeping. It shows rarely, so it rarely costs anything either way.
Add a broader version that has searches
Google's own advice for this status is a more general variation, in phrase or broad match, checked against Keyword Planner.
- Cut the keyword down to the two or three words a customer would type, keeping the word that says what you sell.
- Open Keyword planner within the Tools menu, select Get search volume and forecasts, paste the shorter keyword and click Get started. Google says keywords with very low search volumes are not forecastable and return an error, which means the new version is still too narrow.
- Go back to Search keywords, click the plus button, and choose the same ad group in the Select an ad group window.
- Expand Keywords and type the new keyword: in quotes for phrase match, or with no formatting for broad match. Click Save.
Google says it is critical to use Smart Bidding with broad match. On manual bidding, phrase match is the more cautious step; that is a judgment, not Google's rule. Either way the broader keyword reaches more searches, so read the search terms report after a week and block the wrong ones.
Check it worked
After a week, open Search keywords again. The new keyword should show Eligible and start gathering impressions, and in the search terms report the searches the old keyword was meant for should now appear against the new one.
The original keyword may keep its Low search volume status. Google says it may be reactivated if searches for it increase.
A worked example
A software company has the exact match keyword [payroll software for restaurants with tip pooling], marked Low search volume. Its ad group has no broader keyword, and the search terms report shows nothing for it. The company adds "restaurant payroll software" as phrase match. Keyword Planner returns a forecast for the shorter keyword, and a week later it is showing ads. The example is an illustration, not a real account.
Why the searches may go to Performance Max instead
If the account also runs a Performance Max campaign, Google lists a keyword's low search volume status as one reason its searches can show through Performance Max instead of the Search campaign. A broader Search keyword that is eligible to serve gives the Search campaign a chance at those searches again. It does not guarantee them: Google says a Performance Max search theme identical to the search still takes priority over a phrase or broad keyword that is not identical.
Low search volume is not the same as paused for low activity
Low search volume is a limited status on an active keyword, and Google may lift it on its own. Keyword paused due to low activity is a pause Google may apply to a keyword over 13 months old that has had no impressions in the past 13 months. You can unpause such a keyword, and Google says it is paused again if it gets zero impressions in the next 3 months. A keyword paused that way can take the same fix: a broader version people actually search for.