How to Analyze Search Terms Reports for Better ROI

The search terms report shows you the actual queries people typed before clicking your ads. It is the most actionable report in Google Ads — revealing both where you are wasting money and where you are missing opportunities. This guide covers a systematic approach to extracting maximum value from this data.

Key Takeaways

• Sort by cost descending to find the highest-impact waste first
• Distinguish between irrelevant terms (add as negatives) and relevant terms that underperform (adjust landing pages or bids)
• High-converting search terms you are not explicitly targeting should become their own ad groups
• Build negative keyword lists from patterns, not individual terms
• Automate weekly reviews — manual processes get skipped when accounts scale

Introduction

Google Ads keywords are not what people search for. Your keyword “running shoes” might trigger ads for “best running shoes for beginners,” “running shoes repair near me,” or “running shoes meme.” The search terms report bridges this gap, showing you the real queries behind every click.

Accounts that do not review search terms regularly waste 15-30% of their budget on irrelevant clicks. Equally important, they miss expansion opportunities — high-performing queries that deserve dedicated ad groups with tailored landing pages.

The analysis process is straightforward but requires discipline. This guide provides a repeatable framework that works whether you manage one account or fifty.

Step 1: Export and Filter the Data

Start with a clean dataset that highlights the most impactful terms.

How to access the report:

1. In Google Ads, go to Insights and reports > Search terms
2. Set the date range to the last 30 days (14 days for accounts spending over $500/day)
3. Ensure you are viewing at the correct level — campaign or account, depending on your analysis scope
4. Click “Download” to export as CSV or Google Sheets

Essential columns to include:

Column	Purpose
Search term	The actual query
Campaign	Which campaign it triggered
Ad group	Which ad group matched
Match type	How the keyword matched the query
Impressions	Visibility volume
Clicks	Traffic driven
Cost	Money spent
Conversions	Actions completed
Conversion value	Revenue or lead value
Conv. rate	Efficiency metric

Initial filters to apply:

1. Sort by Cost descending — The most expensive terms have the most impact, positive or negative
2. Filter for clicks > 0 — Impressions-only terms are low priority for this analysis
3. Calculate CPA — Add a column: Cost / Conversions. Terms with CPA above 2x your target are red flags
4. Flag zero-conversion terms — Any term with spend above your target CPA and zero conversions is a candidate for immediate negative addition

Step 2: Identify and Categorize Waste

Not all non-converting terms are waste. Categorize each high-spend term to determine the right action.

Waste categories:

Category	Definition	Example	Action
Irrelevant	No relationship to your product/service	”running shoes drawing” for a shoe store	Add as negative immediately
Wrong intent	Related topic but wrong buying stage	”how to lace running shoes”	Add as negative or create content campaign
Competitor	Searching for a specific competitor	”Nike Pegasus review” for a non-Nike retailer	Add as negative or run competitor campaign
Geographic mismatch	Right product, wrong location	”running shoes London” for US-only business	Add location as negative
Too broad	Tangentially related but unlikely to convert	”shoes” for a running shoe specialist	Add as negative at this specificity level
Underperforming relevant	Relevant but CPA too high	”custom running shoes” with high CPA	Adjust bid, improve landing page, or add as negative

Pattern recognition:

Instead of adding individual terms as negatives, look for patterns:

• If “how to,” “tutorial,” “DIY,” and “guide” queries are all wasting spend, add these modifiers as negative keywords — they will block future variations automatically
• If competitor names appear repeatedly, create a comprehensive competitor negative list
• If location-based irrelevant queries appear, add a list of irrelevant locations

Quantify the waste:

Calculate total spend on irrelevant terms as a percentage of total campaign spend. This is your “waste rate.”

Waste Rate	Assessment	Priority
Under 5%	Healthy	Maintain current review cadence
5-15%	Moderate	Address top waste patterns
15-30%	Significant	Urgent negative keyword work needed
Over 30%	Critical	Match type and structure review needed

Step 3: Discover Expansion Opportunities

The search terms report is not just about cutting waste — it reveals what your audience actually searches for, which often differs from what you assumed.

Opportunity indicators:

1. High-converting terms not explicitly targeted — If “waterproof trail running shoes” converts at 5% but you only target “trail running shoes,” create a dedicated ad group for the waterproof variant with tailored ad copy and landing page.

2. New keyword ideas — Search terms reveal language your audience uses that you may not have considered. “Running shoes for plantar fasciitis” might not be in your keyword list but could be a high-intent, lower-competition opportunity.

3. Long-tail gold — Specific, long-tail queries often convert at higher rates than broad head terms. If “best cushioned running shoes for heavy runners” converts consistently, it deserves its own ad group.

4. Seasonal trends — Search terms shift with seasons, events, and trends. The report reveals emerging demand before keyword planners catch up.

How to act on opportunities:

Opportunity Type	Action
High-converting term, no dedicated ad group	Create new ad group with exact/phrase match keyword, tailored RSA, and matched landing page
New keyword idea	Add to existing ad group if theme matches, or create new group
Long-tail variant	Add as phrase or exact match in appropriate ad group
Seasonal trend	Create seasonal campaign or ad group, set start/end dates

Doing this analysis manually across multiple campaigns and accounts is where most advertisers fall behind. The volume of search terms grows with spend, and patterns that span campaigns are nearly impossible to spot without aggregation. Lyra’s Search Terms Management tool aggregates search terms across all campaigns and accounts, automatically identifying waste patterns and expansion opportunities with spend-weighted scoring.

Step 4: Build Structured Negative Keyword Lists from Patterns

Individual negative keywords protect against specific queries. Pattern-based negative keyword lists protect against entire categories of irrelevant traffic.

From your waste analysis, build lists by theme:

List Name	Keywords	Match Type	Rationale
Informational Intent	how to, tutorial, guide, course, learn, training	Negative broad	Blocks research queries from commercial campaigns
Job Seekers	jobs, careers, hiring, salary, indeed, glassdoor	Negative broad	Blocks employment queries
Free Seekers	free, cheap, discount, coupon, deal, clearance	Negative broad	Blocks price-sensitive queries (if targeting premium market)
Competitor Brands	nike, adidas, new balance, asics	Negative exact	Blocks competitor brand queries
Wrong Products	sandals, boots, heels, dress shoes	Negative broad	Blocks non-running-shoe queries from running shoe campaigns

Apply lists strategically:

• Universal negatives (jobs, free) apply to all campaigns via shared lists
• Category-specific negatives (wrong products) apply to relevant campaigns only
• Cross-campaign negatives prevent overlap between your own campaigns

Important: Review your new negative lists against your existing keyword lists to ensure you are not blocking terms you are actively bidding on. Conflicts between keywords and negatives cause silent traffic loss.

Step 5: Establish a Recurring Review Cadence

Search terms analysis is not a one-time project. New queries appear daily as user behavior evolves, competitors change, and Google’s matching algorithms update.

Weekly review process (20-30 minutes per account):

1. Export search terms for the last 7 days
2. Sort by cost descending
3. Review top 30-50 terms
4. Add clear waste as negatives
5. Flag opportunity terms for ad group creation (batch these monthly)
6. Check for new patterns not covered by existing negative lists

Monthly deep dive (1-2 hours per account):

1. Export 30-day search terms data
2. Perform full waste calculation (total irrelevant spend / total spend)
3. Review expansion opportunities and create new ad groups
4. Audit existing negative lists for over-blocking
5. Update shared negative keyword lists with new patterns
6. Compare waste rate to previous month — it should be declining

Quarterly analysis:

1. Trend waste rates over 3 months
2. Identify recurring waste patterns that suggest structural issues (wrong match types, poorly themed ad groups)
3. Review search terms that are converting in other campaigns to check for cross-campaign opportunities
4. Assess whether match type strategy needs adjustment

For agencies managing 20+ accounts, this review cadence means 10-40+ hours per week on search terms analysis alone. Lyra’s Search Terms Management tool automates the identification, scoring, and categorization of search terms across all accounts, reducing review time to minutes per account while catching patterns that manual reviews miss.

Practical Example

A B2B SaaS company selling project management software reviews their search terms report and finds:

Top 10 search terms by spend (30-day window):

Search Term	Cost	Conv.	CPA	Category
project management software	$1,200	8	$150	Relevant, on target
project management tools free	$680	0	—	Waste (free seeker)
project management certification	$420	0	—	Waste (wrong intent)
asana vs monday	$380	0	—	Waste (competitor comparison)
project management for construction	$350	1	$350	Borderline (niche opportunity?)
best project management app 2026	$290	3	$97	Opportunity (high CVR, no dedicated group)
project management jobs remote	$260	0	—	Waste (job seeker)
agile project management software	$240	4	$60	Opportunity (strong CVR)
project management template excel	$190	0	—	Waste (wrong product)
enterprise project management tool	$180	2	$90	Opportunity (high value segment)

Actions:

1. Added negatives: “free,” “certification,” “jobs,” “template,” “excel”
2. Added competitor negative list: “asana,” “monday,” “trello,” “jira” (they do not run competitor campaigns)
3. Created new ad group: “Agile PM Software” with tailored copy
4. Created new ad group: “Enterprise PM Tool” targeting enterprise decision-makers
5. Monitored “construction” term for another 30 days before deciding

Results after 60 days:

Metric	Before	After	Change
Waste rate	24%	7%	-17pp
Average CPA	$142	$98	-31%
Conversions	18	26	+44%
Total spend	$4,190	$3,800	-9%

More conversions at lower spend — the combined effect of eliminating waste and creating optimized ad groups for discovered opportunities.

Common Mistakes

• Reviewing only high-cost terms — Low-cost irrelevant terms add up. A query costing $3 per click that gets 200 clicks per month is $600 in waste that does not show up when you only review the top 10 terms.
• Adding negatives without checking conversions — A search term that looks irrelevant might actually convert. Always check the conversion column before adding a negative. “Project management meme” seems irrelevant, but if it converted twice, investigate before blocking.
• Ignoring the match type column — Understanding which match type triggered each search term tells you where your keyword strategy needs adjustment. If broad match is generating most of the waste, consider tightening to phrase match or adding more negatives.
• Not acting on opportunities — Finding high-converting search terms is only valuable if you create dedicated ad groups for them. Discovery without action is wasted analysis time.
• Doing the review inconsistently — The value of search terms analysis comes from consistent, ongoing application. One thorough review followed by months of neglect is worse than brief weekly checks.

Lyra’s Search Terms Management tool maintains continuous search term monitoring, surfacing actionable waste and opportunities daily rather than waiting for manual review cycles.