The search terms report tells you the actual words people typed before they clicked your ad. Your keyword list is what you asked for; the search terms report is what you got. Reading it properly takes about twenty to thirty minutes a month on a small account, and it is the fastest way to find money leaving the account for searches that were never going to turn into a phone call.

“We’re spending on ads and don’t know what’s working” is one of the most common things we hear from businesses in Surrey, Burnaby, Richmond and across Metro Vancouver. Nine times out of ten, the answer is sitting in this report.

How to read your search terms report step by step

Before you begin reading your search terms report, make sure you have the necessary information and access ready in advance. Having everything prepared beforehand allows you to move through each step of the process smoothly, without interruption, so you can focus fully on understanding and reviewing your search terms report step by step.

1. Access to the Google Ads account at a level that lets you edit, not just view.
2. A clear idea of what counts as a conversion — a form fill, a phone call, a purchase — and confirmation that it is actually being tracked.
3. A list, written in plain words, of what you do not do: services you do not offer, products you do not carry, areas you do not serve.
4. Thirty uninterrupted minutes.

Step 1: Open the report and set a sensible date range

In Google Ads, open the Campaigns view, then find Insights and reports, then Search terms. You can also reach it from the Keywords section. Set the date range long enough to collect meaningful data — for most local accounts that means the last 30 to 90 days. A seven-day window on a small budget will show you noise, not patterns.

Step 2: Add the columns that make the report readable

By default you may only see impressions and clicks. Those tell you very little. Use the column settings to add cost, conversions, cost per conversion and conversion rate. Also add the “Keyword” column, which shows which of your keywords triggered each search term. That pairing matters — a term can look reasonable on its own and still be matched to entirely the wrong ad group.

Step 3: Sort by cost and read the top spenders first

Click the cost column to sort highest to lowest. Your attention belongs at the top. A term that cost you a meaningful share of the month’s budget and produced no conversions is worth a decision today. A term that cost a dollar is not worth your time yet. Work down the list until the amounts stop mattering.

Step 4: Sort every term into one of three buckets

Read each term and decide what the person wanted:

• Buyer intent. They want what you sell, now. “Emergency plumber Coquitlam”, “book Langley driving lesson”.
• Research intent. Same subject, no immediate purchase. “How much does X cost”, “X vs Y”, “DIY X”. These sometimes earn their place, often do not.
• Wrong intent. Jobs you do not do, products you do not sell, cities you do not serve, people looking for employment, people looking for free. These are pure waste.

That third bucket is the point of the exercise. Broad match keywords will reach for anything Google considers related, and “related” is a wider net than most business owners expect.

Step 5: Add negative keywords at the right level

A negative keyword stops your ad showing for searches containing that word. Tick the terms you want to block and add them as negatives. The level matters: add “jobs”, “salary”, “free” and “DIY” to a shared negative list that applies to every campaign, because you will never want those. Add service-specific or city-specific negatives at the campaign or ad group level only, so you do not block a term that is valuable somewhere else in the account.

Use phrase or exact match negatives when a word is only a problem in context. Blocking a common word account-wide on broad match can quietly shut off traffic you wanted.

Step 6: Promote the terms that actually converted

Negatives are only half the job. Find the search terms that produced conversions and are not already in your keyword list. Add the strongest ones as exact match keywords in the ad group whose ads best match that intent. That gives you direct control over the bid and lets you write ad copy that answers the search word for word. Repeat this each month and the account gradually stops guessing.

When should you hand the search terms report to someone else?

When the report takes longer to act on than it does to read. If you are adding the same negatives every month, spending on terms you cannot explain, or looking at a list of hundreds of terms with no pattern, the account needs structural work, not more pruning.

Repeating waste is usually a symptom of something upstream: match types that are too loose, campaigns with mixed intent sharing a budget, conversion tracking that counts the wrong action, or location settings that include people merely interested in your area rather than located in it. Those are campaign build problems, and no amount of negative keywords will fix them.

We have run managed Google Ads campaigns for ten years from our office in Surrey. The work is done here, not subcontracted offshore, and clients get regular reporting so they can see what the campaigns are doing rather than taking our word for it. Google Ads management is a standalone module — you can take it on its own, or alongside local SEO, social media management or e-commerce marketing.

Frequently asked questions

Why doesn’t the report show every search?

Google hides terms that were not searched by enough people, to protect privacy. You will usually see a block of spend that no single term accounts for. Read the terms you can see as a sample of intent, not a complete ledger, and watch whether that hidden share grows month to month.

How often should I check the search terms report?

Monthly is enough for an established campaign with a steady budget. Check weekly for the first month of any new campaign, and weekly again through Black Friday and the holiday season, when search behaviour shifts and competitors raise bids. New campaigns waste the most money in their first few weeks.

Do you manage Google Ads outside Metro Vancouver?

Yes. We are based in Surrey and serve businesses across Vancouver, Burnaby, Richmond, Coquitlam, Langley, Delta, White Rock and New Westminster, but most of our clients work with us online from across Canada and the United States. Google Ads accounts are managed remotely regardless of where the business is located.