How to Read and Use the Google Ads Search Terms Report

What the Search terms report is, and what it is not

When you buy a keyword such as "AC repair Dubai", you are not buying that exact phrase. Google matches your keyword to many different searches, and the Search terms report lists the searches that actually produced impressions and clicks. Google's help page makes the distinction clear: a search term is what a person types, while a keyword is what you add to an ad group. The two can differ a lot depending on your match types.

That gap is where service businesses lose money. A moving company might pay for "free boxes for moving", a clinic for "dentist salary UAE", a cleaning company for "cleaning jobs in Riyadh". None of these people is a customer, and all of them can be matched by a loosely controlled keyword. The report is your evidence of what the account is really buying.

Two limits are worth knowing from the start. First, Google states that the report lists terms searched by a significant number of people; queries without enough activity are left out to protect privacy, and "Search terms insights" groups them into themes or an "other queries" bucket. So the report never explains 100% of your clicks. Second, conversions can lag, so very recent rows can look worse than they will end up.

Where to find it in Google Ads

According to Google's help page, open Campaigns, expand "Insights and reports" in the left menu, then choose "Search terms". You can view terms for all keywords, or select specific keywords first and open the Search terms view from there.

1. Set the date range to the last 7 days for the weekly routine, and 30 days for the monthly review.
2. Open the Columns menu and add the Keyword column (hidden by default, under Attributes) so you can see which keyword triggered each term.
3. Add cost, conversions, cost per conversion and your conversion rate columns.
4. Sort by cost, highest first. The expensive rows deserve your attention before the cheap ones.
5. Save the column set so the view is identical every week.

The columns that matter for a service business

Column	What it tells you	How to use it
Search term	The text the person typed	Judge intent: buying, researching, job-seeking, or unrelated
Match type	How closely the search relates to your keyword (close variants are labelled here)	If a broad keyword shows many loosely related terms, tighten it
Keyword	Which of your keywords triggered the ad	Find the keyword that causes most waste and fix it at the source
Cost / clicks	How much the term consumed	Decide how much evidence you have before acting
Conversions	Calls, WhatsApp chats, forms you counted	Only meaningful if tracking works; see the tracking note below
Added / excluded	Whether you already handled the term	Skip rows you reviewed last week

Google also notes that the match type shown in this report can differ from the match type of your keyword, because broader keywords can match narrower searches. Do not be alarmed when a broad keyword shows exact-looking terms; read the column to see what really happened.

A four-bucket method for sorting every row

Instead of staring at hundreds of rows, give each one of four labels. This turns the report into a decision list.

Bucket	Typical signal	Action
1. Buyers	Clear service plus location or urgency, with conversions	Add as an exact or phrase keyword so you control the bid and the ad text
2. Promising	Right intent, few clicks, no conversion yet	Leave it and re-check next week
3. Wrong intent	Jobs, free, DIY, courses, definitions, competitor staff	Add as a negative keyword
4. Wrong place or service	An emirate, city or service you do not offer	Add a negative, and check location settings

A worked example with hypothetical numbers

The figures below are invented to show the thinking, not to represent any client or benchmark. Imagine a cleaning company in Abu Dhabi that spent AED 2,400 last week on Search ads.

Search term	Clicks	Cost (AED)	Enquiries	Decision
deep cleaning villa abu dhabi	14	420	3	Add as exact keyword
sofa cleaning near me	9	250	1	Keep, watch
cleaning company jobs abu dhabi	11	300	0	Negative (phrase: "cleaning jobs")
how to clean sofa at home	6	140	0	Negative (phrase: "how to")
cleaning services sharjah	4	110	0	Check if Sharjah is served; otherwise negative
maid agency price	2	60	0	Too little data: wait

Notice the two rules at work. The job-seeker and DIY terms are blocked because their intent can never become a sale. The "maid agency price" row is left alone because two clicks prove nothing. Of this hypothetical AED 2,400, the two clearly wasted rows account for AED 440, about 18%, and that money can now move to the term that produced three enquiries.

Adding negative keywords without blocking good traffic

From the report, select the terms, then choose "Add as negative keyword". Google's help page lists where they can go: the ad group or campaign they came from, an existing negative keyword list, or a new list that applies to the linked campaigns. It also says negatives added from the report to Search campaigns are exact match by default unless you change them with match-type symbols, and that negative keywords do not match close variants the way ordinary keywords do.

Practical consequences:

• An exact negative blocks only that precise phrase. If the waste is a whole family (any query containing "jobs"), use phrase or broad negatives instead.
• Check the new negative against your own keywords. A negative "cheap" can block a business that honestly sells value packages; a negative "free" is usually safe, but "free quote" is a phrase you may actually want.
• Keep reusable lists, for example "jobs and careers", "DIY and how-to", "competitor staff", and attach them to every campaign. Our guide to negative keywords covers lists in more detail.
• Write the date and reason for each new batch in a change log so you can undo a mistake.

The 30-minute weekly routine

1. Minutes 0-5: confirm tracking still works by checking that calls, WhatsApp clicks and forms were recorded this week.
2. Minutes 5-15: sort by cost, work through the top rows, and label each with a bucket.
3. Minutes 15-22: add negatives to the right level (campaign or shared list).
4. Minutes 22-27: add buyer terms as exact or phrase keywords, with a matching ad group or ad text where it makes sense.
5. Minutes 27-30: log what you changed and what you will re-check next week.

Once a month, widen the date range to 30 days, look at the keywords that cause most irrelevant matches, and decide whether to tighten match types. The structure of the account matters here; see how to structure a Google Ads account for a service business. A full periodic review is laid out in our account audit checklist.

Special cases to know about

Arabic and English queries

In the UAE and Saudi Arabia the same need is searched in English, Arabic script and mixed forms. Review rows in both languages and build negatives in each; a negative written in English does not block the Arabic version of the same unwanted phrase. If you run separate language campaigns, see Arabic vs English Google Ads in the UAE.

Performance Max

Google's help page notes that conversion data is central in Performance Max and points to a separate article for that campaign type's search term view. Do not assume the Search routine transfers one to one. Our overview of Performance Max for service businesses explains the trade-offs.

Low-volume queries

Because rare queries are hidden, a report that looks clean does not prove the account is clean. Compare total spend with the spend you can see in the report; a large gap is a reason to tighten match types rather than relax.

Click quality

If a term shows many clicks, no calls and an odd pattern, the problem may be click quality rather than intent. Read about invalid clicks for service businesses before blocking anything.

Common mistakes

• Judging by clicks. A term with 20 clicks and no enquiries may still be a good term whose landing page is weak. Check the page before blaming the query; our landing page guide for Google Ads helps.
• Excluding on tiny samples. Wait for a meaningful amount of spend before concluding that a term does not work.
• Over-blocking with broad negatives. One careless word can switch off a profitable stream.
• Reviewing monthly instead of weekly. Waste accumulates quickly on a new or broad-match account.
• Counting the wrong conversions. If page views or any click counts as a conversion, every term looks like a winner. See conversion tracking for calls and WhatsApp.
• Ignoring Quality Score signals. Many loosely related terms often mean the ad text does not match intent; review Quality Score too.

How we work at ZED

On our conversion tracking service page we describe how we agree a short list of what counts as a conversion (a call click, a WhatsApp open, a form submit or a booking, never a page view), give each button its own event, and send those events back to Google Ads so budget shifts toward ads that produce enquiries. That is the foundation that makes search term decisions trustworthy. Our reports focus on four numbers: enquiries, their sources, cost per enquiry and the page producing the most enquiries. If you want the management side handled, see our Google Ads service, or look at our case studies first. There is no public price list; send your business details on WhatsApp and we reply with an initial plan. To compare typical spend, read Google Ads cost in the UAE.

Frequently asked questions

Where is the search terms report in Google Ads?

In Google Ads, open Campaigns, expand Insights and reports in the left menu, and choose Search terms. You can view all keywords together, or pick specific keywords first and then open the Search terms view. Add the Keyword column from the Attributes section of the columns menu if you want to see which keyword triggered each query.

How often should a service business check search terms?

Weekly is a sensible rhythm for most Search accounts, and more often in the first two weeks of a new campaign or after changing match types. Use a seven-day window for the routine and a thirty-day window for a monthly review. Waste builds up quickly on broad keywords, so a monthly-only check is usually too slow.

Why do the search terms not add up to my total clicks?

Google states that the report includes terms searched by a significant number of people, and that queries without enough activity are left out to protect privacy. Search terms insights groups them into themes or an other-queries bucket. So some spend always sits in queries you cannot read, and the report will not reconcile fully with your totals.

How many clicks before I add a negative keyword?

There is no official number. A practical rule is to act immediately when the intent is clearly wrong, such as jobs, DIY or free, and to wait for a meaningful amount of spend when the intent is plausible. Two clicks with no enquiry prove little. Record your threshold in your change log and apply it consistently.

Should I use exact, phrase or broad negative keywords?

Google notes that negatives added from the report to Search campaigns are exact match unless you change them with match-type symbols, and that negatives do not match close variants. Use exact for a single unwanted phrase, phrase match for a family of unwanted phrases, and be careful with broad negatives because they can block valuable searches.

Why does a broad match keyword show exact match search terms?

The match type in the report describes how the search related to your keyword, and it can differ from the keyword own match type. Google explains that broader keywords can match narrower searches, and that close variants such as plurals and misspellings are labelled in that column. It is normal and not a reporting error.

Can I do this myself or do I need an agency?

Most owners can run the weekly routine after learning the basics, provided conversion tracking is accurate. The harder part is deciding structure, match types and landing pages together. If you prefer to delegate, send your account details on WhatsApp and we reply with an initial plan; there is no public price list.