You chose your Google Ads keywords carefully. "Organic cotton baby clothes". "Baby romper organic". Then you open the search terms report for the first time and find your ads showed for "free baby clothes donation", "how to dye baby clothes" and a competitor's brand name. You paid for those clicks.
This happens in almost every account, and it's not a sign you did anything wrong. It's how keyword matching works. The search terms report and negative keywords are how you stay in control of it. This guide explains both for store owners: what the report shows, how to read it for wasted spend, and how to use negative keywords without accidentally blocking good searches.
The short answer: Your keywords are instructions; the search terms are what people actually typed. Open the search terms report, sort by cost, and for each expensive search with no sales, ask whether that person could ever buy from you. If not, add it (or the irrelevant word in it) as a negative keyword, keeping in mind that negatives don't cover plurals or close variants automatically.
Keywords vs. search terms
Google explains the difference precisely. A search term is "a word or set of words a person enters when searching on Google or one of our Search Network sites". A keyword is what advertisers add to an ad group "so that your ads are targeting the right audience".
Your keyword decides which searches you're eligible for. How wide that is depends on the match type:
- Broad match is "the default match type that all your keywords are assigned". It can show your ad on searches related to your keyword, which may not contain its words at all.
- Phrase match, written with quotes like "tennis shoes", means ads "may show on searches that include the meaning of your keyword".
- Exact match, written with brackets like [red shoe], means ads "may show on searches that have the same meaning or same intent as the keyword".
Note the words meaning and intent: even phrase and exact match aren't literal. That's why the search terms report matters for every account, not only broad-match ones.
How to open and read the search terms report
In Google Ads, open your Search campaign, then Insights & reports → Search terms (the menu name varies slightly between versions of the interface). Google describes the report as "a list of search terms that a significant number of people have used, and that resulted in your ad being shown".
Three things to know before you read it:
- It doesn't show everything. "Some search terms that don't have enough query activity are omitted from the search terms report in order to keep with our standards on data privacy." The rows won't add up to your total spend, and that's normal.
- Add the Keyword column. Google notes that "the 'Keyword' column doesn't show by default". Turning it on shows which of your keywords matched each search, which tells you where the loose matching comes from.
- Use a fair date range. The last 30 days is a good start; 90 if your account is small.
Then:
- Sort by cost, highest first.
- Add a conversions column (and conversion value if you use it).
- Read the top 50 rows. For each search with meaningful cost and no sales, ask: could this person ever have bought from my store?
That question matters more than any rule. A search with no sales after $8 might just need more time. A search for "free" products, jobs, DIY instructions or a product you don't sell will never buy, however long you wait.
Common search terms that waste a store's money
Patterns that show up again and again in store accounts:
| Pattern | Example (for a candle store) | Why it rarely buys |
|---|---|---|
| Free / cheap | "free candle samples" | Wants something you don't offer |
| How-to / DIY | "how to make candles at home" | Wants to make, not buy |
| Jobs | "candle shop jobs" | Not a customer |
| Products you don't sell | "candle making kit" | Wrong product |
| Other brands | "[big brand] candles sale" | Wants a specific brand |
| Locations you don't serve | "candle shop Dublin" (for a US-only store) | Can't buy |
Not every row is clear-cut. Searches like "best soy candles" can be early research; they might convert later, or not. For borderline searches, wait for more data rather than blocking them on day one.
How negative keywords work
A negative keyword stops your ad from showing for searches containing it. Google supports three negative match types for Search campaigns: "broad match, phrase match, or exact match negative keywords". Negative broad match "is the default for your negative keywords".
The most important difference from normal keywords:
"Negative keywords won't match to close variants or other expansions."
Google's own example: with "flowers" as a negative broad keyword, ads won't show for "red flowers" but can still show for "red flower". So if you add "free" as a negative, also consider "freebie"; if you add "kit", add "kits". Google puts it plainly: you'll need to add synonyms and singular or plural versions if you want to exclude them.
Which negative match type to use
- Negative broad (default): blocks searches that contain all the words, in any order. Good for single words that are never relevant, such as jobs, free, diy.
- Negative phrase ("candle making"): blocks searches containing those words in that order. Good when a word is fine on its own but not in a phrase: "candle" is your product, "candle making" isn't.
- Negative exact ([candles near me]): blocks only that exact search. Good for surgical cases.
Where to add them
You can add negatives to an ad group, a campaign, or a negative keyword list shared across campaigns. A shared list for words that are never relevant to your store (jobs, free, DIY, wholesale if you don't do it) saves time and keeps new campaigns protected from day one.
Don't block your own sales
Negative keywords are powerful, and a careless one can block searches that do buy. Before adding a negative:
- Check it against your converting searches. Search the report for the word you're about to block. If any search containing it has sales, use a narrower negative (phrase or exact) instead.
- Be careful with single generic words like "best", "cheap" or "sale". For some stores, "cheap" is wasted spend; for others, it's their customer.
- Watch your own brand. Don't add words that appear in your brand or product names.
- Review after a few weeks. If sales drop after a batch of negatives, check whether something useful got blocked.
A worked example
Made-up but realistic numbers. A candle store's Search campaign spent $1,000 in 30 days. The search terms report, sorted by cost, has 312 rows. Reading the top 50 takes about 20 minutes and finds:
- 9 how-to and DIY searches: $118, 0 sales.
- 4 job searches: $27, 0 sales.
- 6 searches for candle-making supplies, which the store doesn't sell: $96, 0 sales.
- 3 searches for a large competitor's brand: $54, 1 sale.
Negatives added: how to, diy and make (checked first: no converting searches contained them), jobs, and "candle making" as a phrase negative. The competitor brand stays for now: one sale for $54 needs more data.
That's $241 a month, roughly a quarter of the budget, moved away from searches that couldn't buy, without touching bids or the keywords that work.
How often to check
- New campaign: weekly for the first month.
- Established campaign: every two to four weeks.
- After adding broad match keywords or changing bidding: weekly for a few weeks, because the searches you match can change.
Related settings
Search terms are one of several places where spend reaches people who can't buy. Our guide to where Shopify stores lose Google Ads budget covers the others, including search partners and location settings. If you run Shopping ads, see why Shopping ads might not be converting, since product ads match searches differently.
If you'd like spend on searches without sales measured for you, Advizify runs a read-only audit of your Google Ads account for Shopify stores. It measures wasted spend over the last 30 days, ranks what to fix first, and never changes your campaigns. Your first audit is free, and later audits are $19 each.
FAQ
Why do my ads show for searches I didn't add as keywords? Because keyword matching is based on meaning, not exact words. Broad match, the default, is the widest; phrase and exact match are narrower but also match searches with the same meaning or intent.
Why don't the search terms add up to my total spend? Google omits searches with too little activity for privacy reasons, so some spend is never shown as individual search terms.
Do negative keywords block plurals and misspellings? No. Negative keywords don't match close variants, so add plural, singular and common alternative forms yourself.
Should I use a negative keyword list? Yes, for words that are never relevant to your store. It applies the same negatives to every campaign you attach it to, including new ones.