How to Use Search Terms Report for Negative Keywords

By Corey Frankosky · Last Updated August 6, 2026

Learning how to use the search terms report for negative keywords is one of the fastest ways to stop wasting money in Google Ads. The search terms report shows you the exact queries people typed before your ad showed and before they clicked. When you find queries that do not match what you sell, you add them as negative keywords so your ads stop showing for them. This guide walks you through the match types, how to find the report, how to add negatives directly from it, and how to confirm the changes are helping. Do this consistently and you will lower your cost per click and put more of your budget toward high-intent searches.

1Why the Search Terms Report Matters

The search terms report is the record of what people actually typed into Google before your ad appeared. That is different from your keyword list. Your keywords tell Google what you want to show up for. The search terms report tells you what Google decided to show your ad for, and the two do not always line up. Broad match and phrase match keywords can trigger your ad on queries you never intended to bid on.

Negative keywords are how you fix that gap. When you add a query as a negative keyword, you tell Google to stop showing your ad for that search. This does three things. It stops you from paying for clicks that do not convert. It keeps your ads in front of people who are ready to buy. And it improves your click-through rate, which supports a better Quality Score and a lower cost per click over time. If you want the broader strategy behind building lists, read the full guide to Google Ads negative keywords.

Question to Answer:

Are the queries triggering your ads the same searches you actually want to pay for?

2Watch: Targeting Google Ads Keywords

Before you start pulling reports, watch this walkthrough on targeting Google Ads keywords. It covers how your keywords and match types decide which searches you show up for, which is the foundation for everything you do with negative keywords.

Question to Answer:

Do you understand how your current match types are letting extra searches through?

3Negative Keyword Match Types

Google Ads gives you three negative keyword match types, and each one filters searches with a different level of strictness. One important detail to remember: negative keywords do not account for close variants the way positive keywords do. That means you have to manually exclude misspellings, plurals, and synonyms if you want to block them completely.

• Negative broad match: This is the default. It blocks a query when the query contains all of your negative terms, in any order. It casts the widest net.
• Negative phrase match: Written with quotation marks. It blocks a query that contains your exact phrase in the exact order, even if other words come before or after it.
• Negative exact match: Written with brackets. It is the most restrictive. It blocks the ad only when someone types your exact query with no extra words added.

Two things to keep in mind when you apply these. First, negative keywords only apply to the first 16 words of a search. If your negative term appears as the 17th word in a very long query, your ad can still show. Second, when you add a negative directly from the search terms report, Google defaults it to negative exact match. You have to manually add quotation marks for phrase match or remove the brackets for broad match. For a deeper look at how matching works on the positive side, read the Google Ads keyword match types guide.

Question to Answer:

Which match type gives you enough control without accidentally blocking good traffic?

4How to Access the Search Terms Report

Getting to the report takes a few clicks inside your account.

1. Open Campaigns: Click the Campaigns icon in your Google Ads dashboard.
2. Open Insights and reports: Find the Insights and reports dropdown menu.
3. Select Search terms: Choose Search terms to see the exact queries that are triggering your active ads.
4. Add the Keyword column: Go to Columns, then Attributes, and enable the Keyword column. This is not optional. It shows you which broad or phrase match keyword triggered each query, so you know where the irrelevant traffic is coming from.

You can review the official documentation on the search terms report directly from Google if you want to confirm the current layout.

Question to Answer:

Have you turned on the Keyword column so you can trace each query back to its source?

5How to Analyze Search Terms for Relevance

Once the report is open, sort it by Cost or Impressions in descending order. This puts your most expensive and most frequent queries at the top, which is where your wasted spend usually hides. Work down from there.

As you read, look for non-transactional modifiers that signal someone is not ready to buy. Words like "job," "vacancy," "career," "tutorial," "free," and "DIY" are common signs the searcher wants information or employment, not your product or service. A local optometrist bidding on the word "glasses" will burn money on "wine glasses" searches until strict category negatives are in place. That is the kind of mismatch you are hunting for.

Also check the Match type column. It tells you whether Google triggered your ad on a strict keyword match or on a close variant it decided was related. When one broad match keyword keeps producing irrelevant close variants, the better move is often to pause that keyword entirely rather than chase every bad query one at a time. When you do add negatives, add categories rather than single isolated words. If you find "marketing jobs," add related terms like "vacancy," "career," "resume," and "employment" so you block the whole pattern of job-seeker traffic at once.

Question to Answer:

Which of your highest-cost search terms have nothing to do with what you sell?

6How to Add Negatives From the Report

Adding negatives from the report itself is quick.

1. Select the query: Check the box next to any irrelevant search term in the report.
2. Click Add as negative keyword: The blue "Add as negative keyword" prompt appears above the data table. Click it to move the term into the exclusion workflow.
3. Set the match type: Google defaults to negative exact match. Remove the brackets for broad match, or wrap the term in quotation marks for phrase match, depending on how strict you want to be.
4. Choose where it applies: Pick the ad group, the campaign, or a negative keyword list as the destination.

Use keyword filters inside the report to isolate a single broad match keyword when you want to troubleshoot exactly which one is generating poor traffic.

Question to Answer:

Did you change the default exact match to the match type you actually intended?

7Ad Group, Campaign, and List-Level Exclusions

You can apply negative keywords at three levels, and choosing the right one keeps your account organized.

• Ad group level: The most surgical option. It blocks the term for one ad group only, which is useful when you want a word to trigger one ad but not another.
• Campaign level: Blocks the term across every ad group inside that campaign at once.
• Negative keyword list: A centralized list you build in the shared library and apply to as many campaigns as you want.

Negative keyword lists are the most efficient way to block universally bad terms across your whole account. Each list can hold up to 5,000 negative keywords, and you can create up to 20 lists per account. When you update a shared list, the change propagates instantly to every campaign linked to it. This is the fastest way to enforce a standard block on terms like "free," "cheap," or "reviews" everywhere at once.

Question to Answer:

Should this negative apply to one ad group, one campaign, or your entire account?

8Best Practices for Managing Negatives

A negative keyword list is never finished. Search trends shift, competitors change their bidding, and Google's matching behavior evolves, so new junk queries appear over time. Build a routine so the report gets reviewed on a schedule instead of only when something looks wrong.

For a brand-new campaign, review the search terms report weekly for the first 90 days to establish a solid baseline. Once an account is mature, a review every two weeks is usually enough, and pulling 5 to 10 new negatives per session keeps waste under control. Accounts that stay on top of this routinely cut wasted spend by 20 to 40 percent.

Be careful not to over-block. Broad match negatives are powerful, and that is exactly why they are dangerous. A broad negative on the word "top" will wipe out valuable searches like "top personal injury lawyer" or "top roofing software." When you need precise control, lean on negative phrase match instead of broad. Use the Keyword Conflicts tool to confirm your exclusions are not accidentally blocking active, profitable keywords. A good rule of thumb: if you are adding 10 percent or more of your search terms as negatives, step back and fix your targeting instead of playing whack-a-mole. Since every wasted click affects your overall Google Ads cost, tightening this up pays off directly.

Question to Answer:

Do you have a set day each week or every two weeks to audit your search terms?

9How to Track Results After Adding Negatives

After you add negatives, watch a few key metrics to confirm the changes are working. An increase in click-through rate tells you that you successfully cut irrelevant impressions. A decrease in cost per click usually follows, which signals your Quality Score improved because your ads are more relevant to the searches that remain.

Use the Change history tool to mark exactly when you applied a negative keyword, so you can compare performance before and after with precision. If you see a sudden, unexplained drop in impressions or conversions, that is a warning sign you blocked something you should not have. Cross-check your lists with the Keyword Conflicts tool and remove any negative that is conflicting with a high-intent keyword. Done right, aggressive negative keyword management commonly salvages 10 to 20 percent of a search budget and redirects it toward searches that convert. If you would rather have this handled for you, our Google Ads management services cover ongoing search term audits, or you can learn to run it yourself in the Google Ads course.

Question to Answer:

Did your click-through rate rise and your cost per click fall after your last round of negatives?