Google Ads Search Terms Analyzer: find wasted spend and negative keywords

It lists the searches people made that triggered your ads, with the keyword that matched, the match type, and clicks, cost and conversions. Find it by selecting Campaigns, then Insights and reports › Search terms. Google leaves out searches made by too few people, for privacy. It is the best source of negative keywords because it shows exactly which searches you paid for.

Sort the report by cost and look for searches with spend and no conversions, then look for words that repeat across them, such as jobs, free or course. Repeated words make good phrase match negatives; one-off irrelevant searches make good exact match negatives. This tool does both and skips any word that also appears in a search that converted, so you do not block enquiries.

N-gram analysis splits every search term into single words and runs of two and three words, then adds up the clicks, cost and conversions of all the searches that contain each one. It shows patterns a line-by-line review misses: "salary" might cost little in each search, but add up to thousands of rupees across dozens of searches with no conversions.

Use phrase match for a word or phrase that is never relevant, such as "jobs" or "free": it blocks every search containing those words in that order. Use exact match to block one specific search without affecting longer or related ones. Broad match negatives block searches that contain all the words in any order. None of them block plurals or synonyms.

Yes. Google Ads lets you add up to 10,000 negative keywords to a Performance Max campaign, apply negative keyword lists, or use account-level negatives. They apply to Search and Shopping inventory only. Google recommends using them sparingly, for brand safety or clearly irrelevant searches, so review each suggestion from a Performance Max search terms report before you add it.