How to Filter Search Terms in Google Ads: A Step-by-Step Guide

If you've ever opened your Google Ads search terms report and felt like you were staring at a wall of random queries eating through your budget, you're in good company. The report shows you the actual words and phrases people typed before clicking your ad—and plenty of them have no business being there. Filtering that report is how you cut through the clutter: find what's working, stop paying for what isn't, and build a tighter keyword strategy over time.

This guide walks you through exactly how to filter search terms in Google Ads, step by step. You'll learn how to navigate the report, apply filters that surface the most useful data, spot junk terms worth blocking, and turn your findings into action—whether that's adding negative keywords, promoting high-intent terms to your keyword list, or tightening up match types.

A quick note on terminology before we start, because this matters throughout: keywords are what you bid on inside your campaigns and ad groups. Search terms are what users actually typed into Google before your ad showed up. These are not the same thing, and the search terms report is where you see the gap between them. Understanding that gap is the whole point of this exercise.

No spreadsheets required. Let's get into it.

Step 1: Open the Search Terms Report in Google Ads

Before you can filter anything, you need to find the report. The path in Google Ads is: navigate to Campaigns in the left-hand menu, select the campaign you want to review, then click Keywords, and choose the Search Terms tab. Depending on which version of the Google Ads interface your account is running, you may also find it under Insights & Reports in the left navigation. Google periodically updates the UI, so if the path looks slightly different in your account, look for "Search Terms" in the Keywords section or the reporting menu.

Once you're in the report, the first thing to do before applying any filters is set your date range. This step is easy to skip and often overlooked, but it shapes everything you see. A date range that's too short—say, the last seven days—may not have enough data to spot patterns, especially in lower-volume accounts. A range that's too long pulls in data from campaigns or settings that may have changed significantly, making older terms less relevant to current performance.

For most accounts, a 30 to 90 day window is a practical starting point. It gives you enough volume to identify trends without going so far back that the data stops reflecting how your campaigns run today. This is practical guidance from common PPC practice, not a Google-mandated rule—adjust based on your account's traffic levels.

One thing to keep in mind: the search terms report only shows terms that triggered clicks, not just impressions. If a search term showed your ad but nobody clicked, it won't appear here. That means the report doesn't give you a complete picture of every query your ads appeared for—only the ones that led to a visit. Keep that in mind when evaluating coverage and deciding whether your keyword list needs broader reach or tighter targeting.

With the right date range set, you're ready to start filtering.

Step 2: Use Google Ads' Built-In Filters to Narrow the Data

The built-in filter panel is where most of the heavy lifting happens. To open it, look for the filter icon (it looks like a funnel) above the search terms data table and click it. This opens a panel where you can add one or more filters based on the columns available in the report.

Here are the most useful filters to know:

Conversions = 0 with Cost above a threshold: This is the classic "wasted spend" filter. Set Conversions to 0 and Cost above a minimum that's meaningful for your account—something above your average cost per conversion is a reasonable benchmark. What surfaces are terms you've paid for that haven't converted. These are your starting candidates for review.

CTR below a benchmark: Low click-through rate on a search term can signal a mismatch between what the user was looking for and what your ad offered. Combined with reasonable impression volume, a low CTR flag is worth investigating.

Cost above a minimum: Filtering for terms that have spent above a certain threshold helps you prioritize. You want to focus your attention on terms that are actually moving budget, not the long tail of one-impression, zero-click queries.

Impressions above a minimum: This filter prevents you from acting on terms that have barely shown up. A search term with two impressions and zero conversions doesn't tell you much. Set a minimum impression threshold to keep your results statistically meaningful.

The real power comes from combining filters. Stacking "Cost above $X" with "Conversions = 0" gives you a focused list of terms burning budget without results. That combination alone can surface the most actionable items in your account during any given review session.

You can also filter by campaign or ad group to isolate problem areas rather than reviewing the entire account at once. If you know a particular campaign is underperforming, start there. Narrowing the scope makes the review faster and the findings more actionable.

One feature worth using: Google Ads lets you save filter combinations so you don't have to rebuild them from scratch every session. If you've set up a "high spend, zero conversions" filter that works well for your account, save it. It'll be there the next time you open the report.

A common pitfall here is filtering too aggressively. If you set your thresholds too high, you'll hide terms that haven't accumulated enough data yet but could still be worth reviewing. Set minimum impression or click thresholds that reflect your account's traffic levels—what counts as "enough data" varies depending on how much volume your campaigns generate.

Step 3: Use the Search Bar to Find Specific Term Patterns

The built-in filter panel is great for metric-based filtering, but there's another tool in the report that's easy to overlook: the search bar at the top of the search terms table. This lets you filter the report by text, so you can find all search terms containing a specific word or phrase.

This is particularly useful for auditing intent mismatches. Think about the words that signal the wrong type of user for your business. Common ones include:

Informational modifiers: Words like "how," "what," "why," "tutorial," or "guide" often signal someone researching rather than buying. If you're running a commercial campaign, these terms may be pulling in traffic that's not ready to convert.

Competitor or brand terms: Search for competitor names to see if your ads are showing up for branded queries you haven't intentionally targeted.

Irrelevant industry terms: Depending on your niche, there may be words that look related to your product but actually belong to a completely different context. Searching for those words in the report quickly shows you whether they're a problem.

Price-sensitivity signals: Words like "free," "cheap," or "DIY" can indicate users looking for something you don't offer. If your product isn't free and you're paying for those clicks, that's worth addressing.

The search bar approach works well when you have a short list of "red flag" words specific to your niche. Before you start a review session, spend two minutes writing down five to ten words that would indicate the wrong type of searcher for your business. Then use the search bar to check each one systematically. It makes the review faster and more consistent across sessions.

You can also layer the search bar with column filters for more targeted analysis. For example, search for "free" in the text bar and simultaneously filter for Cost above a minimum threshold. That combination surfaces terms containing "free" that have actually spent budget—a more targeted list than either filter would produce alone.

Another practical use: after you've added a negative keyword, come back to the search bar and search for that term to verify it's no longer appearing in the report. It's a quick sanity check that your negative keywords are working as intended.

Step 4: Identify Terms to Exclude and Add as Negative Keywords

Once you've filtered down to the terms that don't belong, it's time to act on them. Select the checkbox next to each irrelevant search term in the table, then click the "Add as negative keyword" button that appears at the top of the table.

Google Ads will prompt you to choose where to add the negative keyword: at the campaign level, the ad group level, or to a shared negative keyword list. This decision matters more than it might seem.

Campaign-level negatives block a term across every ad group in that campaign. That's efficient when the term is irrelevant to everything in the campaign, but it can cause problems if the term is only irrelevant in certain contexts. Ad group-level negatives are more precise—they block the term only within that specific ad group, leaving other ad groups unaffected. Shared negative keyword lists are useful when you want to apply the same exclusions across multiple campaigns without adding them individually to each one.

The match type decision for negative keywords is also worth thinking through. A broad negative will block a wider range of queries containing that word or phrase, which is efficient but carries some risk of over-blocking legitimate terms. An exact negative only blocks that precise query, which is safer but requires more entries to achieve the same coverage. For most routine exclusions, broad or phrase match negatives strike a reasonable balance—but if you're concerned about accidentally blocking something valuable, exact match gives you more control.

If you're new to negative keywords and want a deeper explanation of how they work and when to use them, the negative keywords guide covers the fundamentals. And for a more tactical look at the best approach to adding them, the article on the best way to add negative keywords in Google Ads is worth reading alongside this step.

If you're looking to speed this part up, Keywordme's Chrome extension lets you select junk search terms directly in the report and add them as negative keywords with a single click—without leaving the Google Ads interface or copying anything into a spreadsheet. It keeps the workflow in one place and removes the friction of switching between tools.

Step 5: Promote High-Intent Search Terms to Keywords

Not everything you find in the search terms report is a problem. Some of what surfaces is genuinely useful—terms that are converting well or generating strong engagement but aren't yet in your keyword list as explicit bids. These are worth promoting.

To find them, filter the report for terms with conversions or a strong click-through rate. Then cross-reference against your existing keyword list. If a search term is performing well but isn't matched by an exact keyword in your account, you're relying on Google's matching behavior to capture it—which means you don't have direct bid control over it.

Adding a converting search term as an exact match keyword changes that. It gives you the ability to set a specific bid for that query, write a more tailored ad if needed, and track its performance separately from the broader match that was previously capturing it. That's a meaningful upgrade in control over your account.

To promote a term, select its checkbox in the search terms table and click "Add as keyword." Google Ads will prompt you to choose the match type and the ad group where the keyword should live. Choose carefully here: the ad group you select determines which ads and landing pages the keyword routes traffic to, so make sure it's the right fit for the intent behind that search term.

On match type: if the term is already converting and you want to protect that traffic, exact match is usually the right call. It keeps the query tightly controlled. If you want to capture related variations of a strong term, phrase match gives you a bit more reach while still maintaining some structure. For a more detailed breakdown of when to use each, the article on broad match vs. exact match keywords walks through the decision in depth.

Keywordme's in-interface workflow lets you add high-intent terms as keywords and apply match types in a single click, directly from the search terms report. For anyone reviewing multiple campaigns or accounts, that kind of friction reduction adds up quickly over a session.

Step 6: Export and Document Your Findings When You Need a Record

For many solo advertisers doing routine maintenance on their own accounts, the actions you've taken in the previous steps are sufficient. You've filtered, you've excluded, you've promoted—the work is done in the interface and there's no strong need to create a separate record of it.

For agency owners and freelancers managing client accounts, the calculus is different. Client reporting, team handoffs, and audit trails all benefit from documentation. Knowing which terms were added as negatives, when, and why is useful context when a client asks why certain queries stopped appearing—or when a new team member takes over an account.

To export the filtered view, click the Download button in Google Ads after you've applied your filters. This exports the current filtered view as a CSV, so you're only capturing the relevant subset of data rather than the full unfiltered report. Export after filtering, not before—otherwise you'll end up with a large file you have to sort through manually.

What's worth documenting in your records: the search terms added as negative keywords, the terms promoted to keywords, the date of the review, and the campaign or ad group scope of the changes. Even a simple spreadsheet or a note in your project management tool covers the basics.

That said, keep the overhead proportional to the account. A small account with a single advertiser doesn't need a formal documentation process for every weekly review. A larger agency managing multiple clients with regular reporting cycles does. Match the documentation habit to the actual need.

If you're using Keywordme, the in-interface workflow applies actions directly within Google Ads, which reduces the need for export-based documentation during routine maintenance. For client-facing records, a periodic export is still good practice—but you're not relying on it to track what you did.

Step 7: Build a Consistent Review Cadence

Filtering your search terms report is not a one-time task. Google's matching behavior—especially with broad match and phrase match keywords—means new search terms appear regularly, and some of them will be irrelevant. The work you did in your last review doesn't protect you from what Google matches next week.

A practical cadence for most accounts: weekly reviews for active campaigns with meaningful spend, and bi-weekly or monthly reviews for lower-spend or more stable campaigns. The right frequency depends on how much volume your campaigns generate and how much budget is at stake. Higher spend means new junk terms accumulate faster and cost more if left unchecked.

Each review session should have a consistent focus. Look for:

New high-spend, zero-conversion terms: These are your most urgent exclusion candidates. They're costing money without producing results.

New converting terms not yet in your keyword list: These are promotion candidates. Find them before a competitor does.

Patterns suggesting a match type needs tightening: If you keep seeing irrelevant terms flowing through a particular keyword, that's a signal the match type may be too broad for the current campaign structure.

Once you have a rhythm, a search terms review for a single campaign can take well under 30 minutes. The steps become faster with repetition, and the list of obvious exclusions gets shorter as your negative keyword list matures.

For agencies managing multiple client accounts, the challenge is doing this consistently across all of them without it becoming a full-time job. Keywordme's multi-account support lets you run this workflow across accounts without switching dashboards or rebuilding filters each time—which makes the cadence more realistic to maintain at scale. If you're thinking about how to systematize this further, the article on why automate keyword management covers the broader case for building repeatable systems around this kind of work.

Putting It All Together

Filtering your search terms report is one of the highest-leverage habits in Google Ads management. Done consistently, it cuts wasted spend, sharpens your keyword list, and gives you a clearer picture of what your audience is actually searching for—not just what you assumed they'd search for when you built the campaign.

The workflow you've worked through here—opening the report, setting the right date range, applying metric-based filters, using the search bar for pattern hunting, adding negatives, promoting high-intent terms, documenting when it matters, and reviewing on a regular cadence—forms a repeatable process you can run efficiently once it becomes routine.

The steps themselves aren't complicated. What makes the difference is doing them consistently and acting on what you find, rather than treating the search terms report as something to check occasionally when things look off.

If you want to make the process faster, Keywordme's Chrome extension puts all of these actions—removing junk terms, adding negatives, promoting keywords, applying match types—directly inside your Google Ads interface. No spreadsheets, no tab switching, no copying and pasting. Just faster, cleaner optimization right where you're already working.

Start your free 7-day trial and see how much faster your next search terms review goes. After that, it's just $12 per month per user.