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Search terms insights

Search terms insights is a Google Ads report that groups the searches your ads appeared for into categories by intent and shows results for each group.

How it works

For Search, Shopping and Performance Max campaigns, Google sorts searches from Google Search, Search partners and Maps into categories and subcategories by intent. Labels are system-generated: a label sums up the group and may not be a search anyone typed.

The groups count every search, including those the search terms report leaves out for privacy. Searches with low spend or no clear category go into “other search terms”. Each group shows clicks, impressions, CTR, conversions, conversion rate, conversion value and search volume, but not cost. Data goes back to March 2023.

Our guide to search themes in Performance Max covers picking themes from these searches.

Where you see it

  • Google Ads: Campaigns → Insights, the search terms insights card, for the account or one campaign. In Performance Max, a source column shows whether a search came from keywordless targeting or your search themes.
  • Google Ads API: customer_search_term_insight for the account, campaign_search_term_insight for one campaign. Search volume comes as a range.

Example

Example store, not client data.

In the tableware shop’s Performance Max campaign, the “dinner sets” category has 6,000 impressions, 180 clicks and 9 conversions, while “other search terms” holds 40,000 impressions. In “dinner sets”, CTR = 180 ÷ 6,000 = 3% and conversion rate = 9 ÷ 180 = 5%. Without cost, the category’s ROAS stays unknown.

Not to be confused with

  • Search terms report — one row per search, with cost, but only searches enough people used.
  • Search themes — words you add to an asset group as a signal. Insights show which searches the campaign got.

Right and wrong readings

  • Wrong: “A category is called ‘cheap plates’ and ‘cheap’ is our negative keyword, so the negative fails.” Right: the label only sums up the group; open the category and check its searches.
  • Wrong: “Insights and the search terms report show different conversions, so one is broken.” Right: Google processes conversions differently in the two reports, so small gaps are expected, for example from conversion lag.

Sources