Keywords are the targeting instructions an advertiser chooses. Search terms are the actual words people entered before an ad appeared. A Google Ads search terms report review helps a Malta business see whether its budget is reaching genuine customers, researchers, job seekers, existing clients or people looking for something the business does not sell.
This guide is deliberately different from a negative keyword checklist. Excluding irrelevant traffic is one outcome, but a proper review can also reveal new keyword themes, weak campaign structure, missing landing-page content, geographic leakage, misleading ad messages and problems with conversion measurement.
1. Start with a clear business question
Do not open the report and judge rows only by whether individual words look relevant. Define the question first. A service business might ask which queries produce qualified consultation requests. An ecommerce business might ask which product, brand or problem themes lead to profitable orders. A company serving Malta only might ask whether apparently local campaigns are attracting searches for other countries, jobs, training or free information.
Record the campaign objective, the products or services in scope, the locations served, the conversion actions used and what counts as a commercially useful outcome. Without that context, a report can encourage tidy-looking changes that reduce valuable reach.
2. Choose a review window that fits the decision
Use enough time to include normal variation, but do not combine periods that operated under materially different settings without noting the change. A promotion, new landing page, revised bid strategy, conversion-tracking repair or change in location targeting can make two periods difficult to compare.
- Use a shorter window for a recent launch or urgent relevance problem.
- Use a longer window when clicks and conversions are sparse.
- Compare like with like when demand is seasonal.
- Annotate major campaign, website and tracking changes.
- Allow for conversion lag before judging recent search terms.
The report contains search terms used by a significant number of people. Google explains that lower-volume queries may be omitted for privacy, so the visible rows are not a complete transcript of every search. Search terms insights can complement the report by grouping demand into themes, including some activity that is not exposed as individual queries.
3. Add columns that support a decision
A useful working view should connect the query to its targeting and outcome. Include the search term, matched keyword, search-term match type, campaign, ad group, impressions, clicks, cost and the conversion measures the business actually trusts. For lead generation, add qualified or converted lead data when it is available. For ecommerce, include conversion value rather than treating every transaction as equal.
Google notes that the report’s Keyword column shows which keyword matched the search, while the Match type column shows how closely the search term relates to that keyword. These are essential for deciding whether the issue is one query, one keyword, one ad group or the broader account structure.
Avoid treating click-through rate or cost per click as a verdict by themselves. A compelling but poorly qualified ad can attract many clicks. A less frequent query can still be valuable if it produces the right sale or lead.
4. Classify search intent before changing anything
Create a small set of categories that reflect the business. The labels should lead to different actions rather than merely describe vocabulary.
- Core commercial: the search clearly seeks a product or service the business offers.
- Commercial but different: the person wants a related service, location, audience or specification that is not currently offered.
- Research: the query seeks guidance, examples, prices or comparisons and may be earlier in the buying journey.
- Existing-customer support: login, telephone, instructions, complaints or after-sales help.
- Employment or education: jobs, salary, courses, internships or training.
- Competitor or brand: another provider, a specific brand or the advertiser’s own name.
- Clearly irrelevant: a different meaning, industry, country or need.
A term can move between categories depending on the offer. “Website design course” is irrelevant to an agency selling websites but commercially relevant to a training provider. Review categories with someone who understands how enquiries are handled, not only with the person managing the account.
5. Separate relevance from lead quality
A relevant query is not automatically a good business outcome. Review what happened after the click. Did the person contact the business, meet the qualification criteria, attend the call or become a customer? If every form submission is counted equally, the report can reward themes that generate spam, supplier pitches or enquiries outside the service area.
Google Ads supports qualified-lead and converted-lead goals, and it documents enhanced conversions for leads for passing later outcomes back to the platform. Implementation must be planned with appropriate privacy controls and technical validation, but the principle is important: optimise against meaningful outcomes where possible, not simply the easiest online action.
If offline lead stages are unavailable, sample enquiries manually. Compare the search term, landing page, form details and sales disposition. Do not place personal data in the search-term workbook or upload it as a negative keyword.
6. Decide the right action for each pattern
Do not make every decision row by row. Repeated themes often point to a structural issue. Use an action column and document why the action is justified.
- Keep: the query is relevant and performance is acceptable.
- Observe: the intent is plausible but evidence is still limited.
- Add as a keyword: a distinct valuable theme needs clearer targeting, reporting or tailored ads.
- Create or reorganise an ad group: several useful queries have a different intent from the current group.
- Improve the ad: the query is right but the message creates the wrong expectation.
- Improve the landing page: the offer is relevant but the page does not answer the searcher’s need.
- Adjust location or schedule settings: the issue is contextual rather than lexical.
- Add a negative keyword: the intent is clearly outside scope and the exclusion will not block useful searches.
- Repair measurement: clicks or leads cannot be judged because the conversion setup is incomplete or misleading.
For larger structural changes, use the principles in the Google Ads account structure guide. A new keyword copied into the wrong ad group may make reporting more complicated without improving relevance.
7. Handle match types carefully
Google describes broad, phrase and exact match as different levels of control, but all matching is based on meaning and intent rather than a simple character-by-character rule. Broad match may also consider recent search activity, landing-page content and other keywords in the ad group.
Do not switch every surprising query to exact match automatically. First check whether the query produced value, whether Smart Bidding has reliable conversion data and whether the ad group mixes different services. Match-type changes can reduce reach as well as waste. Record the expected effect and review it after enough new data accumulates.
Likewise, adding a successful phrase as a keyword is not a guarantee that it will become the only keyword eligible for that search. Use the change when it improves organisation, creative relevance, bidding or reporting, not merely because a row has a conversion.
8. Use negative keywords as a controlled exclusion
Add a negative only when the unwanted meaning is clear and repeatable. Choose the level deliberately: an account-wide exclusion, shared list, campaign negative and ad-group negative have different consequences. Check singulars, plurals and word order because negative matching behaves differently from positive keyword matching.
Before saving a negative, write down at least one valuable search that might contain the same word. For example, excluding “free” may remove low-value searches, but it could also block a legitimate paid service whose name contains that term. Review the dedicated negative keyword checklist before applying broad exclusions.
9. Check Malta targeting and local intent separately
A search term mentioning Malta is not proof that the searcher is in Malta, and a valuable local search may not mention Malta at all. Review location settings, matched locations and lead serviceability alongside query wording. Separate residents, visitors, overseas buyers, job seekers and people researching Malta when those groups have different commercial value.
Use the Google Ads location targeting checklist to verify presence settings, exclusions and location reporting. Do not add every foreign place name as a negative if the real issue is an incorrectly configured campaign or a business that genuinely serves customers abroad.
10. Turn valuable themes into better ads and pages
Google states that the report can reveal ideas for creative and landing-page content. Group recurring useful terms by the problem, service, audience, urgency and decision stage they express. Then compare those themes with the ad and page they reached.
If people repeatedly search for a specific service that the company offers, but the ad remains generic, a more precise ad group may help. If the ad promises a specialist solution but the landing page discusses every service, improve message continuity. The landing-page checklist covers message match, usability, forms, tracking and lead quality.
Do not create a thin page for every wording variation. Consolidate synonymous phrases and build pages around genuine offers or customer questions.
11. Review search terms insights without confusing the reports
Search terms insights groups demand into categories and subcategories. Google says these groupings include all search terms, including queries not individually exposed in the report, and that themes may be generated from the last 56 days of data. This makes the view useful for spotting demand patterns, but it does not replace the row-level report.
Use insights to ask broader questions: Is demand shifting toward a different service? Is a new category responsible for growth? Does one theme convert but produce weak downstream lead quality? Then use available search terms, campaign data and sales evidence to decide what to change.
12. Keep a decision log and review the outcome
For each meaningful change, record the date, campaign, evidence, action, owner and expected effect. Batch related changes so the next review can explain what happened. If keywords, negatives, ads, landing pages, location settings and conversion actions all change at once, attribution becomes difficult.
- Check that exclusions saved at the intended level.
- Confirm that valuable queries still receive impressions.
- Watch conversion volume, quality and value, not only click cost.
- Review new queries created by broader matching or new keywords.
- Reconcile lead outcomes with the sales team or CRM.
- Reverse changes that block qualified demand without improving business results.
A practical review cadence
Set the frequency according to spend, campaign maturity and risk. A new or rapidly changing campaign needs closer review than a stable account with strong measurement. The purpose is not to edit the account on a fixed daily schedule. It is to identify material patterns early enough to act without overreacting to isolated clicks.
A short recurring meeting can cover new irrelevant themes, valuable emerging demand, lead quality, landing-page gaps, geographic issues and previous actions. The account owner should retain access and a clear history of changes, as covered in the Google Ads account ownership checklist.
When specialist support helps
The report is most useful when query intent, conversion tracking, campaign structure and the sales outcome are reviewed together. DCP’s Google Ads service can help Malta businesses assess those connections and turn the findings into controlled campaign improvements.
Sources and further reading
- Google Ads Help, About the search terms report.
- Google Ads Help, About search terms insights.
- Google Ads Help, About keyword matching options.
- Google Ads Help, About qualified leads and converted leads.
- Google Ads Help, About offline conversion imports and enhanced conversions for leads.
Featured photo by path digital on Unsplash.
