Advertisers often wonder “how often should I check the Search Terms Report“?
The answer can be really easy if you have the time…
The best schedule to check the Search Terms Report is every day.
Excluding irrelevant terms is one of the few remaining ways Google Ads allows you to have direct control over where your ads show. Don’t ignore it!
Checking the Search Terms Report daily, allows you to proactively remove any low value terms and spot trends as they develop.
If you cannot check the Search Terms Report on a daily basis, here are a few things to consider to determine the right schedule to check the Search terms Report for your situation:
- Account/Campaign Size – Depending on the size of your Google Ads Account, the Search Terms Report could produce only a few reported terms a day to hundreds or even thousands for the largest accounts.
Small Accounts with only a few campaigns or less will report fewer Search Terms. Smaller accounts with only a few reported Search Terms a day, have more flexibility in the frequency of checking the Search Terms.
Larger accounts with many search and performance max campaigns active, will of course produce numerous terms every day. Just to keep the Search Terms Report manageable, daily review is advised.
- Campaign Budgets – Obviously, small budget campaigns will produce fewer impressions and Search Terms. More sizable campaigns produce more. No surprise there.
- Keyword Match Types – Another factor that will play a role in setting the pace of how often you review the Search Terms Report is what keyword match types you use.
Exact Match only campaigns could go weeks to even a month or more between Search Term reviews. In contrast, campaigns that use phrase and broad match keywords will pick up many more terms and a more timely schedule would be ideal.
- Campaign Age – New campaigns you will definitely want to check the Search Terms Report on a daily basis to get any clearly relevant terms excluded as soon as possible. Make the time to do this! To be proactive, implement our Negative Keyword Lists to avoid the most common terms that waste budget right from the start!
However, campaigns that have been actively managed for a while and are optimized, will only need the Search Terms Report checked at a less common cadence.
- Do What Makes Sense For Your Situation – The rule I use, is to check the Search Terms Report often enough that you can legitimately consider the value and relevance of each term. Without being overwhelmed by the volume of terms.
Considering the value of each term takes a moment and that time can really add up if you are going too long between reviews. Try to keep the review schedule where the reported terms volume is manageable.
Whatever your specific situation is, the idea to be able to take the time to review each term on its own merits and decide if it is relevant and valuable to your business or not. You will want to avoid situations where you are glossing over terms simply because there are too many to properly manage.
To get into the details of the Google Ads Search Term Report, where to find it, how to interpret the information and all the nuances that comes with it, be sure to read the Google Ads Documentation for the Search Terms Report.
If you care about running an efficient and productive search campaign, take the time to make reviewing the Search Terms Report daily a must-do activity. Keep your campaign Search Terms relevant and avoid wasted ad spend with regular reviews of the Search Terms Report!