Blog
Google Ads traffic quality, in detail
How to find the spend that was never going to convert, and how to block it without blocking the traffic you wanted. Search term reports, negative keyword match types, and the parts of Google Ads that behave differently from how they read.
- Negative Keywords10 min read
Negative keyword lists: account vs shared vs campaign
Finding negatives is half the job; housing them is the other half. Where each negative belongs across account, shared list, campaign and ad group — and the caps that decide.
Read it - Negative Keywords9 min read
Over-negating: when negative keywords cost you sales
Every guide tells you to add more negatives. Almost none warn about the opposite failure. How over-negating throttles good traffic, and how to audit for negatives to remove.
Read it - Search Terms10 min read
Your search terms report hides up to 40% of queries
Google redacts roughly 20-40% of your search terms as low-volume, so waste hides in rows you never see. Here is how to find and contain the hidden spend.
Read it - Negative Keywords9 min read
Find negatives at scale with n-gram search-term analysis
Scanning the search terms report row by row misses the money. N-gram analysis groups queries by word so the recurring junk draining budget surfaces at once.
Read it - Account Audits10 min read
The AI Max migration search-terms checklist for Sept 1
On 1 September 2026 Google begins auto-upgrading campaign-level broad match and ACA Search campaigns to AI Max. Audit your search terms and negatives before it flips.
Read it - Match Types9 min read
Negative keyword match types: the plurals trap
Negative broad, phrase and exact do not expand to plurals, synonyms or misspellings the way positive match types do. Here is how each behaves and how to block the variants.
Read it - Search Terms9 min read
When Your Search Terms Report Shows AI-Guessed Queries
Google now says the search terms report can show an AI-interpreted version of a query instead of the exact words typed. Here is how that changes the way you write negatives and read waste.
Read it - Negative Keywords10 min read
When AI Max Overrides Your Negative Keywords
AI Max expands your queries through URL and keyword expansion, and its negatives behave differently from a normal Search campaign. Here is how to keep spend on-target before DSA sunsets.
Read it - Google Ads9 min read
How to read the Google Ads search terms report and turn it into negative keywords
The search terms report is the only place Google shows you what people actually typed. Here is where to find it, what it hides, how to read it without over-reacting, and how to convert wasted spend into negative keywords that block the right traffic and nothing else.
Read it - Performance Max9 min read
Performance Max negative keywords: what changed and how to add them
Performance Max now takes negative keywords in the self-service UI, up to 10,000 per campaign, through shared lists and at account level. Here is what changed in 2025, how to add them, and the inventory they do not touch.
Read it - Wasted Spend9 min read
The wasted spend the top-cost search terms view hides
Sorting the search terms report by cost surfaces a handful of expensive terms and misses most of the waste. Here is where the rest hides — the low-cost long tail and the terms Google no longer shows — and how to find it.
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