Search Term Analysis
Find wasted spend on irrelevant search terms and underutilized search terms that convert. Built specifically for Google Ads.
Search Term Analysis is SMAQ's deepest paid-search feature. It reads every search term that triggered your Google Ads keywords over a window, classifies them, and surfaces:
Wasted spend — search terms with significant spend and no conversions, especially off-brand.
Underutilized winners — search terms with strong conversion rates but capped by low impression share.
Drift — search terms broadening your keyword's intent over time.
Brand vs off-brand split — based on your on-brand / off-brand keyword list.
Available as:
The Search Term Analysis automation — runs on a schedule.
The
/search-terms/page in any project — interactive view.
[Screenshot needed] Search Term Analysis page showing a table of search terms with spend, conversions, conversion rate, and a "Wasted" / "Underutilized" / "Healthy" classification column.
Setup
Configure on-brand / off-brand keywords
SMAQ needs to know which terms are "brand" (people searching for you by name) and which are "off-brand" (generic intent).
In project settings, find the Search Term Analysis section (or trigger the configuration prompt on first run).
On-brand keywords: list your brand variations — company name, common misspellings, signature products.
Off-brand keywords: leave blank for "everything not on-brand," or specify particular off-brand themes you want monitored.
Run the analysis
On the Search Terms page: click Analyze to run on-demand. SMAQ pulls the last 30 days by default — adjust if needed.
As an automation: see Search Term Analysis automation — runs on a schedule and emails findings.
Reading the output
Output groups search terms into buckets:
Wasted (off-brand, no conversions) — kill candidates. Add as negative keywords.
Wasted (on-brand, no conversions) — weird. Often signals tracking issues or duplicate ad showing.
Strong but underutilized — search terms with conversion rate well above account average but limited by low impression share. Push more aggressively.
Healthy — performing in line with account averages. No action.
Drift — search terms now matching your keyword that didn't 30 days ago. Worth reviewing for intent shift.
[Screenshot needed] Search term table with the four classifications color-coded and one "Wasted off-brand" row expanded showing AI rationale.
AI rationale
Click any search term to see the AI's classification rationale: spend, conversion rate, impression share, brand match score, and the reasoning chain.
Actions
For each search term, you can:
Add as negative keyword — generates the negative keyword text formatted for Google Ads. (SMAQ doesn't push to Google Ads on your behalf — copy and paste into your Google Ads account.)
Mark as reviewed — clears it from future runs even if it would otherwise be flagged again.
Add to project knowledge base — useful for terms you want to remember context on.
Configuration fields (automation form)
When setting up the automation specifically:
Additional instructions — free text to bias the AI (e.g. "Focus on terms below $100 spend").
On-brand keywords — same as project setup but per-automation if you want to scope differently.
Off-brand keywords — same.
Lookback days — default 30.
Min spend — minimum spend per term to consider (default $10 — filters out long-tail noise).
Min clicks — minimum clicks (default 5).
Max search terms — cap the output (default 100; raise for deep audits).
Tips
Run weekly, not daily. Search term data is noisy at the daily level.
Update on-brand keywords periodically. New product launches, new sub-brands.
Trust the off-brand wasted bucket the most. It's the highest-confidence cleanup.
Tier availability
Starter — Search Term Lite (capped weekly, narrow scope).
Growth / Scale / Agency — full Search Term Analysis.
Related
Keyword Exploration — finds new opportunities; companion to Search Term Analysis which cleans up existing.
Last updated