How to Find and Eliminate Search Term Waste in Ecommerce Ads

You're Probably Wasting 20-30% of Your Ad Spend

Most ecommerce Google Ads accounts have significant search term waste. Clicks from people who will never buy, eating into your budget daily.

The good news? This is fixable. And fixing it is one of the fastest ways to improve ROAS.

Finding the Waste

Step 1: Pull Your Search Terms Report

In Google Ads:

• Go to Campaigns > Keywords > Search terms
• Set date range to last 90 days
• Download the report

Step 2: Sort by Cost (Highest First)

Your biggest waste is at the top. Look for:

• Irrelevant searches (wrong product type)
• Informational queries (how to, what is, DIY)
• Wrong location intent (US sizing, international)
• Competitor brand names (if not intentional)
• Job seekers (jobs, careers, hiring)
• Free/cheap hunters (free, discount, cheap if not your positioning)

Step 3: Calculate Waste

Add up cost for zero-conversion, irrelevant terms. That's your baseline waste.

For most accounts, it's 20-30% of total spend. Sometimes more.

Building Your Negative Keyword Strategy

Negative Keyword Types

• Campaign negatives: Apply to one campaign
• Account negatives: Apply across all campaigns (now available)
• Negative lists: Reusable across campaigns

Essential Negative Lists for Ecommerce

Create standard lists:

Competitor list: Major competitor brand names (if not conquesting)

Information list: How to, what is, tutorial, DIY, guide, review, comparison

Free/Job list: Free, cheap, jobs, careers, hiring, salary

Wrong intent: Return, refund, complaint, customer service (unless you're optimising for these)

Ongoing Maintenance

Search term review isn't one-time. Schedule:

• Weekly: Quick review of high-spend terms
• Monthly: Deep dive with additions to negative lists
• Quarterly: Full negative keyword audit

The PMax Problem

Performance Max limits search term visibility. You only see partial data.

Solutions:

• Use the insights tab for search themes
• Run parallel Search campaigns for data
• Use brand exclusions
• Trust (but verify) PMax reporting

Expert Waste Reduction

Negative keyword management is tedious but valuable. In our audits, we often find 25%+ waste that can be recovered.

Get a free audit to see your search term waste.