How to run a "Search Query" report?

Google Adwords, Negatives, Search queries

[Bastien]

Hi Guys,

We are currently trying to tidy up our campaigns on Google Adwords, which includes finding new keywords, suppressing some, adding new negatives and removing those that interfere with some of our keywords and lose us clicks

Unfortunately, it seems that Google has removed te "Search Query" report function, that allowed us, amongst other things, to find out which keywords were not showing due to a conflict with our list of negatives.

Do you know any way of retrieving this Search Query report or any report on Adwords giving us the info on how keywords have been blocked by existing negatives.

If not, do you know any way to do it via Excel or any piece of software that would allow finding it without checking each negative, one by one, against our list of keywords?

Many thanks for your help,
Bastien

[tommytx]

Wow! I wasn't aware that had been removed. Are you sure. makess no sense as that is a mandatory tool for adwords management. Ask google as I doubt it has really been removed..

Meantime have you thought about gettting some of the info from analytics. It won't be nearly as useful but will be some help.. and better than nothing.

I will look later today and see if mine is gone. But I just cannot believe google would do that unless its just temporary.

[LucidSW]

It's still there and always has been. Renamed but still SQR. In the drop-down list of Report Types, it's called Search Term Performance.

[alexsel]

Bastien, the search query report was just moved and is now integrated into your campaigns management tab. Go to campaigns tab, navigate to the level (account, campaign, ad group, keyword) you wish to pull the search query report.

Example. Say you are looking for a search query report for a campaign 'red widgets', simply navigate to that campaign, click on the keywords tab of that campaign and you will notice that there's a drop down function dead center, just above your keywords list that is called 'see search terms'. Using that drop down, you can select which keyword(s) you want a search query report for.

You'll find it's a lot more efficient way of pulling the report.

Let me know if that works.

Thanks,
Alex

[adebold]

Alex is correct.

In addition, you can still set-up to run automatically on schedule.

[Bastien]

Thanks Guys,

I did find it now. Just find it a bit confusing because Google has taken an habit of splitting apart lots of functions that were included in the same report in the past...

So finally I found the function to find out whether a keyword is being impeded by an existing negative under "Diagnose Keyword", a bit further right on the tab you pointed.

Many thanks to you all for your help :)

Have a nice day

[RhinoFish]

be careful interpreting the match type in that report, it may not be as clear as you think.

[Hoegaarden]

I know what you are referring to Rhino but could you please explain? In that report there is a Match Type Column. So if the match type is Broad, then does that mean the keywords in the report is matched as broad? It doesn't make sense.

[RhinoFish]

yes, that's what it means, but keep in mind that a particular search doesn't always match to the same keyword, nor using the same match type, so it's showing you the most often fit.

further, it can say the match type was exact, when it exactly matched to a broad match keyword. so you have to remember the match type is not reporting the match type of your keyword, but the match type used for the match.

further complicating things, is the "added" memo it appends... which i've seen people then switch their thinking from "search" to "keyword"... so if you saw a search term line like this:
blue widgets Added Exact match
you may tend to think "i'm good, i've got the exact match for that search as a keyword in my adgroup, when in fact, it means you have a keyword added that can match in an exact manner, though it could be a different match type keyword, like broad or phrase.

these things may not confuse many people, but those i've watched analyzing, seem to get tripped up here a ton.

i think if they added another column that showed the keyword it most often matched up with, things would be a lot clearer.

[RhinoFish]

"i think if they added another column that showed the keyword it most often matched up with, things would be a lot clearer."

and it should show the match type as well.

like...

Search Term -- Match Type -- Keyword Matched To
blue widgets Added Exact match "blue widgets"

would tell you that you have the phrase match version in your ad group, and that search is exact matching to it.

if it said...

blue widgets Added Exact match [blue widgets]

or...

blue widgets Added Exact match blue widgets

you'd have a much clearer understanding of what is happening and which keywords you have in your adgroup.

[Hoegaarden]

I agree with you on the extra column.

I think the best way to get the actual search terms that are triggering your adverts is still to use advanced filtering in Google Analytics then.

Because lets say you are bidding on 'samsung tablet' on broad match and the report shows -

Search Term -- Match Type
samsung computer Broad

...then the actual search term that someone used to trigger your advert could have been "sony tablet computer".

[RhinoFish]

the report shows you the actual search term...

so it'd be:
Search Term -- Match Type
sony tablet computer Broad

which is my point... you're not looking at a list that contains your account's keywords. gotta keep that in mind.

if it also showed the keyword that the search was matched with, things would be far clearer.

[Hoegaarden]

Ah.. that makes sense now. That's actually how i originally interpreted it but i got a bit confused after thinking about the match type column.
The thing is, with campaigns that i create, i don't have this problem of trying to figure out which keyword from my campaign is matched. I always create campaigns with adgroups at keyword level. This gives me greater control over my advert relevancy.

For example:
Adgroup - samsung tablet
Keywords - [samsung tablet] "samsung tablet" samsung tablet
Ads - adverts 1 for samsung tablet, advert 2 for samsung tablet

you get the picture.

[RhinoFish]

Ah.. that makes sense now. That's actually how i originally interpreted it but i got a bit confused after thinking about the match type column.

Everyone I watch interpret that report, does it.
I did it at first too.
Then one day you see the impossible...
It says it exact matched to a keyword, and you know you don't have that exact match keyword in the ad group.
And you say WTF...
And you read the report...
And read the report...
And read the report...
And then finally, wham.
Ahhhh, i get it.

[poster_boy]

Very helpful, RhinoFish!