Google Ads Search Terms Report To Hide Some Searches

Google Ads is posting a notice in the Google Ads console telling advertisers that it has updated the search terms report to only include search terms that were searched by a significant number of users. Essentially, you won't be able to use this report to see all your search terms going forward.

Here is a screen shot of this notice:

The learn more button goes here and there was one line added that reads "Starting September 2020, the search terms report only includes terms that a significant number of users searched for, even if a term received a click. You may now see fewer terms in your report."

PPCRachel was one of the first to post about this on Twitter saying "So we will be potentially paying for search terms that are irrelevant but won’t be privy to the keywords we need to add as negatives?" And @grovention wrote "It will be harder to optimize ad spends now, as from September it will show search terms only with a significant number of searches. We expect better from you Google."

Here is more:

I am not the expert here but it does look new and sucks they are taking away more data 😩 cc: ing some folks who might be able to confirm @ClickTips @stevenjohns21 @glenngabe . Also, where does the learn more link go? https://t.co/mzJA9efdRT

— ˗ˏˋ𝕊𝕒𝕚𝕛𝕠 𝔾𝕖𝕠𝕣𝕘𝕖ˎˊ˗ (@SaijoGeorge) September 2, 2020

I have not see any other announcement about this from Google.

I should also note that I believe Google Search Console reporting does this too.

Forum discussion at Twitter.

Update: Google sent a statement to Search Engine Land on this:

"In order to maintain our standards of privacy and strengthen our protections around user data, we have made changes to our Search Terms Report to only include terms that a significant number of users searched for. We're continuing to invest in new and efficient ways to share insights that enable advertisers to make critical business decisions," a Google spokesperson told Search Engine Land Wednesday.