How to Read Your Google Ads Search Terms Report: A 15-Minute Monthly Check for Clinic Owners

If you run Google Ads for your clinic, there’s one report that tells you more about where your money goes than any other: the search terms report. It shows the actual words people typed into Google before they clicked your ad. Not the keywords you chose, but what real searchers asked for. And in most clinic accounts we audit, it’s the report nobody has opened in months.

You don’t need to be a Google Ads specialist to use it. This guide walks through a 15-minute monthly check any clinic owner can do: where to find the report, what to look for, which searches to block, and how to spot the ones worth more budget.

Keywords vs. Search Terms: Why the Difference Matters

When you set up a campaign, you choose keywords, such as “physiotherapy Victoria” or “RMT near me”. But Google doesn’t only show your ad for those exact words. Depending on the match type, it also shows your ad for searches it decides are related. Those actual searches are the search terms.

That gap is where budget leaks. A keyword like “massage therapy” can match searches for massage therapy school, massage therapist jobs, massage chairs, or spas three cities away. You pay for every one of those clicks, and none of them will book an appointment.

The search terms report is the only place you can see that gap. Keywords tell you what you asked for. Search terms tell you what you paid for.

Where to Find the Report

In your Google Ads account, go to Campaigns, then Insights and reports, then Search terms. Google’s own help page on the search terms report covers the same path if your menu looks different.

Before you start reading, set it up so it’s useful:

• Set the date range to the last 30 days. Long enough to show patterns, short enough to act on.
• Sort by cost, highest first. The searches that spent the most money are the ones worth your attention.
• Add the Keyword and Match type columns. They aren’t always shown by default. Use the columns icon to add them. They tell you which of your keywords triggered each search and how loosely it matched.
• Make sure Conversions is visible. This column tells you which searches led to a call or booking. If it shows zero everywhere, your conversion tracking needs attention before anything else.

The 15-Minute Monthly Check

Here’s the routine we recommend for clinic owners managing their own accounts. Do it once a month, at the same time each month, so it becomes a habit.

Minutes 1–5: Scan the Top 25 Searches by Cost

Read down the list and ask one question for each search: would this person book an appointment at my clinic? Most will be obvious yeses, like “physio near me” or “chiropractor Saanich”. Mark anything that makes you hesitate.

Minutes 5–10: Block the Obvious Wastes

Select the irrelevant searches and add them as negative keywords. Google lets you do this directly from the report: tick the box next to the search term and choose “Add as negative keyword”. Add them at the campaign level unless you have a reason not to.

Minutes 10–15: Look for Winners

Sort by conversions instead of cost. Are there searches that led to bookings but aren’t already one of your keywords? Add the best ones as phrase or exact match keywords so you have more control over them. Note any service or neighbourhood that keeps showing up. That’s a sign it may deserve its own ad group or landing page.

That’s it. Fifteen minutes, once a month, and you’ll catch most of the waste before it adds up.

What It Looks Like in Practice

Here’s an illustrative example of what a first check often turns up for an RMT clinic running a broad “massage therapy” keyword. The pattern is typical. The details will differ in your account.

• “registered massage therapist near me”, “RMT direct billing”, “deep tissue massage [city]”: relevant, converting, leave alone.
• “massage therapy school” and “RMT program”: students. Add “school” and “program” as negatives.
• “massage therapist jobs”: job seekers. Add “jobs”, “hiring” and “career”.
• “couples massage spa”: spa shoppers. Add “spa” and “couples”.
• “massage for neck pain at home”: someone looking for free tips. Add “at home”.
• “prenatal massage [city]” with two bookings, not an existing keyword: a winner. Add it as a phrase match keyword, and consider a prenatal ad group with its own landing page.

Five minutes of blocking and one new keyword. Repeated monthly, that’s how a campaign gets steadily cheaper per booking without spending more.

The Most Common Wasted Searches in Clinic Accounts

After auditing many healthcare accounts, we see the same types of irrelevant searches again and again. If you’ve never added negatives, start with these:

• Jobs and careers: “jobs”, “hiring”, “salary”, “career”, “how to become”. People looking to work as an RMT or physio, not see one.
• Education: “school”, “course”, “program”, “college”, “certification”, “training”. Students, not patients.
• Do-it-yourself: “exercises”, “at home”, “how to”, “stretches”, “YouTube”. These searchers want free information, not an appointment.
• Products: “massage chair”, “massage gun”, “TENS unit”, “foam roller”. Shoppers, not patients.
• Wrong service: “spa”, “couples massage”, “hotel”, “day spa” for RMT clinics; “vet” or “equine” for physio and chiro. Close in wording, far in intent.
• Wrong location: city names you don’t serve. A Victoria clinic paying for “physio Nanaimo” is paying for a patient who won’t drive two hours.
• Competitor names: searches for another clinic by name. These can be worth testing on purpose, but usually shouldn’t be happening by accident.
• Insurance admin: “claim form”, “login”, “phone number” combined with an insurer’s name. These people are trying to reach their insurance company.

Our list of common Google Ads mistakes healthcare providers make covers why a missing negative keyword list is one of the most expensive problems we find.

How to Add Negatives Without Blocking Real Patients

Negative keywords are powerful, and it’s easy to overdo them. A few rules keep you safe:

• Block the problem word, not the whole search. If “massage therapy school Victoria” shows up, add “school” as a negative, not the full phrase. That blocks every school-related search at once.
• Be careful with short, common words. Adding “back” as a negative to stop “back massager” searches would also block “back pain physio”. Use phrase match negatives like “back massager” instead.
• Keep a shared negative list. Google Ads lets you save a negative keyword list and apply it to all your campaigns. One list, updated monthly, is much easier to manage than negatives scattered across campaigns.
• Don’t block everything with zero conversions. A search that got two clicks and no booking in one month isn’t necessarily bad. Look for patterns over a few months before blocking something that’s clearly relevant.

What About Searches You Can’t See?

You’ll notice the report doesn’t show every search. Google only lists search terms used by a meaningful number of people. Lower-volume searches are hidden for privacy. In most accounts, a real share of spend sits in that hidden group.

You can’t see those individual searches, but you can still control them:

• Tighten your match types. Broad match brings in the widest range of searches, including many you’ll never see. Phrase and exact match keep things closer to what you chose. For most clinics, phrase and exact match on core service terms is the safer starting point. Moving to phrase and exact match was one of the first fixes for the physio clinic in our 35% cost-per-lead case study.
• Use Google’s search terms insights. Under Insights, Google groups searches into themes, including ones too small to list individually. It’s a useful way to spot a whole category of searches you didn’t expect.
• Build a strong negative list up front. Negatives apply to hidden searches too. The common wastes listed above block a lot of low-volume junk you’ll never see in the report.

Turning Good Searches Into Better Results

The search terms report isn’t only for cutting waste. It’s also the best source of ideas for improving your campaigns:

• New keywords. Converting searches that aren’t already keywords are proven winners. Add them.
• Better ad copy. The exact words patients use belong in your headlines. If people search “sports physio” more than “sports physiotherapy”, write your ads the way they search.
• New landing pages. A condition or service that keeps appearing (sciatica, TMJ, prenatal massage, ICBC) may deserve its own page. Our healthcare landing page guide covers how to build one.
• Seasonal clues. Watch for benefit-related searches picking up from October onward. They’re a signal to start your year-end benefits campaign.

Signs It’s Time for Help

The monthly check works well for a single-location clinic with a simple account. It’s time to get a second opinion if:

• More than a quarter of your spend each month is going to irrelevant searches, even after you’ve added negatives.
• Your conversions column is empty or clearly wrong.
• You’re running Performance Max or broad match and can’t tell what you’re paying for.
• You don’t have 15 minutes a month to spare (most clinic owners don’t, and that’s fine).

Frequently Asked Questions

How often should I check the search terms report?

Monthly is enough for most clinic accounts. Check weekly for the first month after launching a new campaign or switching to broad match, since that’s when the most unexpected searches appear.

What’s the difference between a keyword and a search term?

A keyword is what you tell Google to target. A search term is what someone actually typed. Depending on match type, one keyword can trigger dozens of different search terms.

Should I add every irrelevant search as a negative keyword?

Add the ones that cost money or keep repeating. Blocking the single problem word (like “jobs” or “school”) is usually better than blocking the full search, because it stops a whole group of similar searches at once.

Why don’t I see all my searches in the report?

Google hides low-volume searches for privacy. You can still control them with tighter match types, a solid negative keyword list, and the themes in Google’s search terms insights.

Does this apply to trades businesses too?

Yes. Plumbers, electricians and HVAC companies see the same pattern: jobs, training, DIY and product searches eating budget. Our guide to Google Ads for Victoria trades includes a trades-specific negative list.

Want Someone to Look at Your Search Terms?

SEO Medics was founded by a practising chiropractor, and the search terms report is the first thing we open in every account audit. It’s usually where we find the quickest savings.

If you’d like a second set of eyes on what your clinic is actually paying for, get in touch with SEO Medics. We’ll tell you honestly what’s working, what’s wasting budget, and what we’d change.