The Google Ads account offers a wealth of metrics and KPIs. If all measurement data were output, you would quickly lose sight of the essentials. This is where filters come into play. They are available on all menu levels of the Ads account, help with understanding and analysis. You identify strengths, weaknesses and potential.
Maybe you already know and use the filter function in your Google Ads account. Would you like to keep control of your SEA campaigns and only have limited time? In my blog article today, I will show you how you can use custom Google Ads filters directly in your Google Ads account to monitor and optimize the performance of your SEA campaigns in a time-efficient manner. You will also get an overview of the best ads filters.
Define your campaign goals
The basis of campaign optimization is the formulation of target values. The more specifically you define the objective for your campaign, the better you can optimize towards this goal. Before you use filters to optimize campaigns, think about which performance values you want to optimize and how strong the change should be.
An example: The goal “increase click rate” is formulated in very general terms. It would be better: “Increase click rate by 20%”.
Depending on the industry, there can be very different key figures and key performance indicators (KPI).
Examples of simple metrics are Clicks & Impressions . In contrast to pure metrics, KPIs combine these simple metrics and show them in relation to each other: For example, you get the click-through rate of an ad by dividing the number of clicks by the number of impressions. Of course, you don’t have to calculate this value manually, you can simply select the “CTR” (click rate) column in Google Ads.
Another example: A high number of conversions alone does not provide any information about the success of an advertising measure. KPIs such as conversion value/cost (ROAS) or cost/conversion (CPO) are useful for measuring profitability because they represent the whole in relation to the expenditure.
Choose your focus metrics on each Google Ads tier
By default, Google displays a pre-selection of metrics at all levels (campaign, ad group, ad tests, keywords, etc.).
However, these measured values are not enough for us, an example:
Google doesn’t automatically display the “Click Through Rate” (CTR) column. You can change this very easily by clicking on the “Columns”/Customize columns icon. Here you can select the metrics that are important to you:
Tip: You can save your individually compiled column selection so that you don’t have to select it again and again for each level.
If you want to optimize your campaigns with Google Ads filters, you should definitely use this storage function. So before you create the ads filter, adjust your column view on all menu levels and save it. By saving, you can access your most important data more quickly in the future and you avoid making mistakes when making your selection. Select the metrics that are most important to your goals.
The order of the columns can be changed on the right using drag and drop. Save it as “Custom Column Chooser” and name your Column View meaningfully, for example “Keyword Column View”. Repeat the procedure on all menu levels that are important to you. I recommend saved column views for keywords, ads, search terms, locations, ad schedules, and devices—customized to match your ads account goals.
Under the menu item “Columns” you will find your saved column sets.
Tip: Even if values are not shown in columns, they can be selected with filters. For a better overview, make sure to limit yourself to the most important KPIs and key figures and to sort them well.
Keep in mind that some values are not KPIs, but by setting them in relation, these values become KPIs. For example, a click through rate of 50% can result from a click on two impressions.
The best Google Ads filters for campaign optimization
Setting filters does not automatically optimize your campaigns. You sort your data with the Google Ads filters and then implement to-dos for optimization based on this selected data.
How you implement your to-dos after setting the filter in your Google Ads account is described below for the respective filter.
My step-by-step instructions will show you how to use which filter to eliminate costly wasters, uncover unused opportunities and potential, and use your budget in the best possible way.
This is how you set a filter in your Google Ads account: In the first step, you select a reporting level and then specify a viewing period in the top right-hand corner. Then you start creating the filter.
In the Google Ads account, select the level on the left and the filters directly above the table.
Tip: Always give your filters a meaningful name before you save them, so that you can use them again in the next round of optimization.
Keyword active filter
The keyword level offers you great optimization potential.
This status filter only shows you currently deliverable keywords whose campaign and ad group status is active and which are not restricted by other reasons, such as low search volume.
This filter makes sense because you only have one lever for campaign optimization with active keywords anyway. Making changes to paused keywords will not change your campaign performance.
With this filter, only the deliverable keywords are displayed in the interface.
ROI optimization using Google Ads filters
The return on investment (ROI) is not called ROI or ROAS in Google Ads, but you can find it in the “Conversion value/Cost” column. This is one of the most important metrics for e-commerce advertisers as it reflects the ratio of sales to advertising spend and therefore the operational return on investment. In other words: How many euros in sales do you make with every euro spent on advertising costs?
Before creating your ROI filters, ask yourself the following questions:
- Up to which ROI value is it a flop value for you, i.e.: up to which ROI value are you still not making a profit?
- From which ROI value is the value good – but in need of improvement, i.e.: From which ROI value do you make a profit?
- From which ROI value would you describe it as a top value?
For example, if you see an ROI of 15 as the top value for your online shop, and you make a profit from an ROI of 5, create individual filters for the stages on the way to your goal:
- Flop value, ROI is less than 5: set the filter “conv. value/cost < 5”.
- ROI ok, from here you don’t have to pay any more, ROI between 5 and 10: Set the two filters “Conv. value/costs > 5” and “Conv. value/costs <10”.
- Good ROI, from here you make a good profit, ROI between 10 and 15: Set the two filters “Conv. value/costs >= 10” and “Conv. value/costs < 15”.
- Top ROI, ROI is greater than 15: Set the filter “Conv. Value/Cost >= 15”.
These are example values. There are no absolute values that apply to all industries. Unfortunately, I cannot give you any general benchmark values for flop and top ROI values, because these are heavily dependent on your margin and the overall calculation of your online shop.
Tip: Define very granular gradations of different “from-to areas” for the ROI. You can then also make different adjustments to the CPC, for example, for these different granular filters. On this basis, you make bulk decisions based on filter data without getting lost at the level of individual keywords. After setting the filters, you then make the decision as to what to do with these flop or top ROI keywords.
An example of a filter-based adjustment: You increase or decrease the CPC bids of all keywords in an ads filter by a certain percentage, for example 10%. You may be wondering what percentage is appropriate here? I can’t give you a blanket rule here – because that depends on many factors: How high are your starting CPCs? At what ROI is it a flop ROI for you? Do you have a pain threshold regarding CPCs? The answer is: Test – and use what you have learned next time. In technical jargon, this is referred to as “pushing” and “braking” a keyword. Bid adjustments are an important lever for improving ads performance – especially if you don’t use Smart Bidding. (Because if you use Smart Bidding bid strategies, then Smart Bidding itself takes care of pushing or slowing down the keyword CPCs. This works well in some cases, but not in many cases.)
Google Ads filter to detect high-cost keywords
When weeding out high-cost keywords, you can differentiate between high-cost keywords that brought in conversions and those that didn’t bring in conversions. You can already detect the former via your ads filter for a low ROI.
In order to only filter non-converting cost hogs, set the filter to “0 conversions” next to your “from-to or greater-than cost range”. The selection “Conversions=0” is not available, so set a filter for “Conversions < 0.01”.
After setting this filter, you can implement the following optimizations:
- Put the brakes on expensive keywords by reducing bids or separate them in extra campaigns. In this way, these keywords do not take away the budget from well-performing keywords.
- If there are only costs but no conversions over a longer period of time, then pause these costly keywords.
Filter for keywords below the first page bid
In our experience, ads that do not appear on Google’s first results page often have little chance of clicks and conversions. However, there are still cases where it is not possible to always place all your keywords on page 1. This is often simply a question of budget: if you have an unlimited budget, it is also possible to place a large number of keywords on the first page. Depending on the campaign budget and competition, this is often not possible for all of your booked keywords because you have a limited budget. How can you find out which of your keywords have a CPC set too low so that they don’t rank on the first page – and what can you do about it?
If you want to give these not so well placed keywords space to develop, I have a tip for you here. Use this filter regularly to take a look at the keywords that currently have too low a CPC for placement on the first page. With the filter “reason for the status” you track them down and can then adjust the CPCs.
You can find these low-ranking keywords by filtering “Below first page bid” at the keyword level. Then go to “Edit” and set the bid increase option for the first page. You can increase the bids for all restricted keywords at once, but still set a maximum limit.
Give good keywords more chances with Google Ads filters
Keywords with a good quality factor (QF) and few impressions and clicks hold untapped potential. Because here Google rates the fit between keyword, ad text and landing page as very good, but these keywords may not get enough chances due to budget or bid reasons. You can identify these chances for these keywords with the filter described here.
Tip: Quality Score (QF) is a metric, on a scale of 1 (poor) to 10 (excellent), that Google uses to rate a keyword’s quality and relevance in terms of likely click-through rate, ad relevance, and landing page experience. It is calculated using algorithms.
A limited delivery status due to a low click price (CPC) or low search volume can be reasons for few impressions and clicks.
The observation period and the seasonality of the keyword are important.
Tip: The better the Quality Score of a keyword, the lower the price per click (CPC). (However, this is not absolute, but depends heavily on the competition. In other words: a keyword with a very good quality score of 10 can be expensive compared to a keyword with a medium quality score, where the competition is much lower.) At the same time increases the chance of a placement in the top places.
If you want to increase the number of impressions for a keyword with a high quality factor, you can, for example, set the filters for “quality factor >=7” and “impr.<=1000” and then increase the CPC bids for these keywords. However, this filter does not always work. If the keywords are seasonal, then there may be a lack of search volume at the moment – and applying this filter has little effect. However, as soon as the season for these keywords (e.g. sandals) starts, this filter takes effect again.
Identify keywords with poor Quality Score
Conversely, a low Quality Score has a bad effect on campaign performance, as it negatively affects the bid price, causes additional costs – and, moreover, Google plays the ads for keywords with a poor Quality Score less frequently.
Keywords that receive only a few or no impressions due to a limited status (e.g. insufficient search volume) often have the value “-” instead of a rating number. This means that Google does not assign the quality factor for these keywords because the ads for the keyword are played out too seldom. Here I recommend you to set the filter like this, for example: “Quality factor <=5”, and “Quality factor “-“.
Keyword-optimized ad texts in line with the right landing page quickly increase the quality factor, which in turn has a positive effect on the bid price, ranking and click rate. With this lever you can save massively on costs. After setting the filters, you can tackle the following to-dos:
- Filter for keywords with a quality score of 5 or less. Then look for the reasons for the bad rating. To do this, look at the two Quality Score sub-sections “Ad Relevance” and “Landing Page User Experience”.
- If Google rates the ad relevance here as “average” or below average, then the next step is to optimize the ad text and pick up the keyword better in the ad modules. Reasons for poor ad relevance are often missing or insufficient keyword titles. Also, an ad group structure that is too rough with too many different keywords can reduce the relevance of a single keyword.
- If the scores for ad relevance are very good (“above average”), but Google rates the experience with the landing page as “average” or “below average”, then you can improve the Quality Score by optimizing the landing page with a focus on the keywords or a Test with separate SEA landing pages.
Google Ads filter to identify tracking errors
Even if you have set up the conversion tracking well, there may be anomalies from time to time. You can discover these tracking errors with Google Ads filters and then investigate them – otherwise they could lead to incorrect interpretations in campaign optimization.
For example, we currently identify more e-commerce purchases with one conversion but 0 euros in sales (and these are clearly e-commerce purchases, not other conversions such as contact requests). By filtering for keywords with at least one conversion but zero conversion value, you can find these errors.
On the basis of test conversions and in comparison with the sales and conversion data from your content management system (CMS), you can further narrow down these errors. Not all of these errors can be solved immediately. However, if you observe that these erroneously measured conversions occur more frequently – and they were actually purchases – then you can at least take this knowledge into account when interpreting your performance.
In the search term report you can see which search queries have matched your registered keyword and thus led to an ad.
By the way, keywords are not the same as search queries. When using all keyword matching options (exact, phrase, broad) and through dynamic search ads ( DSA ) , the search queries differ more from your booked keyword than was the case a few years ago. The broader the keyword matching option, the more the ads are played out for deviating, only (more or less) similar search queries that do not correspond 100% to your booked keywords. And it is precisely for these search queries that Google gives you information with the search term report. Unfortunately, Google doesn’t show you all search terms that led to an ad display, but only a part.
You can use the search query report for regular account monitoring and, for example, regularly exclude unsuitable search queries as negative .
Conversely, you can book unbooked search terms that have caused conversions as keywords. This allows you to optimize specifically for these search queries. I prefer to book these keywords with the exact matching option. It is often advisable to create a new ad group for the keyword.
For example, you have created a campaign with ad groups and keywords in the {Brand + Category} scheme and want to further expand well-functioning keywords. In the search queries you discover that users have searched for the pure model name (without the brand). If you offer products of this model in your shop, then it is worth booking them in.
Google Ads filter at ad and campaign level
You can set Google Ads filters not only at keyword level, but also at ad and campaign level. I’ll show you my favorite filters for these two layers.
Ad filter for policy violations
Ad texts that violate the Google Ads guidelines are not displayed or only to a limited extent. Reasons for rejection can vary widely, but are always provided by Google. Google’s ad verification often makes mistakes and incorrectly rejects ads.
I advise you (in the sense of good Google Ads account hygiene) not to simply leave the rejected ad texts in the account. My advice is:
- You will receive an email from Google Ads if ad copy is rejected. View all rejected Google ads directly in the Google Ads account. Use the filter at the ad level for this.
- Check: Is the rejection of the ads justified?
- If it is not justified, then you can almost always appeal. In rare cases, you will not be offered the appeal. Then you should contact Google Support. This can request a new review from within Google.
- Is the rejection justified – for example, because you are violating Google Ads guidelines with the ad? Then change your ad texts and upload them again.
It doesn’t help if you re-upload the same ad texts without changing them – this can damage your Google Ads account in the long run.
Find opportunities for device-level bid adjustments
If you use manual bid strategies, then manual bid adjustments for devices are an essential part of optimizing your campaigns.
Tip: If you use smart bidding bid strategies, Google only implements an “opt-out” for device types. This means: You can, for example, set the device bids for tablets to “Minus 100%” (-100%). Google also implements this opt-out when using Smart Bidding – and in our example does not display any ads on tablets. Google ignores all other device-level bid adjustments during Smart Bidding.
Google Ads can be displayed on all devices on which Google search can be used. The performance of Google Ads can vary greatly on different devices. It is correspondingly interesting to evaluate the performance according to the devices and then make bid adjustments based on the performance. Google differentiates the device types into computers, smartphones, tablets and TV screens, with the latter being negligible in the search campaigns. The performance of the same campaign can vary greatly on different devices.
By using the filter in the Google Ads interface, you can analyze device performance across multiple campaigns in summary.
Set the filter for the “Devices” segment – this is possible on all levels (keywords, ads, ad groups, campaigns)
If CPO/ CPL or ROAS are significantly worse on a device type, then you should lower the bid for this device – or, if necessary, prevent ads from being shown on this device type in the future by adjusting the bid by “-100%”.
In the example below you can see that the costs for tablet are too high compared to the conversions achieved with it: With 21.5% of the costs for tablet clicks you only generate 6.1% of the conversions here. On the other hand, mobile clicks generate 29.9% of the costs but 39.1% of the conversions. The use of the budget is therefore significantly more lucrative for the mobile clicks. With device-level tablet bid reduction, you can optimize such imbalances.
Tip: Keep in mind that reducing a device bid factor by 100% will result in no more ads being displayed on that device.
Evaluation of a performance distribution at device level.
Use filters and bid adjustments for location optimization
The prerequisite for bid adjustments at location level is that you already store different regions within your target area in your campaigns. In the first step, this has no influence on the targeting or the bid adjustments – it only creates the structural prerequisites for you to be able to make bid adjustments at all at this level. For example, if you only play your campaign within Germany, you can also specify all federal states and the largest cities in Germany as locations.
Tip: By adjusting the bid by -1% on Germany, the more specific locations are prioritized. Then Google still plays the campaigns throughout Germany, but Google takes the specific, additionally booked locations into account a little more.
Then, similar to the ROI keyword filters, create filters tailored to your campaign goal and save them so that you can use them again with every optimization cycle. Look at the values over a longer period of time (e.g. several months) and set a minimum number of conversions in the filter. Increase or decrease bid percentages for regions/cities within the filtered range.
Conclusion: Use ads filters for a better overview and time savings
If you want to keep full control over your Google Ads campaign measurement data, you have to factor in a certain amount of additional time for analysis and campaign optimization. In addition to full cost control, you have the maximum number of manual adjustments available.
With the right Google Ads filters tailored to your campaign goals, you can keep a quick overview and optimize to your goals in a time-saving manner. Even if not all options for bid optimization are available to you when using the AI-supported smart bidding bid strategies, working with filters is still worthwhile in any case.
What are your experiences with filters on Google Ads? What are your favorite filters – and do you already use them to optimize campaigns?
