AdWords Editor 12.3, released during the first week of May 2018, contains several significant feature updates.

One long-awaited update includes the ability to see search term reports directly within Editor. This gives users a new option for conducting the search query review process. Many PPC managers likely have an established process that involves either reviewing search terms in the interface or downloading them to Excel.

However, we’d encourage you to become familiar with the new options available in Editor.

Accessing Search Term Reports in Editor

To access the Search Term Report, while viewing your desired account in Editor, go to Tools > View Search Term Report from the menu. You’ll also see a button for Search Terms when viewing the Keywords section of an account.

Upon selecting this option, a box will appear where you can select further options.

Downloading Data

First, set a date range for which you’d like to see data, using either the dropdown with preselected dates or the calendar section at right to choose specific dates. Next, choose your desired campaigns/ad groups.

Finally, select the stats you want to include. Note that you can also save a set of stats to reuse in the future, using the field at the bottom right.

Once you’ve chosen your desired options, click OK and wait for the search term data to download. Now, you’ll see a box appear showing a table with search terms and associated metrics.

Viewing Search Terms & Metrics

The layout is similar to what you see in the web interface, including columns for Added/Excluded, Keyword (the original keyword that triggered the search term), and Match type (correlating with how the search term matched to the keyword, not necessarily the actual match type of the keyword), Campaign, and Ad Group, along with any metrics you’ve selected to download.

You can use the Columns box to the right above the keyword table to add or remove columns. Selecting the “Sort” option here will allow you to sort by multiple criteria, a feature that may be useful in finding the most important search terms to add or exclude.

For instance, you could sort by search terms with the highest click volume and then, secondarily, those with the most conversions to determine higher volume converting keywords to add.

The search box at the top allows you to quickly find search terms within the report. You can also click the Filter button for a wide range of options to narrow down what you want to see. In this example, we’ve used a campaign filter to leave out Brand campaigns and also filtered out any search terms that have already been added or excluded. You can save filters for future use with the “save” icon that appears at the right of the box.

Adding & Excluding Terms

To add or exclude search terms, you can select one or multiple terms within the report and click the “Add as Keyword” or “Add as Negative Keyword” buttons at the top (you can also right-click any term for these options). You’ll have the option to add as either an ad group or campaign level negative keyword. Unfortunately, negative keyword lists are not accessible through Editor as of the writing of this article.

Note that if you make a mistake before uploading your changes, you can use the undo/redo buttons to the right of the search bar. Once you’ve completed your edits, don’t forget to post your changes to upload them into the live version of AdWords.

In summary, the addition of search term reports to Editor offers a new, efficient way of reviewing search queries or quickly viewing data without going into the web interface. Take the time to test it if you haven’t done so already.

Do you plan to use AdWords Editor for search query review? What are your thoughts on this update? Share in the comments below!