How to Identify Your Best and Worst-Performing Google Ads Keywords – Google Ads Keyword Analysis

Managing Google Ads campaigns effectively requires more than just monitoring overall spend and conversions. Marketers often struggle to identify which specific terms are driving results and which are wasting budget. 

Coupler.io provides prebuilt dashboards and data sets that consolidate Google Search Ads keyword performance data into detailed keyword-level insights. Gain complete visibility into individual keyword metrics to eliminate budget waste on underperforming terms.

Key insights the keyword performance analysis can offer

Eliminate budget-wasting keywords with poor conversion rates

Many keywords generate impressive impression volumes but fail to deliver meaningful clicks or conversions. These terms create the illusion of campaign reach while systematically draining advertising budgets without generating business value.

If you have a unified view of complete Google Ads metrics, including impressions, clicks, CTR, CPC, and conversion data, you can identify such performance gaps. Coupler.io lets you get such a table view in the Keyword performance dashboard for Google Ads (screenshot above) or as a prebuilt data set with weekly and monthly aggregated data.

What you can do:

• Eliminate impression waste: Sort the keyword performance table by impressions and CTR to quickly identify keywords generating high impressions but minimal clicks. Based on the insights, pause or adjust these budget-draining terms.
• Improve quality scores: Remove low-CTR keywords that negatively impact account-wide quality scores and increase costs across all campaigns.
• Focus on converting traffic: Use the conversion metrics in the dataset to identify keywords that drive clicks but fail to convert visitors into customers. After that, you can either optimize landing pages or exclude non-converting terms.
• Redistribute budget effectively: Reallocate spend from high-impression, low-performance keywords to profitable ones. For additional insights, use the Top 5 keywords by clicks chart from the keyword performance dashboard.

• Optimize automated bidding: Provide bidding algorithms with cleaner data by removing volume-focused keywords that don’t align with conversion goals.

Identify high-potential keywords missing search impression share

Some of your best-converting keywords may be significantly limited by low search impression share. This is an indicator of missed opportunities for campaign expansion. These keywords demonstrate strong performance metrics but lack sufficient visibility in search results.

Reveal keywords that could generate substantially more results with increased bidding or budget allocation. You can use Coupler.io’s data set in combination with the dashboard’s Search impression share chart.

What you can do:

• Capture missed revenue opportunities: Filter the dataset for keywords with strong CTR and conversion rates but low search impression share to identify high-potential terms needing increased bids.
• Beat competitor visibility: Find where competitors are capturing available impressions for your best-performing terms, then adjust bidding accordingly. Read more about Google Ads competitor analysis.
• Scale proven performance: Increase budgets on keywords showing less than 50% impression share with good conversion metrics to maximize returns from validated success.
• Optimize automated bidding strategies: Provide bidding systems with clear signals about which high-converting, low-visibility keywords need priority attention.
• Strategic budget reallocation: Move resources from broader reach campaigns toward proven high-performance, under-exposed keywords.

Discover seasonal performance patterns for strategic campaign timing

Keyword performance fluctuates significantly based on seasonal trends, market conditions, and consumer behavior cycles. Understanding these patterns enables proactive campaign management rather than reactive adjustments after performance declines.

The Google Ads dashboard by Coupler.io provides time-based performance charts to track and compare KPIs such as impressions & CTR, clicks & CPC, and conversions. This allows you to reveal when specific keywords perform optimally and adjust budgets and bidding strategies according to predictable seasonal patterns.

What you can do:

• Proactive campaign management: Identify optimal performance periods and adjust budgets before seasonal changes occur.
• Eliminate seasonal waste: Pause keywords during their historically poor performance periods using insights from the temporal performance data.
• Maximize peak opportunities: Increase budgets proactively for keywords approaching their high-conversion seasons.
• Competitive advantage timing: Launch campaigns or boost spending when competitors may be reducing their seasonal efforts.
• Strategic planning alignment: Align annual budget allocation with actual seasonal keyword performance patterns from the dataset.

Analyze campaign-level keyword distribution and performance gaps

Different campaigns often contain keywords with vastly different performance characteristics. This makes it difficult to optimize bidding strategies and budget allocation across campaign structures. However, the keyword performance dashboard by Coupler.io enables you to apply the Campaign Name filter and get the performance data aligned with certain campaigns. 

As a result, marketers can identify campaigns dominated by high-performing terms versus those requiring restructuring or keyword redistribution.

What you can do:

• Optimize campaign structure: Group high-performing keywords from different campaigns into focused, high-budget campaigns for better management.
• Improve budget distribution: Align campaign budgets with actual keyword value using performance data from the main keyword table.
• Streamline bidding strategies: Apply appropriate bidding approaches by separating high and low-performing keywords into distinct campaigns using conversion metrics.
• Enhance quality scores: Redistribute or eliminate low-performing keywords to improve campaign-level quality scores and reduce costs.
• Reduce management complexity: Create clearer performance hierarchies by organizing campaigns around actual keyword performance patterns from the dataset.

Ready-to-use solutions for page performance analytics

Getting started with keyword analysis doesn’t require complex setup procedures. Coupler.io provides two pre-built solutions designed specifically for Google Ads keyword optimization workflows.

Google Ads Keywords data set

A data set in Coupler.io is a ready-to-analysis data from your source. This means you only need to connect your Google Ads account to get a complete overview of keyword performance metrics, including impressions, clicks, conversions, and costs. No data cleanup or transformations are needed; everything is already done. Check out what the Google Ads keywords data set looks like:

It’s a perfect solution for advanced analysis and custom reporting workflows that require detailed keyword-level granularity. To make this data live, enable the automatic data refresh and configure the desired schedule. 

Keyword performance dashboard for Google Ads by Coupler.io

If you want more than just a performance table, opt for the dashboard. It also provides immediate access to keyword-level insights without requiring technical setup or data integration work. However, you get different insights visualized for better keyword optimization capabilities.

The dashboard focuses exclusively on Google Search Ads keyword data and excludes display ads and remarketing campaigns. This enables more precise keyword optimization decisions, unlike other Google Ads dashboards by Coupler.io.

Keyword performance insights this dashboard provides:

• Complete keyword performance table with all keywords from connected Google Ads accounts showing impressions, clicks, CPM, CTR, CPC, and conversion metrics
• Campaign-level keyword analysis using the Campaign filter to identify what’s inside each campaign and how individual keywords perform
• Ad group performance filtering to analyze keyword performance within specific ad groups for budget redistribution decisions
• Individual keyword performance tracking over time using keyword-specific filtering to identify seasonal patterns and optimization timing
• Search impression share analysis to identify keywords that under-receive impressions despite good performance metrics
• Top-performing keywords identification through sorting capabilities to research similar high-performing terms for campaign expansion

How to get started:

The Google Ads keyword performance dashboard comes as a pre-configured template in Looker Studio. Load your Google Ads data using the built-in Coupler.io connector with just a few clicks.

Keyword performance dashboard for Google Ads in Looker Studio

Understand the performance of your Google Ads campaigns by specific keywords to identify which drive the most value.

Try this report

Ask AI about your Google Ads keyword performance

If you crave more insights that Coupler.io data sets and dashboards can offer, load your keyword performance data to AI. It can be easily done with the Coupler.io MCP server that integrates Google Ads keyword data directly to AI tools like Claude. 

Then, you can ask natural language questions about your keyword performance and receive data-driven recommendations based on your actual campaign metrics. Here are some queries for conversation analytics about keyword optimization:

• “Which keywords have high impressions but terrible click-through rates that I should pause?”
• “Show me keywords with strong conversion rates but low search impression share for budget increases”
• “What seasonal patterns do my best-performing keywords show over the past year?”
• “Which campaigns contain mostly underperforming keywords that need restructuring?”
• “Find keywords with good clicks but poor conversion rates that need landing page optimization”

Traditional keyword analysis involves extensive spreadsheet work, complex pivot tables, and manual correlation analysis to understand performance patterns. Creating comprehensive keyword optimization strategies typically requires hours of data manipulation and cross-referencing different metrics to identify actionable insights.

This conversational approach to keyword analysis provides specific, actionable insights derived from your unique performance data rather than generic optimization advice found in marketing guides.

Read how to get started with Coupler.io MCP server or check out this video guide.

Real-world example: Getting keyword optimization insights in seconds

Let’s say you’re managing Google Ads campaigns for an e-commerce client and need to identify immediate optimization opportunities. With Coupler.io’s AI integration, you could ask:

Sample query: “Show me my worst-performing keywords by clicks and recommend what I can do to improve them.”

AI analysis results:

Based on your Google Ads keyword data, here are your worst-performing keywords and specific improvement recommendations:

UNDERPERFORMING KEYWORD ANALYSIS

• Keyword: “ai for marketers” – 0 clicks, 174 impressions (0% CTR), 4 new users
• Performance: Zero clicks despite decent impression volume – complete visibility failure
• Problem: Invisible in search results. Rewrite title tag and meta description entirely. Current content likely doesn’t match search intent for “AI for marketers” queries
• Recommendation: This page is invisible in search results. Rewrite title tag and meta description entirely. Current content likely doesn’t match search intent for “AI for marketers” queries

IMPRESSION WASTE ISSUES

• Keyword: “resume backup” – 0 clicks, 644 impressions (0% CTR), 10 new users
• Performance: High impression volume but zero organic clicks
• Problem: Major disconnect between what searchers expect and what Google shows. Research top-ranking pages for “resume backup” and completely rebuild your title/meta to match user intent
• Recommendation: Research top-ranking pages for “resume backup” and completely rebuild your title/meta to match user intent

MISSED OPPORTUNITY KEYWORDS

• Keyword: “ai-based-seo” – 7 clicks, 7,287 impressions (0.096% CTR), position 35.26
• Performance: Massive impression waste – getting shown but never clicked
• Problem: You’re ranking too low (position 35) for valuable keywords. Focus on content depth, add more recent examples of AI impact on SEO, and build relevant backlinks
• Recommendation: You’re ranking too low (position 35) for valuable keywords. Focus on content depth, add more recent examples of AI impact on SEO, and build relevant backlinks

Priority actions:

• Emergency fix: Audit “ai for marketers” and “resume backup” for title/meta misalignment (could add 50+ monthly clicks)
• Content upgrade: Expand “ai-based-seo” with 2024/2025 examples to improve rankings
• Technical check: Verify these pages aren’t being penalized by algorithm updates

Analyze Google Ads keyword performance with Coupler.io

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Choose your approach for keyword performance analysis

The evolution of Google Ads keyword analysis isn’t just about having more data—it’s about having conversations with your data. Traditional keyword optimization may require hours of spreadsheet manipulation, complex pivot tables, and manual cross-referencing to identify optimization opportunities. 

Coupler.io transforms this workflow through three distinct approaches, each designed for different optimization needs and working styles:

Ready-to-use dashboards eliminate setup complexity and provide instant keyword insights through visual interfaces. Perfect for quick daily optimization tasks, performance monitoring, and sharing insights with stakeholders who need clear visual summaries. 

Prebuilt data sets offer maximum flexibility for analysis workflows and integration with spreadsheets or BI tools. Ideal for advanced PPC specialists who run Google Ads for small business, and want to get analysis-ready data that can be shared or used for further analytics.

AI-powered analysis revolutionizes how you interact with keyword performance data through natural language queries. No need to build complex formulas to find underperforming keywords anymore. Just integrate your data with an AI tool using the Coupler.io MCP and ask “Which keywords have high impressions but terrible CTR?”

In a moment, you’ll receive immediate, actionable recommendations. 

The most effective keyword optimization strategies combine all three approaches: 

• Datasets and dashboards for daily monitoring
• AI for strategic insights and pattern recognition. 

 This integrated workflow significantly reduces analysis time while improving optimization accuracy and campaign performance.

Zakhar Yung

A content manager at Coupler.io whose key responsibility is to ensure that the readers love our content on the blog. With 5 years of experience as a wordsmith in SaaS, I know how to make texts resonate with readers' queries.