On this page
The short answer
Some keywords score well with Google, get shown, and never receive a paid click. Oppy lists the live keywords with a good Quality Score, impressions over recent months and zero spend. It is demand the account has never bought.
Why it matters
An audit that only cuts is half an audit. These keywords are the opposite of waste: Google thinks the ad and page fit them, people are searching for them, and the account is not winning the clicks.
The usual reasons are a bid too low to reach a position people click, a budget too small to cover these searches, or a keyword crowded out by a broader one in the same account.
How Oppy decides
The check reads live keywords over recent months, because a quieter keyword needs more than a month to show a pattern.
Checks that weigh money or clicks judge what they find on your own account's numbers, not on one figure applied to every account, so what counts as a problem on a small account is not the same on a large one. Checks on settings read how the account is set up.
When there is too little to go on, the check says so instead of guessing. A finding always comes with the rows behind it, so you can read the evidence before you decide.
| This check | |
|---|---|
| Step of the audit | History |
| What it reads | Keywords report |
| Needs trustworthy conversions | No. It does not wait for the tracking step. |
| What happens next | Reported in the audit with the rows behind it. The decision stays with you. |
Check it yourself in Google Ads
- In Google Ads, open Campaigns, then Audiences, keywords and content, then Search keywords, for the last 90 days.
- Add the Quality Score, Impressions and Cost columns.
- Filter on a good Quality Score, Impressions above 0 and Cost equal to 0.
- Sort by Impressions and check each keyword's status and top of page bid estimate.
What to do about it
For the keywords that matter to the business, check what holds them back: a bid under the first page estimate, a budget too small for them, or another keyword winning the same searches.
Raise the bid or give them a campaign with room in its budget, and watch them for a few weeks before judging.
Terms on this page
Other checks in this area
The checks next to this one in Keyword research, each with its own page.
- Keywords that used to convert and are switched off
- A negative keyword switching off one you chose
- Keywords with no impressions in 30 days
- One match type is paying more for the same intent
- Searches that already make money and have no keyword of their own
- The same keyword bought at two very different prices