Search Terms vs. Keywords
What people actually typed, versus what you bid on to trigger the ad.
What it means
Keywords are what you enter into Google Ads to tell it when to show your ad. Search terms are the actual words someone typed into Google that caused your ad to show. Because of match types, these two are often not the same — a keyword can trigger for many different search terms.
Why it matters
Your search terms report is where you find out what's really happening — including searches you never intended to show up for. Reviewing it is how you discover new negative keywords, and sometimes new keyword ideas worth bidding on directly.
ask datanephew
What search terms are actually triggering my ads?
Ask datanephew to pull your search terms report — it can show you the gap between what you're bidding on and what people are actually searching.
Are there search terms I should be bidding on directly?
Ask datanephew to look for search terms that convert well but aren't yet keywords in your account — those are good candidates to add.