Google to Improve Search Terms Report With Privacy in Mind

Jill Goldstein - September 24, 2021

Back in September of 2020, Google announced that they would be reducing visibility in their valuable search terms report. The reason for this change was “to maintain standards of privacy and strengthen protections around user data.” While this was a valid cause for change, it was concerning to advertisers to lose full transparency into exactly what searches resulted in their ads being shown, clicked and converted on. However, times have changed and expectations for privacy is higher than ever.

What is changing?

One year later, Google has announced that they have found new privacy-safe ways to show more queries in the search terms report. This data will be shown for queries received as of February 1, 2021. Having more data around search terms allows advertisers to spot trends in themes which could influence changes in ad copy, landing pages, negative keywords, etc.

As part of Google’s larger picture goal of privacy and consistency around the thresholds at which data is shared, there will be more changes announced in the coming months. In Google Ads, data collected prior to September 1, 2020 that does not meet their new privacy thresholds will only be available until February 1, 2022.

What does this mean moving forward?

At the end of the day, advertisers want the best possible data to be able to understand search trends to improve campaign performance and ultimately increase sales. Google wants to give you those insights with privacy in mind. Expect to see more changes around data collection and privacy in the near future. One thing that’s for certain is that this is just getting started. Stay tuned!

If you are a MoreVisibility client and would like more information about changes around privacy in Google Ads, contact your Client Strategist. If you are not a MoreVisibility client and would like additional information, please contact the experts at MoreVisibility.