TermsSearch term versus keyword
A keyword is what you set to bid on. A search term is what someone actually typed into Google and your ad appeared on. The two are not always the same: a broad keyword can show ads on search terms that only loosely fit. That is why AdBuilder looks at the search terms that triggered your ads.
WasteWhen a search term is excluded
AdBuilder marks a search term as wasteful if it costs money without result. The hard boundary: 0 conversions, at least 5 clicks, and enough cost to be sure it is not chance.
How much cost is needed depends on what a customer is normally worth to you (your average CPA, the cost per conversion). If you do not have a CPA reference yet, a floor of about 5 euro applies. If you do have one, the boundary is the higher of 25 euro or 2 times your average CPA. That way you only exclude something once it has really cost more than a normal conversion is allowed to cost.
Per recommendation, AdBuilder proposes at most 10 search terms at a time, so you keep an overview. You exclude them as exact or phrase, on the campaign or on a shared list.
N-gramsWords that structurally cost money
Sometimes the waste is not in one search term, but in a recurring word (an n-gram). Think of "free" or "vacancy" that pops up across all kinds of search terms and never converts. AdBuilder proposes excluding such a word as a whole when it occurs in at least 3 wasteful search terms that together wasted at least 8 euro. One exclusion then clears out a whole series of bad search terms in one go.
WinnersAdding converting search terms
Conversely, AdBuilder spots search terms that do convert but are not yet a keyword of their own. It proposes adding those as a keyword, so you can bid on them more precisely instead of relying on a broad keyword to keep picking them up.
KeywordsTightening and cleaning up
At the keyword level, AdBuilder spots, among other things, weak keywords to pause, duplicates to clean up, broad keywords that would be better as phrase, overly expensive keywords and undervalued winners that deserve a higher bid. Previously converting, now paused keywords can also be proposed to turn back on.