This Google Ads wasted spend calculator shows how much of your budget went to searches that never brought a lead or sale. Paste your search terms report below: it runs in your browser and nothing is uploaded.

How to export your search terms report

In Google Ads, click Campaigns, then Insights and reports > Search terms.
Set the date range to at least the last 30 days.
Click the download icon above the table and choose .csv. The Excel .csv option works too.
Paste the file's text above, or choose the file.

Google describes the report inAbout the search terms report and the download in Create, save, and schedule reports. Our guide toreading the search terms report shows what to look for, row by row.

What counts as wasted

The calculator adds up every search term that cost money and brought no conversions. The same search in two ad groups counts once. The monthly figure scales your report's days to an average month of 30.4 days.

That total is a list to review, not a verdict. A simple rule for each term:

1 or 2 clicks and no conversion isn't proof of anything. Good searches often take more clicks before someone calls.
Real spend over 30 days or more, say more than you'd normally pay for one lead, and still no conversions: that's waste. Block it.
A search for something you don't offer (jobs, DIY, a town you don't serve) is waste at any spend.

One pitfall: if conversion tracking is broken, every term shows 0 conversions and nearly all your spend looks wasted. If the result seems too bad to be true,check your conversion tracking first.

A worked example

Say you spend $1,200 a month on a roofing business and export the last 30 days. The calculator finds $310 on search terms with no conversions, about 26% of your spend.

The costliest rows are "roofing jobs" ($64, 9 clicks), "roof repair course" ($41, 6 clicks) and "how to fix a roof leak" ($35, 5 clicks). None of them are customers, so that's $140 a month that three negative keywords can stop. Further down, "roof repair cost" has 2 clicks and $12. People checking prices may still hire you, so leave it for another month. (These numbers are made up to show how to read the result.)

What to do next

Block the clear waste with negative keywords. Thenegative keyword list builder gives you a starter list for your business, and negative keywords for small business explains match types and lists. The free SpendCanary scan checks this and 13 other leaks in your account, each with a dollar figure.