How to Analyze Google Ads Data with AI

Most Google Ads analysis starts with an export and ends in a pivot table. With an AI analyst connected to the account, you ask the question and check the query instead. Here is how to do that well.

By Published Updated 8 min read
On this page
  1. Connect the account
  2. 10 questions to ask
  3. Check the query
  4. Traps to avoid
  5. Make it repeat
  6. FAQ

The short answer

Connect Google Ads to an AI analyst with read-only access, ask specific questions with a date range ("which keywords spent more than $100 last month without a conversion?"), and check the GAQL query and table behind each answer. Remember that cost comes back in micros, search terms are filtered for privacy, and conversions follow each conversion action's settings. Save the questions you ask every week as a dashboard or scheduled report.

See Google Ads reporting in Better Analyst

Connect the account

You need a Google account with access to the Google Ads customer you want to analyze. In Better Analyst, open Connectors, choose Google Ads, sign in with Google, and pick the customer accounts to save. Accounts under a manager (MCC) account are discovered for you, and the manager context is saved with each one.

Then attach the account to a chat. Better Analyst carries the account's currency and time zone into the analysis, so "last week" and "spend" mean what they mean in Google Ads. The Google Ads docs cover permissions and limits in detail.

10 questions to ask your account

Good questions name a metric, a grouping and a date range. These cover most weekly PPC reviews:

  1. Where did the money go? "Show spend, clicks, conversions and conversion value by campaign for the last 30 days."
  2. What is spending without converting? "Which keywords spent more than $100 last month with zero conversions?"
  3. Which search terms are earning their keep? "Top 50 search terms by conversions in the last 30 days, with cost."
  4. Which search terms should be keywords? "Which converting search terms are not keywords in the account yet?"
  5. Is efficiency getting worse? "Trend CPA and ROAS by week for this quarter."
  6. Which match types work? "Compare cost per conversion by keyword match type."
  7. Does device matter? "Compare conversion rate and CPA by device for enabled campaigns."
  8. Which ads are tired? "Find ads with at least 1,000 impressions and the lowest CTR in their ad group."
  9. What changed? "Which campaigns had the biggest change in cost per conversion this month versus last month?"
  10. How does paid search compare with Meta? Once the Meta Ads connector is available (coming soon), attach it too and ask for spend, conversions and ROAS by platform by week.

Check the query behind the answer

Google Ads reports are written in GAQL, a SQL-like language where every query reads one resource, such as campaign, keyword_view or search_term_view. An AI analyst is only useful if you can see the query it wrote. For question 1, a correct query looks like this:

SELECT campaign.name, metrics.cost_micros, metrics.clicks,
       metrics.conversions, metrics.conversions_value
FROM campaign
WHERE segments.date DURING LAST_30_DAYS

Question 2 reads keywords, filters on the metrics, and converts the $100 threshold to micros:

SELECT ad_group_criterion.keyword.text,
       ad_group_criterion.keyword.match_type,
       metrics.cost_micros, metrics.conversions
FROM keyword_view
WHERE segments.date DURING LAST_MONTH
  AND metrics.conversions = 0
  AND metrics.cost_micros > 100000000
ORDER BY metrics.cost_micros DESC

When you read a query, check three things:

  • The date range. LAST_30_DAYS excludes today. A literal range such as BETWEEN '2026-09-01' AND '2026-09-30' stays fixed when a dashboard refreshes; a DURING range moves forward.
  • The resource. Keyword questions should read keyword_view, and search-term questions search_term_view. Fields must be compatible with the resource in FROM, and Google rejects incompatible combinations.
  • The conversion metric. metrics.conversions counts the conversion actions included in the Conversions column; metrics.all_conversions counts every action. Pick the one your team reports on and use it everywhere.

Traps to avoid

  1. Step 1Cost is in microsmetrics.cost_micros of 1,250,000 is 1.25 in the account currency. A tool that forgets to divide will report spend a million times too high.
  2. Step 2Search terms will not add upGoogle hides low-volume search terms for privacy, so totals are lower than the campaign report. Rank terms against each other.
  3. Step 3Segments change the grainAdding device or date splits every row. Totals across segmented rows are fine; averages of ratios such as CTR are not.
  4. Step 4Ratios need volumeA 20% conversion rate on five clicks is noise. Ask for a minimum click or spend threshold with every ranking.
  5. Step 5Currency and time zoneEach account reports in its own currency and time zone. Convert before comparing accounts, and say which day boundary you used.
  6. Step 6Platform numbers are attributedGoogle Ads credits conversions using each conversion action’s settings, which rarely match GA4. Compare them side by side rather than expecting a match.

Make it repeat

The questions you ask every Monday should not need asking. In Better Analyst, turn an answer into a dashboard: Google Ads cards rerun their saved query on refresh, and rolling ranges move forward. Save a report as a Data Flow to keep a Google Sheet or database table current, or schedule a task that sends the summary by email or Slack.

If you report on Meta Ads as well, the cross-channel dashboard and ROAS dashboard pages show how to line Google Ads up with GA4 today and add Meta Ads when its connector arrives (coming soon), and Google Ads vs Meta Ads ROAS explains why their numbers differ.

Ask your Google Ads account a question

Connect Google Ads with read-only access, ask about campaigns, keywords or search terms, and turn the answer into a dashboard that refreshes itself.

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Frequently asked questions

Yes. An AI analyst connected to the Google Ads API can turn a question such as "which keywords spent without converting?" into a Google Ads Query Language (GAQL) report, run it, and summarize the result. Check that the tool shows the query it ran, so you can confirm the date range, filters and metrics.
Look for read-only behavior. Google offers a single Google Ads API OAuth scope, so the permission screen looks broad for every tool. Better Analyst restricts its connector to account discovery and the read-only Search endpoint, encrypts the OAuth tokens, and cannot change bids, budgets or ads.
The Google Ads API returns cost fields in micros: one unit of currency is 1,000,000 micros. Divide metrics.cost_micros by 1,000,000 to get spend in the account currency.
Google withholds search terms that too few people searched, for privacy. The search-term report will not add up to the campaign total, so compare search terms with each other rather than with the campaign.
If the accounts sit under a manager (MCC) account, Better Analyst discovers them when you connect and saves each one you select. A Google Ads chat or dashboard works with one customer account at a time, so ask about each account in its own chat.

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