For ecom brands, here are Google Ads filters we use to cut wasted spend

If you are wasting ad spend, here are 7 Google Ads filters to help fix it.

Even with limited search term visibility, your Google Ads data can still expose where money’s leaking if you know how to filter it.

At AdLab, we use these 7 filters to:

- Cut waste

- Improve targeting

- Reveal new campaign opportunities

Here’s how:

1. Filter 1-word keywords

Search terms with no spaces usually mean broad, low-intent traffic. Think:

• “kids”

• “clothing”

• “cameras”

We filter these, spot weak queries, and add them as exact match negatives at the campaign level.

2. Keep branded terms out of prospecting

Brand search = high intent

Non-brand campaigns = cold acquisition

We filter and exclude our client’s brand name in prospecting campaigns to keep reporting clean and prevent inflated performance metrics.

3. Sort by statistical significance

Set filters like:

• 100+ clicks

• ROAS < 2

Then evaluate. Even if there’s some data, low ROAS terms might deserve the chop or at least a placement on the watchlist.

Pro tip: widen the date range for low-volume accounts.

4. Unprofitable clicks = content opportunities

Found a search term with strong CTR but weak conversions?

Don’t just block it, consider repurposing it for organic content (blogs, videos, SEO pages).

Stay top of mind without paying for unqualified traffic.

5. Irrelevant or missing core keywords

Filter out terms that don’t include crucial modifiers (like “ABA” for therapy, or “leather” for a luxury bag brand).

You’ll quickly surface terms that are irrelevant or too generic and find others worth building into new campaigns.

6. Location-based terms

If you’re regional or only ship to specific areas, apply negative location filters.

No sense paying for traffic from places you don’t serve.

7. Low CTR, high impressions

Set a CTR cutoff (1%–2% depending on account volume).

If a term is getting seen but not clicked, there’s likely an issue with ad relevance or intent mismatch.

Perfect for spotting:

• Broad match fails

• Competitor leakage

• Top-of-funnel searchers

Final Tip: Don’t copy-paste these blindly.

Every brand has different goals, budgets, and customer journeys.

Adapt these filters to what actually fits the structure and goals of your campaigns.

But if you apply just 3–4 of these consistently?

You’ll find $1K–$5K/month in wasted spend hiding in plain sight.

Cheers, Patrick.

CEO & Founder of Ad Lab.

If you’d like our direct help to scale your brands with Google ads, we’re offering a limited number of spots to do just that.

Book a 30-minutes Google ads calendly.com/ad-lab-io/free-audit

We’ll give you:

• An in-depth audit of your account, where we'll uncover any weak spots that are silently wasting your budget and hidden revenue streams that you're not tapping into.

• A personalised 90-day roadmap to put you in the best position to scale your Google Ads profitably.

This offer is for brands spending over $30k/month on Google Ads or making more than 1 million annually.

If you're below that, you don't need an agency to make a profit with Google Ads.