What Are Google Ads Keywords? Add, Edit & Pause Keywords (and How Many to Use)
Google Ads keywords are the words and phrases you choose to tell Google which searches your ads can appear for. Pick them well, and your budget goes to people who are close to buying. Pick them badly, and you pay for clicks from people who wanted something else. Keyword choice and upkeep drive both relevance and cost. This guide covers how many keywords to use, how to add and edit them, when to pause or remove them, how match types behave, and how to read keyword performance so your paid search keywords keep improving after launch.
What are Google Ads keywords?
Google Ads keywords are words or phrases you add to a Search campaign so Google can decide which searches may trigger your ads. If you sell payroll software, "payroll software" is a keyword. When a search lines up with it closely enough, your ad can enter the auction.
What are AdWords keywords? The same thing, because AdWords was the old name for Google Ads. A keyword works like an entry ticket, not a guarantee: bids, budget, match type, and ad quality decide whether the ad actually shows.
What is the difference between keywords and search terms?
A keyword is what you add to your account. A search term is what a person typed. If you bid on the phrase match keyword "project management software", someone might search "best project management software for a 10-person agency". The first is your keyword, and the second is the search term it matched. Anyone wondering what are keywords in Google AdWords should also understand search terms, since the two are easy to confuse. You control your keywords, while search terms show what people actually typed.
How many keywords should you use in Google Ads?
Once you know what are Google AdWords keywords, your next question might be “how many keywords should I use for Google Ads?” While there is no universal number, start with 20 to 50 across a few tightly themed ad groups, then expand only when the data supports it. Google publishes no recommended total, because the right count depends on your budget, your offer, and how much search volume your market has. A local plumber and a SaaS company with ten products need very different lists. Keyword Planner forecasts help you size a list before you build it. More PPC keywords do not produce more sales; only relevant ones do.
Is adding too many keywords bad for Google Ads?
Often, yes. It can be, and the damage shows up in three places:
- Unrelated keywords bring clicks from people who never wanted what you sell.
- A small budget spread over hundreds of terms leaves each one with too little spend to produce useful data.
- A bloated account is hard to read because overlapping keywords make it unclear which ad group drives conversions.
The problem is length without structure.
How many keywords should you use per ad group?
Ad group (a set of ads and related keywords within a campaign) size is a common worry when people ask “How many keywords should I use for Google Ads?” Group closely related keywords by product, service, and search intent, then write ads that match that theme. One ad group holding "running shoes", "trail running shoes", and "marathon training plans" forces a single ad to fit three different searchers. Splitting them lets each ad speak to one audience. Five to fifteen keywords per ad group is a workable range, though a few more or fewer is fine when the theme is tight.
How to add keywords to Google Ads
Learning how to add keywords to Google Ads takes two steps: choose the right keywords first, then enter them in the right ad group.
How to choose keywords before adding them
How to choose keywords for Google Ads starts with intent. Ask what the searcher wants. "How to file payroll taxes" comes from someone learning, while "payroll software pricing" comes from someone close to buying, and they need different keywords and different ads. Next, open Keyword Planner, which is free inside your account, to pull keyword ideas, search volumes, and forecasts for clicks and cost. Then sort what you find into ad groups by theme, so every group has one tight list and one matching set of ads.
Steps to add keywords to a Google Ads campaign
- Open the Search campaign and select the ad group that fits the keyword's theme.
- Go to Keywords in the left-hand menu.
- Click the plus button and choose to add keywords.
- Enter one keyword per line and set the match type: quotation marks for phrase match, square brackets for exact match, and no punctuation for broad match.
- Review the list and click Save.
Menu labels change now and then, so look for the plus button. If you need more on campaign setup, bidding, and budgeting, see how Google Ads work.
How to edit keywords in Google Ads
Your PPC keywords are never finished. If you are wondering how to change keywords in Google Ads, or how to edit keywords in Google Ads campaign by campaign, the process is the same: open the keywords list, click the keyword, and make the change.
What can you change about a Google Ads keyword?
- The keyword text and its match type.
- The keyword status, which can be enabled, paused, or removed.
- The individual keyword bid, where your bidding strategy allows it. With Smart Bidding there is often nothing to enter.
When should you change your keywords?
Knowing how to edit keywords in Google Ads campaign settings is easy; knowing when to is harder.
- Edit when the data gives you a reason.
- Tighten the match type when search terms drift off topic.
- Loosen it when a good keyword gets too few impressions.
- Review bids when a keyword converts well but rarely shows.
Before you decide how to change keywords in Google Ads, know this detail: changing a keyword's text or match type creates a new keyword entry instead of rewriting the old one. The history stays with the original entry, and the new one starts at zero.
How to pause or remove keywords in Google Ads
Pausing and removing both stop a keyword from triggering ads. They differ in what you can do afterwards.
How to pause a keyword in Google Ads
Open the keywords list, tick the checkbox next to the keyword, click Edit, and choose Pause. To bring it back, set it to enabled again.
What happens when you pause a keyword in Google Ads?
When you pause a keyword in Google Ads, it stops being eligible to trigger ads, thus stopping your spending. Its history stays in your reports, including impressions, clicks, and conversions, and you can turn it back on whenever you like.
How to remove a keyword in Google Ads
Open your keywords list, select the checkbox next to the keyword you want to remove, click Edit, and select Remove. The keyword will stop triggering ads, but its historical performance data will remain available for reporting.
When should you pause a keyword instead of removing it?
Pause a keyword you may want again, such as a seasonal term like "tax filing software" in the off-season, or one you want to retest after a landing page rewrite. Remove a keyword that will never be useful again, such as one tied to a discontinued product.
What are the different Google Ads keyword match types?
Google Ads keyword match types control how closely a search must relate to your keyword before your ad can show. There are three, and each trades reach for control.
Which Google Ads keyword match type should you choose?
Let your goal, your conversion data, and the reach you want decide. With a small budget and little data, start with exact and phrase match so you keep control. With solid conversion data and a wish to find new queries, broad match can open up volume. Evaluate broad match alongside your bidding strategy and your search-term performance, since it tends to work best when Smart Bidding has conversion data to learn from. Check the search terms report in the first weeks and add Google Ads negative keywords wherever broad match drifts. For the wider mechanics, read how Google Search Ads work.
How to optimize Google Ads keywords for better performance
What are AdWords keywords worth after launch? Mostly the data they produce.
Use negative keywords to filter irrelevant searches
Google Ads negative keywords tell Google which searches should never trigger your ad. If you sell premium accounting software, adding "free", "jobs", and "template" as negative keywords stops you paying for people who want something else. Negative keywords can sit at the ad group, campaign, or account level. They do not match close variants, so add plurals and common misspellings yourself.
Review search terms to find new keywords
Open the search terms report every week or two. Look for converting search terms that deserve to become keywords, and for irrelevant ones that belong on your negative list. It is also the best way to answer how to choose keywords for Google Ads by using what real people typed.
Review keyword performance before making changes
Read impressions, clicks, click-through rate (CTR), cost per click (CPC), conversions, and cost per conversion together before you touch anything.
- High impressions with a low CTR usually mean the ad or the match type is off.
- Plenty of clicks with no conversions points to a mismatch between search intent and your landing page.
- A high cost per conversion suggests bids or targeting are too loose.
Low click volume alone is not enough reason to pause a keyword. A keyword with 15 clicks has too little data to judge, so give it time, check whether budget or bids are holding it back, and compare it with the rest of its ad group first. To see where paid search sits next to organic and local visibility, read how to advertise and promote your website on Google.
Turn Google Ads keywords into a smarter GTM strategy
What are AdWords keywords in a go-to-market plan? They are a live record of what buyers type when they have a problem, which is a bigger job than the textbook answer to what are keywords in Google AdWords suggests. The search terms report shows the language your market uses and which offers draw demand. Treat keywords as research as well as targeting, and your campaigns, content, and sales messaging start pulling in the same direction. If you want help building that system, Envizon offers fractional CMO and GTM services for B2B SaaS teams. Talk to Envizon about turning your paid search keywords into a growth plan.
Google AdWords keywords are words or phrases advertisers add to their campaigns to match ads with relevant searches. For example, a project management software company might target “project management tools” to reach people looking for its solution.
There is no fixed number of keywords for a Google Ads campaign. Start with a focused list of relevant keywords for each ad group. Prioritize search intent and relevance over quantity, and expand based on performance data.
Adding too many keywords can make campaigns harder to manage and optimize. Broad or irrelevant keywords may attract unqualified clicks and waste budget. Focus on closely related keywords that match your audience’s search intent and business goals.
Open your Google Ads account and navigate to the campaign and ad group containing your keywords. Select Keywords, find the keyword you want to change, and edit its bid, match type, or status using the available options.
Pausing a keyword stops it from triggering ads while it remains paused. Your campaign and historical performance data stay intact, allowing you to reactivate it later. Pausing a keyword does not delete it or erase its previous results.
B2B SaaS GTM strategist and Founder of Envizon. With 18+ years leading marketing across startups like iMocha, Lavelle Networks, CloudCherry, and Hotelogix, she now helps early-stage founders build GTM engines that scale.
About Envizon
Envizon helps early and growth-stage B2B SaaS startups build their go-to-market (GTM) engine, before they hire a full in-house team.We combine Fractional CMO leadership with a full-stack execution team across outbound, inbound, content, AI, paid, and PR.Not an agency. Not just advisory. Envizon acts as your internal GTM partner- bringing strategy, systems, and execution together to help founders scale faster and smarter.
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