How to Report on Paid Keywords in Google Analytics 4

Finding out which paid keywords are actually driving results is fundamental to managing your ad budget, but GA4 can make this feel like a hunt for buried treasure. The good news is that the data is all there, you just need to know how to build the right map. This guide will walk you through exactly how to report on your paid keywords in Google Analytics 4, both in the standard reports and by building a more powerful custom report from scratch.

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First Things First: Connect Google Ads to GA4

Before you can see any Google Ads data in GA4, you have to tell them to talk to each other. If your accounts aren't linked, GA4 has no way of knowing which traffic came from a paid ad click, let alone which specific keyword was involved. If you haven't done this yet, it's your absolute first step.

Here’s how to check your connection or set it up:

1. Log into your Google Analytics 4 account.
2. Click the Admin gear icon in the bottom-left corner.
3. Under the Property column, look for Product Links and select Google Ads Links.
4. You'll see a list of linked Google Ads accounts. If the account you want is missing, click the blue Link button.
5. Click Choose Google Ads accounts and select the appropriate account.
6. Follow the configuration steps. A critical setting is to ensure Enable auto-tagging is on. This is what allows GA4 to automatically classify traffic from Google Ads correctly.

Once your accounts are linked, data will start flowing into GA4. Note that this linking is not retroactive, so you will only see data from the point you establish the connection onward.

Method 1: Using Standard GA4 Reports (The Quick Way)

For a fast, straightforward look at your keyword performance, you can use the standard traffic acquisition report. This method is less customizable but is perfect for a quick check-in.

Step 1: Navigate to the Traffic Acquisition Report

From the left-hand menu in GA4, go to Reports > Acquisition > Traffic acquisition. This report gives you a session-level view of where your users are coming from.

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Step 2: Add Keyword as a Secondary Dimension

By default, this report shows the Session default channel group. To see keywords, you need to add a secondary dimension.

1. Click the + sign next to the primary dimension dropdown (which currently says "Session default channel group").
2. In the search box that appears, type "keyword" to filter the options.
3. Select Session Google Ads keyword text.

The report will now be broken down by both the channel group and the specific keyword that triggered the ad and brought the user to your site.

Step 3: Filter for Paid Search Only

Right now, your keyword data is mixed in with all your other channels (Organic, Direct, Referral, etc.). To focus solely on your paid performance, you need to add a filter.

1. At the top of the report, look for the Add filter button.
2. A filter builder will appear. Set the conditions as follows:
3. Click the blue Apply button.

Your report will now only show sessions that originated from your paid search campaigns, with each row broken down by the specific keyword. You can see metrics like Sessions, Engaged sessions, Conversions, and Total revenue for each term.

Method 2: Building a Custom Report in the 'Explore' Hub (The Powerful Way)

The standard reports are fine for a bird's-eye view, but the real power of GA4 lies in the 'Explore' hub. Here, you can build a fully custom report from scratch that includes the exact dimensions and metrics you care about, like ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) and Cost per Conversion.

Step 1: Create a New Exploration

In the left-hand navigation menu, click on Explore. Then, select Blank report to start with a clean slate.

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Step 2: Add Your Dimensions

Dimensions are the attributes of your data - the "what." In the Variables panel on the left, click the + button next to Dimensions. Search for and import the following dimensions. You can select them all at once before clicking Import:

• Session Google Ads keyword text: The keyword you're bidding on.
• Session Google Ads ad group name: To see performance by ad group.
• Session Google Ads campaign: To understand performance at the campaign level.
• Session default channel group: We'll use this for filtering.

Step 3: Add Your Metrics

Metrics are the quantitative measurements - the numbers. In the same Variables panel, click the + button next to Metrics. Search for and import the most valuable paid media metrics:

• Sessions: How many visits each keyword drove.
• Engaged sessions: How many of those visits resulted in meaningful user interaction.
• Conversions: The count of goals completed. The lifeblood of ROI.
• Google Ads cost: Your total spend for that keyword.
• Cost per conversion: Automatically calculated as Cost / Conversions.
• Return on ad spend: The ultimate profitability metric, calculated as Revenue / Cost.
• Purchase revenue: If you're an e-commerce site, this is essential.

Step 4: Build the Report Canvas

Now, it's time to assemble your report. From the Variables column, drag and drop your items into the Tab Settings column.

• Drag Session Google Ads keyword text to the Rows section. Add Session Google Ads ad group name underneath it if you want to drill down further.
• Drag all the metrics you imported (Sessions, Conversions, Google Ads cost, etc.) to the Values section.

You'll immediately see your report start to populate on the right side. It now shows all keywords, but it's not yet filtered to only your paid campaigns - we'll fix that next.

Step 5: Filter for Paid Keywords

Just like in the standard report, we need to isolate just your paid search traffic. In the Tab Settings column, find the Filters box.

1. Drag the Session default channel group dimension from your Variables panel into the Filters box.
2. Set the filter conditions just like before:
3. Click Apply.

Voila! You now have a comprehensive, custom paid keyword performance report that updates automatically. You can name it "Paid Keyword Performance" and come back to it whenever you need.

Troubleshooting Common Issues

Even with a perfect setup, you might run into reporting quirks. Here are solutions to the most common ones.

Why are some of my keywords showing as "(not set)"?

The "(not set)" value is a catch-all in GA4. In the context of paid keywords, it can appear for several reasons:

• Data Lag: There might be a slight delay between an ad click and when all the attribution data gets processed in GA4. Check back in 24-48 hours.
• Auto-tagging Issues: If auto-tagging was disabled in your Google Ads account, even for a short time, clicks during that window won't have the necessary data and may appear as "(not set)".
• Data Thresholding: To protect user privacy, Google Analytics may withhold some data if it detects that the report could be used to identify an individual user. If a keyword has a very low number of sessions, its data points might be grouped under "(not set)".

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Where are my User Search Queries?

It's important to understand the difference between a "Keyword" and a "Search Query."

• Keyword: The term you bid on in Google Ads (e.g., the broad match keyword "running shoes").
• Search Query: What the user actually typed into Google (e.g., "best running shoes for flat feet"). GA4 reports on the keyword you paid for. To see the detailed report of all user search queries that triggered your ads, you need to log into your Google Ads account and navigate to the Search terms report.

What Key Metrics Should You Analyze?

Now that you have your report, what should you actually look for?

• Zero Conversion Keywords with High Cost: These are your money pits. If a keyword is spending a lot of your budget without generating a single conversion, it's often a prime candidate to be paused or added as a negative keyword.
• Keywords with High ROAS: These are your winners. Identify which keywords deliver the biggest return on your ad spend and see if you can increase the budget or bids for them to capture more value.
• Keywords with Low Engaged Sessions: If a keyword is getting clicks but users are immediately bouncing, it's a sign of a mismatch between your ad copy and your landing page. Either the ad sets a wrong expectation, or the landing page isn't relevant to what the user was searching for.
• High Conversions, Low Cost: These are your most efficient keywords. They might not have the highest volume, but they deliver great value. Protect these and ensure they're always active.

Final Thoughts

Reporting on paid keywords in Google Analytics 4 is entirely possible once you know the workflow. You can get a quick overview using the standard Traffic acquisition report, or build a detailed, customized view in the Explore hub that includes critical metrics like cost and ROAS. Nailing this process down frees you up to spend less time digging for data and more time acting on it.

Getting your keyword data is a huge win, but it's just one piece of your marketing puzzle. To see the full picture - how your Facebook Ads, email campaigns, and organic efforts all influence those paid keywords - the manual reporting can start all over again. Here at Graphed, we made this easier. We connect to GA4, Google Ads, and all your other sources in one click. Then, you can simply ask questions in plain English like, "show me a dashboard of my top performing campaigns by ROAS across Google and Facebook," and we'll build it instantly. It lets you analyze your performance in seconds, not hours. If you want to spend less time building reports and more time making decisions, feel free to give Graphed a try.