Sean Walsh
Sean is a Director at Intelligency heading up our digital marketing and client services operations. Sean has 15+ years experiencing working both in-house and agency with brands including Lloyds, Alstom, Hitachi, Lufthansa, Viaplay, DFDS Seaways and Mercedes-Benz.
Google Ads has introduced a new feature in its Performance Max campaigns that highlights search terms with low activity as “private.” This update provides advertisers with some insights into searches that have been previously harder to track, particularly those with fewer than 50 unique searches over 90 days.
What’s changing?
Advertisers using Performance Max campaigns will now see certain search terms marked as “private.” These terms represent queries that have been searched less than 50 times within a 90-day period. While this doesn’t give access to full details about individual searches, it offers a clearer picture of the type of traffic campaigns are attracting.
Why it matters
This is a helpful update for businesses that often feel left in the dark about how their ads are performing. In the past, Google Ads’ limited reporting on search terms—especially for less common searches—made it difficult for advertisers to fully understand which queries were driving traffic.
Now, by labelling these low-volume search terms as “private,” Google provides a small but meaningful glimpse into long-tail search activity. This can be especially valuable for businesses in niche industries or those running highly targeted campaigns, where understanding even rare search behaviour can influence strategy.
A shift toward privacy
This change reflects Google’s ongoing commitment to protecting user privacy, following a broader trend that started in 2020 when they first began limiting access to search term data. By focusing on aggregated and automated performance insights, Google continues to steer advertisers away from traditional keyword-level management.
What to keep an eye on
For advertisers working in highly specialized fields or targeting very specific queries, this update could mean a significant portion of search data is marked as “private.” While this doesn’t replace more detailed data, it offers a new way to understand the composition of search traffic and refine strategies to capture niche audiences.
This feature might not solve every frustration with Google Ads, but it’s a step forward in providing more transparency in how campaigns perform, particularly for those seeking insights into the less obvious corners of their search traffic.
