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Weekly

Find search terms that waste ad spend each week

Every week, Slack lists the search terms that cost money without a single conversion, with suggested negative keywords.

Runs
Weekly
Apps
Google Ads, Slack
AI
Yes, uses the built-in AI allowance
Access
Ads read (developer token); Slack chat:write

Send this to your assistant

Create a ClickRuntime automation: every Monday, find Google Ads search terms from the last 7 days that spent more than £20 with no conversions. Post them to #paid with AI-suggested negative keywords.

Paste it into your assistant. It tells you what it will send or change before it runs live.

First time? Adding ClickRuntime to your assistant takes about two minutes.

Why use it

Why teams use this automation

A small business runs broad match campaigns and pays for clicks on searches that have nothing to do with what they sell. The search terms report would show it, but nobody has time to read thousands of rows each week, so the waste continues month after month.

A weekly list of the worst offenders, with suggested negatives, turns a tedious report into a five-minute job that saves real money.

What you get out of it

  • Stop paying for the wrong clicks

    Search terms that cost money and never convert are listed every week.

  • Negatives suggested for you

    AI proposes negative keywords that block the waste without blocking good traffic.

  • Five minutes, not an afternoon

    The list is short and sorted by cost, so you start with the biggest savings.

  • The team sees it

    Posting in Slack makes wasted spend visible and easy to discuss.

How it works

What happens, step by step

  1. Every Monday, ClickRuntime asks Google Ads for last week's search terms with their cost and conversions.

  2. It keeps the terms that spent more than your threshold without a conversion, most expensive first.

  3. AI suggests negative keywords for them, taking care not to block searches that could convert.

  4. The list and the suggestions are posted to your #paid Slack channel.

Before it runs live

  • Connect Google Ads
  • Connect Slack, then invite the app to the channel (type /invite @ClickRuntime there)

What you get

RunsWeekly
Find search terms that waste ad spend each weektoday, 9:00Succeeded
Slack · #paidSearch terms with spend and no conversions: • £64.20 "free stock template" (Inventory – Broad) Suggested negative: "free" (phrase)

Build your own

Need it to work differently?

This template is a starting point. Copy the prompt and change it, or describe a different automation from scratch, with your own conditions, more apps or an AI step. Your assistant writes it, tests it and runs it on ClickRuntime.
  • Your own rules

    Conditions, thresholds, filters and exceptions, written the way you'd explain them to a colleague.

  • Any number of apps

    One automation can read from one app and update several others. Over 248 apps are ready, and anything with an API works too.

  • AI where it helps

    Summaries, classification, extraction and drafts use ClickRuntime's built-in AI, with no extra key.

  • On a schedule or on each event

    Runs as often as every 5 minutes, or the moment an app sends an event, and keeps track of what it already handled.

Changes you can ask for

  • Run it at a different time, more or less often, or only on weekdays
  • Change what the AI looks for, or how it writes the result
  • Add another app, for example also send it to Google Sheets
  • Combine it with other Google Ads and Slack steps into one automation

Under the hood

The code that runs this automation

This is the Python script that runs each time the automation starts. Your AI assistant writes it for you when you send the prompt, and you allow each step in your assistant. To change how the automation works, describe the change to your assistant and it updates the script for you. For every function it can use, see the script reference.
weekly_wasted_spend_search_terms_to_slack.pyexample
from clickruntime import on_trigger, http, credentials, ai, notify

CUSTOMER_ID = "1234567890"
THRESHOLD = 20

def gaql(query):
    headers = {"Authorization": f"Bearer {credentials.connection('google', 'ads')}", "developer-token": credentials.secret("GOOGLE_ADS_DEVELOPER_TOKEN")}
    batches = http.post(f"https://googleads.googleapis.com/v21/customers/{CUSTOMER_ID}/googleAds:searchStream", headers=headers, json={"query": query}).json()
    return [row for b in batches for row in b.get("results", [])]

@on_trigger
def run(event):
    rows = gaql("SELECT search_term_view.search_term, campaign.name, metrics.cost_micros, metrics.conversions "
                "FROM search_term_view WHERE segments.date DURING LAST_7_DAYS AND metrics.conversions = 0")
    waste = sorted(((int(r["metrics"]["costMicros"]) / 1e6, r["searchTermView"]["searchTerm"], r["campaign"]["name"]) for r in rows
                    if int(r["metrics"].get("costMicros", 0)) / 1e6 >= THRESHOLD), reverse=True)[:25]
    if not waste:
        return {"terms": 0}
    listing = "\n".join(f"• £{c:,.2f} \"{t}\" ({camp})" for c, t, camp in waste)
    advice = ai.generate(listing, system="Suggest negative keywords (with match type) that would block these wasted search terms "
                         "without blocking relevant searches. One line each.", max_output_tokens=500).text
    notify.slack(f"*Search terms with spend and no conversions (last 7 days)*\n{listing}\n\n*Suggested negatives*\n{advice}", channel="#paid")
    return {"terms": len(waste), "wasted": round(sum(c for c, _, _ in waste), 2)}

FAQ

Common questions

Will it add the negatives itself?
No. It suggests them in Slack and you add the ones you agree with, so nothing changes without your say.
What spend threshold should I use?
Something close to your typical cost per conversion. A term that has spent that much without converting is worth looking at.
Does it cover Performance Max?
It covers Search and Shopping search terms. Performance Max shows less search term detail.
What permissions does it need?
Ads read (developer token); Slack chat:write. Nothing else in your accounts is used.
Does it need AI?
Yes. It uses ClickRuntime's built-in AI, so you don't need an OpenAI or Anthropic key. Every plan includes a monthly AI allowance.
How many runs does it use?
One run each time it runs (weekly). Checks that find nothing to do and stop right away aren't counted.
Can I change how it works?
Yes. Describe the change to your AI assistant, for example a different schedule, channel or filter. It updates the automation, tests it and tells you what changed.

Set up “Find search terms that waste ad spend each week” from your assistant

Copy the prompt above, or connect your assistant first. Free plan, no credit card.