What our own campaign matched
From October 25 to November 1, 2026, we ran a Google search campaign in the US for our TikTok Shop offer, at CA$10 a day.
| Keyword we bought, phrase match | Searches Google matched it to | Clicks | Some of what people typed |
|---|---|---|---|
| tiktok shop for business | 44 | 10 | tiktok shop com, tiktokshop, how does tiktok shop work |
| tiktok shop marketing | 28 | 3 | how do you sell products on tiktok |
| tiktok shop affiliate management | 17 | 5 | what's a tiktok affiliate, digistore24 tiktok |
| tiktok shop affiliate recruitment | 15 | 6 | tik tok shop affiliate, earn commission on tiktok |
Source: Our own count, google_ads_search_terms, November 8, 2026
- Those are shoppers, new sellers and creators after a commission.
- The 28 close variant clicks cost CA$65.48.
- One click came from someone typing tiktok shop agency exactly. It cost CA$19.00.
- Google named the search behind 30 of our 44 clicks.
What a close variant is
Google says a phrase match keyword can show the ad "on searches that include the meaning of your keyword." Google decides what that meaning covers, and it filed 183 of our 190 searches as close variants.
Source: Google Ads Help, About keyword matching options
What we changed
- On October 27, we paused 6 keywords with no buyer word in them, like tiktok shop for business and tiktok shop marketing.
- We added 33 negatives the same day. A negative is a word that stops the ad showing on any search holding it. The account now holds 182.
- Keywords with agency, services, consultant or commission in them showed almost nowhere and pulled no junk.
- Clicks fell to 1 on October 29 and 0 on October 30.
Source: Our own notes and Google Ads account, November 8, 2026
What to ask a PPC agency
- Send the search terms report for the last 7 days, with the clicks and cost beside each search.
- Mark every keyword that holds no buyer word like agency, services or consultant. Those are the ones Google stretched for us.
- Show the negative list on day one. Ours starts with creator, become, join, apply, jobs, reddit, legit, what is and free.
- Count the booked call or the sale as the conversion. Our notes put tracking on the booked call before launch.
- Turn search partners and Display off, so the ad shows on Google search only. Our notes switch both off.
What we do
We don't run Google search for clients. We ran this campaign to bring brands to our own site, and we run the creator ads on Meta, TikTok and YouTube.
See whether a Google Ads agency should bid on your brand name, what a paid advertising agency does and what to ask a YouTube ads agency.
This audit comes from Influencer Advisory, our influencer marketing agency.