gaql-query-patterns

GAQL Query Patterns

Ready-to-use GAQL (Google Ads Query Language) query templates for common PPC analysis tasks.

What This Skill Deliberately Does NOT Do

• Run the queries. These are copy-paste templates, not a runner — paste them into your own API client, Google Ads Scripts, or google-ads-query to actually execute and export.
• Mutate anything. Every template is a read-only SELECT; nothing here changes an account.
• Cover change-history queries. Pulling what changed and when needs a finite date window and a LIMIT, and lives in change-history-checker — a windowless change query won't run.
• Diagnose the results. The "Use for" and "Interpreting results" notes point you at the analysis; the actual root-causing lives in the diagnostic skills (e.g. impression-share-diagnostics for the impression-share query).

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Campaign Queries

7-Day Campaign Spend Analysis

SELECT
    campaign.id,
    campaign.name,
    campaign.status,
    campaign.advertising_channel_type,
    campaign.bidding_strategy_type,
    campaign_budget.amount_micros,
    campaign_budget.explicitly_shared,
    metrics.cost_micros,
    metrics.impressions,
    metrics.clicks,
    metrics.conversions,
    metrics.conversions_value
FROM campaign
WHERE segments.date DURING LAST_7_DAYS
ORDER BY campaign.name

Use for: Recent spend analysis, budget utilization, campaign health checks

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Month-to-Date Pacing

SELECT
    campaign.id,
    campaign.name,
    campaign_budget.amount_micros,
    metrics.cost_micros
FROM campaign
WHERE segments.date DURING THIS_MONTH
ORDER BY campaign.name

Use for: Monthly pacing calculations, budget tracking

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Campaign Settings Audit

SELECT
    campaign.id,
    campaign.name,
    campaign.status,
    campaign.advertising_channel_type,
    campaign.bidding_strategy_type,
    campaign.target_cpa.target_cpa_micros,
    campaign.target_roas.target_roas,
    campaign_budget.amount_micros,
    campaign_budget.explicitly_shared
FROM campaign
WHERE campaign.status = 'ENABLED'

Use for: Configuration audits, bidding strategy checks, budget review

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Impression Share

Search Impression Share Analysis

SELECT
    campaign.id,
    campaign.name,
    campaign.advertising_channel_type,
    metrics.search_impression_share,
    metrics.search_budget_lost_impression_share,
    metrics.search_rank_lost_impression_share,
    metrics.impressions
FROM campaign
WHERE segments.date DURING LAST_7_DAYS
  AND campaign.advertising_channel_type IN ('SEARCH', 'PERFORMANCE_MAX')
ORDER BY metrics.search_budget_lost_impression_share DESC

Use for: Diagnosing underspending, identifying budget constraints vs. quality issues

Interpreting results:

• High Budget Lost IS → increase budget to capture more impressions
• High Rank Lost IS → quality/relevance issue (not a budget problem)
• Both high → budget is primary constraint, but quality also needs work

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Search Terms

Search Term Report (Last 30 Days)

SELECT
    search_term_view.search_term,
    campaign.name,
    ad_group.name,
    metrics.impressions,
    metrics.clicks,
    metrics.cost_micros,
    metrics.conversions,
    search_term_view.status
FROM search_term_view
WHERE segments.date DURING LAST_30_DAYS
  AND metrics.impressions > 0
ORDER BY metrics.cost_micros DESC

Use for: Negative keyword discovery, search term audits, intent analysis

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High-Spend Non-Converting Search Terms

SELECT
    search_term_view.search_term,
    campaign.name,
    metrics.clicks,
    metrics.cost_micros,
    metrics.conversions
FROM search_term_view
WHERE segments.date DURING LAST_30_DAYS
  AND metrics.conversions = 0
  AND metrics.cost_micros > 0
ORDER BY metrics.cost_micros DESC

Use for: Finding wasted spend, negative keyword candidates

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Keywords

Keyword Performance with Quality Score

SELECT
    ad_group.name,
    ad_group_criterion.keyword.text,
    ad_group_criterion.keyword.match_type,
    ad_group_criterion.quality_info.quality_score,
    ad_group_criterion.quality_info.creative_quality_score,
    ad_group_criterion.quality_info.post_click_quality_score,
    ad_group_criterion.quality_info.search_predicted_ctr,
    metrics.impressions,
    metrics.clicks,
    metrics.cost_micros,
    metrics.conversions
FROM keyword_view
WHERE segments.date DURING LAST_30_DAYS
  AND ad_group_criterion.status = 'ENABLED'
ORDER BY metrics.cost_micros DESC

Use for: Quality score audits, keyword performance analysis

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Non-Serving Keywords (Zero Impressions)

SELECT
    campaign.name,
    ad_group.name,
    ad_group_criterion.keyword.text,
    ad_group_criterion.keyword.match_type,
    ad_group_criterion.status,
    metrics.impressions
FROM keyword_view
WHERE segments.date DURING LAST_180_DAYS
  AND campaign.status = 'ENABLED'
  AND ad_group.status = 'ENABLED'
  AND ad_group_criterion.status = 'ENABLED'
  AND metrics.impressions = 0

Use for: Finding dead keywords to clean up, account hygiene

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Ads

RSA Performance

SELECT
    campaign.name,
    ad_group.name,
    ad_group_ad.ad.id,
    ad_group_ad.ad.responsive_search_ad.headlines,
    ad_group_ad.ad.responsive_search_ad.descriptions,
    ad_group_ad.ad_strength,
    metrics.impressions,
    metrics.clicks,
    metrics.conversions,
    metrics.cost_micros
FROM ad_group_ad
WHERE segments.date DURING LAST_30_DAYS
  AND ad_group_ad.ad.type = 'RESPONSIVE_SEARCH_AD'
  AND ad_group_ad.status = 'ENABLED'
ORDER BY metrics.impressions DESC

Use for: Ad performance review, RSA optimization

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Conversions

Conversion Actions List

SELECT
    conversion_action.id,
    conversion_action.name,
    conversion_action.type,
    conversion_action.status,
    conversion_action.category,
    conversion_action.value_settings.default_value,
    conversion_action.counting_type,
    conversion_action.attribution_model_settings.attribution_model
FROM conversion_action
WHERE conversion_action.status = 'ENABLED'
ORDER BY conversion_action.name

Use for: Conversion tracking audits, identifying misconfigured actions

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Conversion Performance by Action

SELECT
    segments.conversion_action_name,
    segments.conversion_action_category,
    metrics.conversions,
    metrics.conversions_value,
    metrics.all_conversions,
    metrics.cost_micros
FROM campaign
WHERE segments.date DURING LAST_30_DAYS
ORDER BY metrics.conversions DESC

Use for: Understanding which conversion actions are firing, value distribution

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Geographic Performance

SELECT
    geographic_view.country_criterion_id,
    geographic_view.location_type,
    campaign.name,
    metrics.impressions,
    metrics.clicks,
    metrics.cost_micros,
    metrics.conversions
FROM geographic_view
WHERE segments.date DURING LAST_30_DAYS
ORDER BY metrics.cost_micros DESC

Use for: Geographic bid adjustments, location targeting audits

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Device Performance

SELECT
    campaign.name,
    segments.device,
    metrics.impressions,
    metrics.clicks,
    metrics.cost_micros,
    metrics.conversions,
    metrics.average_cpc
FROM campaign
WHERE segments.date DURING LAST_30_DAYS
ORDER BY campaign.name, segments.device

Use for: Device bid adjustments, mobile vs. desktop analysis

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Account-Level Summary

SELECT
    customer.id,
    customer.descriptive_name,
    metrics.cost_micros,
    metrics.impressions,
    metrics.clicks,
    metrics.conversions,
    metrics.conversions_value
FROM customer
WHERE segments.date DURING LAST_30_DAYS

Use for: High-level account overview, executive reporting

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Date Range Reference

Keyword	Meaning
YESTERDAY	Yesterday only
TODAY	Today only
LAST_7_DAYS	Last 7 days
LAST_14_DAYS	Last 14 days
LAST_30_DAYS	Last 30 days
THIS_MONTH	Current month to date
LAST_MONTH	Previous calendar month
THIS_WEEK_MON_TODAY	This week (Monday to today)

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Key Field Notes

Micros Conversion

The API returns monetary values in micros (1,000,000 = $1):

50000000 micros = $50.00
1234567 micros = $1.23

Always divide by 1,000,000 when displaying to users.

Impression Share Returns Decimals

The API returns impression share as decimals (0.0 - 1.0), NOT percentages:

• API value 0.2464 = 24.64% actual impression share
• Always multiply by 100 when displaying

Metrics Require Date Segmentation

Any query with metrics.* fields MUST include a WHERE segments.date clause. Without it, the query will fail.

Impression Share is Search/PMax Only

search_impression_share, search_budget_lost_impression_share, and search_rank_lost_impression_share are only available for Search and Performance Max campaigns.

AND vs OR

GAQL doesn't support OR. Use IN instead:

-- Wrong
WHERE campaign.status = 'ENABLED' OR campaign.status = 'PAUSED'

-- Correct
WHERE campaign.status IN ('ENABLED', 'PAUSED')

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When to Load Other Skills

Skill	When
google-ads-query	To run these templates against an account and export the results to CSV — this skill is the templates, that one is the runner
change-history-checker	For "what changed and when" queries — they require a finite date window (90-day / 30-day) and a LIMIT that these general templates don't carry
impression-share-diagnostics	To interpret the impression-share query — Search IS, Budget Lost IS, and Rank Lost IS root-causing lives there

Several skills reach for these templates when they outgrow their own — underspending-investigation, budget-recommendation-calculator, and mcc-hack-audit all point back here for custom GAQL.