Barry Schwartz wrote that on July 9, 2025, Google Ads’ liaison Ginny Marvin publicly defended the platform’s decision to hide many search terms in advertiser reports, stating that the increased thresholds are “solely privacy-driven.”
Her comments came in response to a detailed analysis by Collin Slattery, who reviewed $20 million in ad spend across 933 campaigns.
Slattery concluded that hidden search terms result in significant inefficiencies, estimating that for every $1 spent, $0.85 is lost to unreportable queries.
Marvin acknowledged the frustration but emphasized Google’s goal of balancing user privacy with advertiser insights.
She explained that search terms are only reported if they meet a minimum volume across Google Search and that this policy applies universally.
