If you’re running a PPC campaign (either on its own or alongside an SEO campaign) then there are few more useful reports than the ‘search query’ report.
Basically, this shows you all actual key phrases that have triggered your ads. How can you use this? Firstly, you can identify pretty quickly a load of keywords that aren’t relevant to your campaign and begin adding them to your negative keywords lists at campaign level (or wherever seems appropriate). This lessens wasted clicks and makes your spend that bit more targeted. It also bumps your quality score up a notch or two, which can reduce your cost per click or improve your ranking in the sponsored links. Typical examples include phrases that contain rival brand names (unless that’s part of your strategy) or any of the millions of random bits of irrelevant crap that people type in and somehow trigger ads on broad match.
It also helps you to find little gems of long tail keywords for SEO. Find a few 3 or 4 word phrases with a dozen or so searches each month and start adding them to your SEO mix. The competition will be a lot lower than 1 or 2 word phrases and you can quickly pick them off month by month to create a wide and effective long tail that collectively can bring in a decent amount of targeted traffic.
Here endeth the lesson.