Why a term wasn't blocked, or went to review

When Search Terms doesn't do what you expected with a term, it's almost always a guardrail or a threshold doing its job.

A bad term didn't auto-block

Check whether it's:

• A brand or service-area term (both are protected from auto-blocking).

• A converter, or a term the learning model rates well (protected).

• Below the thresholds - not enough impressions or spend yet (e.g. fewer than 20 impressions for the "nobody clicks" rule).

• In a ROAS campaign, where value-based changes stay supervised.

A good term went to Needs Review instead of Positives

It likely missed one of the positive gates: fewer than 2 conversions, relevance under 70%, CPA/ROAS not meeting target, or an unclear ad-group fit. It's not rejected - it's waiting for your call or for more data.

Example. A term converting nicely but at only 55% relevance won't auto-add - it lands in Needs Review so you can decide whether it really belongs in that ad group, or somewhere else.

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