Zero metrics

  • Zero metrics in search results can occur if entities are ineligible for display or were paused within the report's date range.

  • You can explicitly exclude zero metrics using a predicate in the WHERE clause of your Google Ads Query Language query.

  • Zero metrics are always excluded when segmenting a report if all selected metrics are zero.

  • Rows where all selected metrics are zero will not be returned in search results.

This guide explains why rows with zero metrics appear in Google Ads API reports and how to exclude or handle them in your queries.

Zero metrics in search results

When you execute a query, you may encounter metrics for entities that are zero. This could be because:

  • The entities are ineligible for display.
  • They were paused within the report's date range.

With query results, you often want to obtain information about how your campaigns are performing. In this context, zero metrics may not be desirable. To produce a more useful report, you can explicitly exclude zero metrics.

Exclude zero metrics with a predicate

A predicate is an expression that evaluates to TRUE, FALSE, or UNKNOWN. Predicates are used in the search condition of the WHERE clauses in Google Ads Query Language.

The following query demonstrates how to explicitly remove zero metrics with a predicate:

SELECT
  campaign.id,
  metrics.impressions
FROM campaign
WHERE metrics.impressions > 0

Exclude zero metrics by segmenting

Zero metrics are always excluded when segmenting a report, provided all selected metrics are zero (see Returned rows with zero metrics).

Segmenting a report is done by including any segments field in the SELECT clause of the search query (filtering on a core date segment in WHERE without selecting it in SELECT does not segment the report). For example, if you segment a report by segments.date, metrics are broken down with one row for each date. Dates with no metrics are not returned in such a report.

For the following query, the report won't include zero-metric rows:

SELECT
  campaign.name,
  metrics.impressions,
  segments.date
FROM campaign
WHERE segments.date DURING LAST_30_DAYS

Returned rows with zero metrics

Rows whose selected metrics are all zero won't be returned when segmenting. For example, consider the following query that selects metrics.impressions, metrics.clicks, and metrics.conversions:

SELECT
  ad_group_criterion.criterion_id,
  metrics.impressions,
  metrics.clicks,
  metrics.conversions,
  segments.date
FROM keyword_view
WHERE segments.date BETWEEN '2026-01-01' AND '2026-01-31'

The resulting report won't contain any rows in which all three selected metrics are zero, but it will return rows where at least one of the three selected metrics is greater than zero.

When querying historical data beyond the data retention period, granular data older than 37 months is unavailable and won't return rows. Requests for granular date segments (segments.date, segments.week, and segments.hour) covering ranges older than 37 months return DateRangeError.REQUESTED_DATE_GRANULARITY_NOT_SUPPORTED in v24 and later (or DateRangeError.UNKNOWN in v23). High-level aggregated data (segments.month, segments.quarter, and segments.year) is retained for 11 years, aligned to the start of the next complete calendar period. For example, if the 11-year lookback cutoff falls on 2015-03-22 (or 2015-03-01), monthly data is available starting from the first full calendar month after the cutoff (2015-04-01). See Date Ranges for details.

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