Negative keywords: stop paying for the wrong clicks

Negative keywords prevent your Google Ads from showing when search queries contain specific words or phrases that you specify. By blocking job seekers, DIY researchers, and irrelevant service requests before an auction occurs, negative keywords can cut wasted ad spend by 20 to 40 percent without reducing qualified customer leads.

When you bid on keywords in Google Ads, search algorithms match your ads to queries that can drift far from what you sell. If you run a commercial HVAC installation company and bid on the phrase HVAC installation, Google may show your ads to homeowners wanting a cheap window unit repair or students searching for HVAC trade schools. Negative keywords block those searchers before they can click your ad and cost you money.

How negative keyword match types work

Many advertisers do not realize that negative keywords have match types just like positive keywords. However, negative match types behave differently: they do not match close variants or synonyms. You must specify exact words and phrases.

Negative broad match is the default in Google Ads. If you enter a multi-word negative term like cheap repair under broad match, your ad is only blocked if the user's search query contains both the word cheap and the word repair, anywhere in the query. To block the single word cheap across all searches, add cheap as a single-word negative keyword.

The three levels of negative keyword organization

To manage negatives efficiently, organize them across three structural levels in your account:

1. Account-level negative keyword lists

Account-level lists apply to every search campaign across your entire account. Use account-level lists for terms that will never produce revenue for your company under any circumstance.

Shared negative keyword lists are created in the Tools and Settings menu under Shared Library. Once created, you can link the list to all current and future search campaigns with a single click.

2. Campaign-level negative keywords

Campaign-level negatives apply to an entire campaign. This level is ideal when you divide your marketing by service lines.

If you run separate campaigns for residential plumbing and commercial plumbing, add commercial and industrial as campaign negatives on your residential campaign. Add residential, home, house, and apartment as negatives on your commercial campaign. This separation prevents your residential campaign from wasting money on enterprise RFPs and prevents your commercial ads from firing for residential kitchen leaks.

3. Ad-group-level negative keywords

Ad-group negatives prevent internal keyword cannibalization. When two ad groups target closely related terms, Google may trigger the wrong ad and send the user to a less relevant landing page. Adding negative keywords at the ad-group level routes searchers to the most specific ad copy and landing page available.

Foundational negative keyword categories to add immediately

Before turning on a new search campaign, add foundational negative keywords across these common categories:

Job seekers and career research

Unless you are actively hiring technicians, you do not want to pay for people seeking employment:

• jobs, hiring, careers, employment, salary, wages, hourly pay, resume, interview questions, glassdoor, indeed, internship, apprenticeship

DIY and informational searches

Searchers looking for step-by-step instructions or troubleshooting advice rarely hire a contractor immediately:

• how to, diy, tutorial, guide, instructions, diagram, schematic, manual, youtube, tips, forum, reddit, fix it yourself

Low-price and discount seekers

If your business provides premium professional services, filter out users searching for extreme bargains:

• free, cheap, cheapest, discount, coupon, promo code, wholesale, liquidation, clearance, pro bono

Education and licensing

Filter out students and people researching professional credentials:

• school, classes, courses, college, university, degree, certification, exam, license test, books, training program

Software and tools

If you provide a service, prevent searches for software platforms or physical equipment:

• software, app, download, template, open source, equipment rental, parts store, home depot, lowes

How to find new negative keywords in your search terms report

No matter how thorough your pre-launch negative list is, real users will search in unexpected ways. The Search Terms report is where you discover what users actually typed before clicking your ads.

To review your search terms:

1. Open your Google Ads dashboard and select your active search campaign.
2. In the navigation menu, select Insights and reports, then click Search terms.
3. Set your date range to the past 14 or 30 days.
4. Sort the table by Cost to see which search queries spent the most money.
5. Review queries that produced zero conversions. Check the box next to any query that does not represent a qualified buyer.
6. Click Add as negative keyword at the top of the table, select whether to apply it at the ad-group, campaign, or list level, and save your changes.

Reviewing search terms takes 15 minutes a week and steadily drives down your average customer acquisition cost. For a complete audit workflow across your account, follow our PPC audit checklist.

How negative keywords work in Performance Max campaigns

Performance Max campaigns present a unique challenge for negative keyword management because Google hides keyword-level targeting behind automated asset groups. By default, Performance Max bids on any search query that Google's algorithm predicts will lead to a conversion, including your own brand name and competitor terms.

To apply negative keywords to a Performance Max campaign, you have two options:

First, use account-level negative keyword lists. Account-level negative lists automatically apply to both Search campaigns and Performance Max campaigns, blocking unwanted non-commercial terms across the entire account.

Second, apply campaign-level negative keywords by contacting Google support or using brand exclusion lists. Under campaign settings in Performance Max, you can attach a brand exclusion list to prevent the campaign from cannibalizing search queries that should belong to your dedicated branded search campaign. This separation ensures that your Performance Max budget targets net-new prospective customers rather than claiming credit for people already searching for your business by name.

Common negative keyword mistakes that cost you money

Avoid these common traps when managing negative keywords:

• Assuming negatives include plurals. If you add the negative keyword job, Google will still show your ads for searches containing jobs. Always add both singular and plural versions of your negative keywords.
• Over-negating core commercial terms. Be careful when adding broad match negatives. If you sell commercial roofing repair and add the negative keyword repair because you only want new roof installations, you inadvertently block valuable searches like commercial roof leak repair.
• Ignoring competitor brand names. Decide whether you want to bid on competitor names. If competitor clicks are expensive and convert poorly, add competitor company names as negative phrase keywords.

To understand how negative keywords fit into overall account setup, read our Google Ads starter plan for small business. If your account is generating clicks but no leads, consult our guide on why your Google Ads are not working.

Hands-off negative keyword management with Techcelerant

At Techcelerant, keyword and negative keyword management is included in every PPC package.

Our PPC starter package costs $599 a month for monthly spend up to $5,000, while our PPC growth package is $1,199 a month for ad spend up to $15,000 across search and social channels. Explore plan details on our PPC management services page or compare options on our pricing page.