Negative keywords
Negative keywords are words you tell Google Ads not to show your ad for. They block searches rather than trigger them. They are the main way to stop paying for searches that will never buy, such as free or jobs. They work next to match types, which decide which searches can show your ad in the first place.
Theodor Lindfors, Founding Marketer ·
What negative keywords are
Negative keywords are the inverse of a keyword. Instead of asking to enter an auction, they refuse it. Negative broad, phrase, and exact match all exist, with slightly different blocking rules from their positive counterparts. Match type is the rule that decides which searches can trigger your ad. Negatives use a similar idea in reverse.
One difference catches people out: negative keywords do not use close variants. A negative for [plumber job] will not automatically block plumber jobs, so plurals and misspellings often need to be added explicitly.
Let's take a plumbing company as an example. The plumbing company buys Google ads to get homeowners who need a plumber this week. After a week of broad match (the loosest match type: ads can show for searches related in meaning), the search terms report is full of plumber jobs and how to fix a leaky faucet. Those queries become negatives. The ads stop showing for them.
Why negative keywords matter
Negative keywords are the counterweight to loose matching. Once broad match (ads can show for related meanings, including synonyms) and close variants widen the net, negatives are what keeps the spend pointed at buyers.
Negative keywords also separate campaigns. Adding brand terms as negatives in generic campaigns is how you stop the generic budget from harvesting brand search (people typing your company name into Google) and flattering its own numbers. The plumbing company negatives its own name in the generic campaign so the name stays in the brand campaign.
How to build a negative keyword list
Start from the search terms report rather than from imagination. Group the obvious ones, jobs, free, DIY, competitor names, into shared lists you can apply across campaigns.
Let's take a plumbing company as an example. Before negatives, $2,000 of Search spend included $600 on junk (jobs, free, salary, DIY). After adding those terms, junk spend falls to about $80 the next month. The plumbing company keeps $520 that used to buy applicants and tutorials and puts it on queries from homeowners. The plumbing company also adds electrician and HVAC so the ads do not pay for other trades. Over-blocking is a real cost: a broad negative on repair could have blocked emergency pipe repair, a converting query. Pick the level deliberately. Account-level negatives are blunt and permanent, ad group negatives are surgical.
Common negative keyword mistakes
- Adding a broad negative that quietly blocks converting queries.
- Forgetting plurals and misspellings, since negatives ignore close variants.
- Building the list once at launch and never revisiting it.
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