Negative Keywords: Complete Strategy Guide

Why Negative Keywords Matter

Negative keywords prevent your ads from showing for irrelevant searches. Without them, you're paying for clicks from people who will never convert—job seekers, researchers, people looking for free solutions, or searchers in the wrong industry entirely.

We regularly see accounts waste 20-30% of their budget on irrelevant searches that could have been blocked with proper negative keyword management.

Types of Negative Keywords

Negative Broad Match

Blocks searches containing all words in the negative keyword, in any order. "free software" blocks "free project management software" but not "software pricing."

Negative Phrase Match

Blocks searches containing the exact phrase in order. "free software" blocks "download free software" but not "software free trial."

Negative Exact Match

Blocks only the exact search term. [free software] only blocks "free software"—not "free accounting software."

Building Your Negative Keyword List

Start with Universal Negatives

These apply to almost every business:

Job-related: jobs, careers, hiring, salary, interview, resume, CV
Educational: how to, what is, meaning, definition, tutorial
Free-seekers: free, cheap, discount (if you don't offer these)
Irrelevant: DIY, homemade (for professional services)

Industry-Specific Negatives

Every industry has terms that attract wrong audiences. A B2B software company might add "personal use," "home," and "consumer." A UK business might add competitor regions.

Brand Negatives

Add competitor brand names if you don't want to show for those searches. Also add your own brand name to non-brand campaigns to prevent overlap.

Organising Negative Keywords

Negative Keyword Lists

Create shared negative keyword lists and apply them across campaigns. This makes management easier and ensures consistency.

Universal negatives (applies to all campaigns)
Competitor brand list
Your own brand list (for non-brand campaigns)
Industry-specific lists

Campaign vs. Ad Group Level

Apply broad negatives at the campaign level. Use ad group level negatives for more surgical blocking when you need different rules for different ad groups.

Mining the Search Terms Report

Your best source of negative keywords is your own data. Review the Search Terms report weekly and add negatives for:

Searches with zero conversions and significant spend
Queries clearly mismatched to your offer
High-impression, low-CTR searches (indicate poor relevance)
Repeat offenders appearing across multiple keywords

Common Negative Keyword Mistakes

Being too aggressive: Blocking terms that actually convert
Forgetting about match types: Using only broad when phrase would be better
Set-and-forget: Not reviewing and updating lists regularly
Conflicting keywords: Adding negatives that block positive keywords
No organisation: Adding all negatives at random levels