Google Ads Negative Keywords: A Strategy That Saves 30% of Your Budget

Look at the search terms report of any account running broad-match keywords without tight controls. You will find 20 to 40 percent of the spend going to searches that have nothing to do with what the business actually sells.

A solid Google Ads negative keywords strategy stops the bleeding. It is the single highest-ROI exercise in any account audit — usually saving more money than improving bids, expanding ad copy, or building new landing pages.

This guide walks through how to build one from scratch, what match types to use where, the templates we apply on every account, and the weekly cadence that keeps it tight.

What negative keywords actually do

Negative keywords are search queries you tell Google to never trigger your ads on. They are the inverse of the positive keywords you bid on.

If you sell premium dental implants and your ads show up on "free dental clinic", that click is wasted money. Add "free" as a negative keyword and the ad stops showing for any query containing that word.

Without negatives, Google's broad-match algorithm aggressively expands your targeting to "related" terms — many of which are not commercially relevant. We covered this dynamic in our Google Ads lead generation guide.

Why the search terms report is where the work lives

The search terms report shows the actual queries that triggered your ads, not just the keywords you bid on. This is where your negative keywords strategy lives.

Pull it weekly for the first month of any campaign, then bi-weekly, then monthly. Sort by spend. Look for:

• Queries with zero conversions and significant spend
• Queries with the wrong commercial intent ("free", "DIY", "tutorial", "jobs")
• Geographic mismatches ("plumber Paris" when you serve Lyon)
• Competitor brand names you do not want to bid against
• Unrelated industries the algorithm thinks are related

Each of these becomes a negative keyword candidate. The discipline is consistency, not cleverness.

The four match types for negative keywords

Google Ads has four match types for keywords. For negatives, three of them behave slightly differently than for positive keywords.

Negative broad match

Blocks any search containing all your negative keyword's words, in any order, but does not include synonyms or close variants.

Example: negative broad "cheap shoes" blocks "cheap red shoes" and "cheap shoes online" but not "inexpensive footwear".

Use it for: filtering out clear commercial intent mismatches. Free, cheap, DIY, jobs.

Negative phrase match

Blocks searches containing your exact phrase in the same order, with words allowed before or after.

Example: negative phrase "free trial" blocks "best free trial software" and "free trial 30 days" but not "trial free of charge".

Use it for: blocking specific product features or use cases you do not offer.

Negative exact match

Blocks only searches that exactly match your negative keyword. No additional words allowed.

Example: negative exact "marketing" blocks only the single-word query "marketing" but not "digital marketing".

Use it for: blocking specific high-spend single queries without over-restricting.

What does NOT exist for negatives

Negative keywords have no close-variant matching. If you add "shoes" as a negative, it does not block "shoe" or "shoez". You need both variants.

This is the trap most advertisers fall into. They add one form of a word and assume Google handles plurals and typos. It does not.

The four buckets every account needs

Every negative keywords strategy should cover these four categories.

Bucket 1 — Intent mismatches

Words that signal the searcher is not ready to buy. Common ones:

• free, cheap, DIY, do-it-yourself
• tutorial, how to, guide, course, learn
• jobs, career, salary, hiring
• definition, meaning, what is, examples
• pdf, template, sample, ebook
• reddit, forum, quora, youtube

Add these as negative broad or phrase at the account level, except for keywords where the term is part of your actual offer (a course business should not block "course", for example).

Bucket 2 — Geographic mismatches

If you only serve specific regions, block searches anchored to other locations. For a Tunis-based business serving Tunis only:

• Add other Tunisian cities (Sousse, Sfax, Bizerte, etc.)
• Add neighbouring countries (Algeria, Libya)
• Add major international cities frequently searched (Paris, Casablanca, Dubai)

Layer this with location-based bid adjustments rather than full negatives for adjacent cities you might still serve.

Bucket 3 — Competitor brands

Bidding on competitor names is legal in most countries but rarely cost-effective unless you have a sharp differentiator. Add competitor brand names as negatives unless you specifically want to bid on them.

Watch for variations and misspellings. If your top competitor is "Maison Dupont", also block "maison dupon" and "dupon maison".

Bucket 4 — Wrong commercial intent

Searches that look right but want something different. For a B2B SaaS:

• "vs" (people researching competitors)
• "review", "compare" (research stage, low intent)
• "alternative" (existing customer of a competitor, evaluating switch)
• "pricing model" vs "pricing" (different intent)

These need account-specific judgment. Pull the report, look at conversion rate per query, decide.

Shared negative keyword lists vs campaign-level negatives

Google Ads supports two ways to add negatives.

Campaign-level negatives apply to one campaign only. Best for campaign-specific exclusions — for example, a Search campaign blocking shopping-style queries that belong to Performance Max.

Shared negative keyword lists apply across multiple campaigns. Best for account-wide negatives — intent mismatches, competitor names, off-target geographies.

We recommend at least three shared lists per account:

1. Universal intent negatives — free, DIY, jobs, tutorial (applied to all Search campaigns)
2. Competitor brands — applied to all non-brand campaigns
3. Geographic exclusions — applied to all campaigns serving a specific region

Shared lists save hours of duplicate work and ensure consistency. Update the list in one place, every campaign inherits the change.

A negative keywords audit cadence that actually works

The biggest mistake is treating negatives as a one-time setup. Search behaviour evolves, the algorithm expands, new junk creeps in.

Here is the cadence we use on client accounts.

Week 1 to 4 of any new campaign: pull search terms report twice a week. Aggressive negative addition — expect 30 to 100 new negatives in the first month.

Months 2 to 6: pull weekly. Add 10 to 30 negatives per week.

Month 6 onwards: bi-weekly check. Add 5 to 15 negatives per session.

For Performance Max, the search terms report is more limited but you can still review "search categories" in the Insights tab. Add account-level negatives for entire categories that show up irrelevantly. We covered the broader Performance Max approach in our Performance Max best practices guide.

How to handle negatives without over-restricting

Aggressive negatives can starve the algorithm. There is a balance.

Watch for these warning signs that you have gone too far:

• Impressions dropping more than 30 percent week over week without a budget change
• Search Lost IS (rank) spiking on profitable keywords
• Quality Score dropping on previously healthy keywords

If you see these, review the negatives added in the past 30 days. Often one over-broad negative is blocking valid queries. Remove it, monitor for 7 days, decide.

The goal is precision — block junk, keep the signal. Not zero impressions on borderline queries.

A starter pack of negatives every account should have

Copy this into a shared list called "Universal Intent Negatives". It saves 5 to 15 percent of budget on most accounts from day one.

• free, cheap, low cost
• DIY, do it yourself, build my own
• tutorial, guide, how to, learn how
• course, training, class
• jobs, career, hiring, salary
• pdf, template, ebook, sample
• reddit, quora, forum, stackexchange
• youtube, tiktok, instagram
• meaning, definition, what is
• wikipedia, encyclopedia

Apply as negative broad or phrase depending on your industry. For some businesses "free" is part of the funnel ("free audit", "free trial") — skip it in those cases.

When to keep a "negative" as a positive

Sometimes a word looks like a negative but is actually a buying signal in your industry.

• "Cheap": problematic for luxury, but a buying signal for budget e-commerce.
• "Free": junk for paid services, but a strong signal for SaaS trials.
• "DIY": junk for done-for-you services, but relevant for tool and material sellers.

Always check conversion rate per query before adding a negative. If "cheap dental implants" converts at 3 percent (your average), it stays. If it converts at 0 percent over 50 clicks, it goes.

Negative keyword templates by industry

These are starting points — adjust to your business.

Local service businesses

Add: nearby cities you do not serve, competitor brand names, "free", "DIY", "near me" only if you operate from a fixed location. Our Local SEO for service businesses guide covers the geographic side in detail.

B2B SaaS

Add: "free" if you only offer paid plans, "open source" alternatives, competitor product names, job-related terms ("careers", "hiring"), education-related terms unless you sell to education.

E-commerce

Add: brand names you do not stock, "reviews" if you do not have strong review pages, "second hand" and "used" if you sell new only, "wholesale" if you sell retail only.

Healthcare and regulated industries

Add: "symptoms", "side effects", "is X safe" unless you have content addressing those queries, names of conditions you do not treat, "free clinic", "near me" for tele-only providers.

Frequently asked questions

Can I add too many negative keywords?

Yes. Most accounts have far too few, but a handful go the other way. The risk is blocking borderline queries that would have converted. Watch impression volume after big negative additions.

Do negative keywords affect Quality Score?

Indirectly. Cleaner search term matching means higher CTR on the queries that remain, which raises Quality Score. Negative keywords are one of the fastest ways to lift Quality Score on a noisy account. We covered the mechanics in our Quality Score guide.

Should I use negative keywords for branded campaigns?

Usually no. Brand campaigns convert at high rates and the search volume is narrow. Adding negatives there often blocks valid variants. Keep brand campaigns lean and let them run.

Are negative keywords case-sensitive?

No. Google Ads negative keywords are not case-sensitive. "Free" and "free" behave identically.

How many negative keywords can I add?

Google allows up to 10,000 negative keywords per campaign or shared list. Most accounts only use a few hundred. There is no SEO or performance benefit to artificially expanding the list.

What is the difference between a negative keyword and a blocked URL?

Negative keywords block queries. Blocked URLs (in the Placements section) block specific websites or apps your ads show on, which only applies to Display, YouTube, and Performance Max. Different tools for different problems.

Get an audit of your negative keywords coverage

We run a free negative keywords audit on accounts spending €2,000 per month or more. We pull your search terms report, calculate wasted spend, and deliver a prioritised negatives list — usually 100 to 300 new candidates.

Book a free 30-minute audit. Screen-share, live review of your account, action plan in your hands by end of call.

You can also explore our Google Ads service for the full system we run on managed accounts.