Negative keywords are words or phrases that prevent your ads from appearing on irrelevant search results, websites, or videos. By filtering out traffic that does not match your offer, you can focus your budget on customers likely to convert. This targeting method directly improves your return on investment and campaign efficiency.
What are Negative Keywords?
Negative keywords serve as a filter for your pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns. When you add these terms to your account, you instruct platforms like Google Ads to block your ad from displaying whenever those specific words appear in a search query.
This is essential for businesses with products that share names with unrelated items. For example, an optometrist selling "glasses" would add "wine" and "drinking" as negative keywords to avoid paying for clicks from people looking for kitchenware. Organizations often maintain a comprehensive list of 1,500+ negative keywords to protect their accounts from common wasteful terms.
Why Negative Keywords matter
- Save money: Stop paying for clicks from users who have zero intent to buy your specific product or service.
- Improve Quality Score: By filtering out irrelevant queries, you ensure your ads are more relevant to the searches they do appear for, which boosts this critical search metric.
- Boost conversions: Higher placement for relevant terms leads to more effective budget use and improved sales volume.
- Protect brand image: Prevent your company from being associated with undesirable topics, such as "cheap" or "free," if you are a premium provider.
- Increase Click-Through Rate (CTR): Your ads show only to interested audiences, meaning a higher percentage of viewers will likely click.
How Negative Keywords work
In Search campaigns, the system looks for your negative keywords within a user's query. If the words match your negative list based on the match type you selected, the ad will not show.
For Display and Video campaigns, the behavior changes. Negative keywords are treated as topics. If the content of a page or video is strongly related to your excluded terms, the ad is blocked even if the exact word isn't present on the page. However, a maximum of 1,000 negative keywords is considered for Display and Video ads at the account level.
Note that there is a character limit for the system's "memory" during a search. Your ad can still show if the negative keyword appears after the 16th word in a long search string.
Types of Negative Keywords
You can apply negative keywords at the account, campaign, or ad group level. Account-level lists apply to all eligible search and shopping inventory globally.
| Match Type | Definition | Example (Keyword: "running shoes") |
|---|---|---|
| Broad | Excludes ads if the search contains all your negative terms in any order. | Ad shows for: "blue shoe". Ad blocked for: "shoes running". |
| Phrase | Excludes ads if the search contains the exact keyword terms in the same order. | Ad shows for: "shoes running". Ad blocked for: "blue running shoes". |
| Exact | Excludes ads only if the search is the exact keyword with no extra words. | Ad shows for: "blue running shoes". Ad blocked for: "running shoes". |
Best practices
- Add plural and singular versions: Negative keywords do not match close variants. If you exclude "flower," your ad can still show for "flowers."
- Handle symbols with care: Google Ads only recognizes ampersands (&), accent marks (á), and asterisks (*). Other symbols like plus signs (+) or periods (.) are generally ignored.
- Use the Search Terms Report: Regularly check this report to see which actual queries are triggering your ads. If you find irrelevant terms, add them as negatives immediately.
- Differentiate by Ad Group: Use ad-group level negatives to prevent your own ads from competing with each other. For example, add "formal" as a negative to a "running shoes" ad group.
- Research competitors: Look at the keywords competitors bid on to find terms that might be "close" to your niche but ultimately irrelevant.
Common mistakes
- Using too many negatives: Over-filtering can restrict your reach so much that you miss out on potential customers. Fix: Monitor your impressions after adding large lists.
- Neglecting match types: Sticking only to the default (broad) may block useful traffic. Fix: Use exact match for terms that are only irrelevant in a specific context.
- Assuming synonyms are covered: Negative keywords do not automatically exclude synonyms. Fix: Manually add words like "inexpensive" if you have already excluded "cheap."
- Ignoring Account-Level lists: Managing negatives campaign-by-campaign is time-consuming. Fix: Create a global list for "universal" negatives like "porn," "torrent," or "jobs."
Examples
- Scenario A (Service Provider): A chauffeur service wants to find clients but keeps getting clicks from job seekers. They add "salary," "jobs," "hiring," and "employment" as negative keywords.
- Scenario B (Retailer): A company sells high-end mountain bikes. To avoid bargain hunters, they add "cheap," "used," "discount," and "walmart" to their phrase match negative list.
- Scenario C (B2B Tech): A SaaS company selling enterprise software excludes "DIY," "handmade," and "crafts" to avoid hobbyists looking for personal tools.
FAQ
Do negative keywords match misspellings?
Yes. Negative keywords automatically account for misspellings and casing. You do not need to add "cheep" if you have already added "cheap" as a negative keyword.
What is the difference between negative keywords on Search vs. Display?
On Search, negatives block specific queries. On Display, they block entire topics. For example, the negative keyword "women's pants" would block a page about "women's jeans" on the Display network even if the word "pants" never appears on the page.
How do symbols affect negative keywords?
Most symbols are invalid or ignored. If you add "Fifth Ave.", the system sees "Fifth Ave". The "site:" operator and search operators like "OR" are also ignored. If you put a minus sign (-) in front of a negative keyword, the system will ignore that keyword entirely.
Will negative keywords stop my ads from showing for close variants?
No. Unlike positive keywords, negative keywords do not include close variants. You must specifically add singulars, plurals, and other versions of the word to ensure complete exclusion.
How many negative keywords can I have?
You can have thousands across campaigns, but for Display and Video ads specifically, the system only considers the first 1,000 negative keywords at the account level.
