Negative keywords in Google Ads are search terms you exclude so your ad stops showing to people who were never going to buy. Add "jobs" as a negative and a landscaping ad stops reaching job seekers. Add "free" and it stops reaching people who want the work done for nothing. WordStream's 2025 study of over 15,000 accounts found accounts with at least one negative keyword converted at 13%, versus 4.6% for accounts with none.
Negative keywords are search terms or phrases you tell Google Ads to exclude from triggering your ad, even if the search also contains a keyword you are bidding on. A plumbing company bidding on "drain cleaning" might add "how to" and "DIY" as negatives so the ad only shows to people who want a professional, not people looking for a tutorial. You add negatives at the ad group, campaign, or account level, and each level controls a different scope of your account.
The mechanic is simple, but the effect compounds. Every search your ad avoids is a click you never pay for and an impression that never drags down your click-through rate. Over months of running a campaign without negatives, small leaks like this add up to a meaningful share of the budget, which is exactly what WordStream's account-level research found when it looked at wasted spend across a large sample of live accounts.
Negative keywords matter because they are one of the cheapest, fastest levers for cutting wasted ad spend and lifting conversion rate, and the data backs that up clearly. WordStream's 2025 Performance Grader study, drawn from 251,236 account assessments covering 15,666 unique accounts between January and November 2025, found that the average business wastes $1,127.54 in Google Ads every month on clicks that never convert.
The same study measured the direct effect of negative keywords on results. Accounts with at least one negative keyword averaged a 13% monthly conversion rate. Accounts with none averaged 4.6%, and a full 25% of the accounts in the sample had never added a single one. That gap is not a rounding error. It is the difference between an account that is profitable and one that quietly burns budget every day it runs.
If you are still setting a realistic budget before you tighten targeting, our guide on how much Google Ads cost by industry is a good starting point, since negative keywords matter more the tighter your daily spend is.
Google Ads has three negative match types, broad, phrase, and exact, and each one blocks a different set of searches. Negative broad match, the default when you type a term with no punctuation, blocks a search if it contains every word in your negative keyword, regardless of order. Negative phrase match, written in quotes, blocks a search that contains your exact phrase in that word order, even with extra words around it. Negative exact match, written in brackets, blocks only a search that matches your phrase exactly, with nothing added.
| Match type | How you write it | What it blocks | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Negative broad | running shoes | Any search containing all the words, in any order | Blocks "shoes for running" and "running shoes sale"; does not block "running" alone |
| Negative phrase | "running shoes" | Any search containing that exact phrase, in order, plus extra words | Blocks "buy running shoes online"; does not block "shoes for running" |
| Negative exact | [running shoes] | Only the identical search query, nothing more or less | Blocks "running shoes" exactly; does not block "running shoes size 9" |
There is a gotcha almost every new advertiser misses. According to Google Ads Help, negative keywords do not match close variants or other expansions the way your regular keywords do. A negative exact match on "running shoe" will not automatically block "running shoes" or "runnning shoe." If you want the plural, the misspelling, and the singular all blocked, you generally need to add each one, or lean on negative phrase or broad match where the wording allows it.
To add a negative keyword to one campaign, open the campaign, go to Keywords, click Negative keywords, then the plus button, and type or paste your terms with the match type you want. For a list you plan to reuse, build it once under Tools and Settings, then Shared library, then Negative keyword lists, and attach that list to every campaign it should cover. Google Ads Help sets clear limits here: up to 5,000 negative keywords per shared list, up to 20 lists per account, and up to 1,000 negative keywords at the account level that apply across Search, Shopping, App, and Performance Max campaigns.
Performance Max used to be the exception, running with almost no negative keyword control. That changed in March 2025, when Google raised the Performance Max campaign-level limit from 100 to 10,000 negative keywords, on top of the 1,000 available at the account level. It is still not identical to Search campaign controls, but it closes most of the gap that made Performance Max risky for advertisers who relied heavily on negatives.
New accounts feel this the most. If you are working from our Google Ads for small business budget guide, a modest daily spend cannot absorb much waste, so negative keywords deserve attention from the first day a campaign goes live, not after the first invoice arrives.
A good starter list covers the handful of search intents that almost never convert for a paid ad, regardless of industry: people looking for jobs, people who want to do it themselves, people who cannot pay, and people already loyal to a competitor. The table below is an original framework built from those recurring patterns, not a copy of any single list, and it is meant as a starting point you edit to fit your own account and search terms report.
| Category | Why it wastes spend | Example negative keywords |
|---|---|---|
| Job seekers | Looking for employment, not your product or service | jobs, hiring, salary, resume, career, internship |
| DIY and how-to | Want to learn or do it themselves, not hire you | diy, how to, tutorial, instructions, step by step |
| Free and bargain seekers | No budget for a paid product or paid service | free, cheap, discount, coupon, promo code |
| Competitor names | Loyal to a rival brand, unless you are deliberately conquesting | [competitor 1], [competitor 2], [competitor 3] |
| Research and definitions | Still learning, not ready to buy or hire yet | what is, definition, meaning, examples of |
| Wrong location | Outside the area you actually serve | [cities you do not serve], remote if you are local-only |
| Wrong product line | Adjacent to what you sell, but not something you offer | used, refurbished, rental, if you only sell new |
Start with the categories that clearly apply to your business, add the exact terms your own search terms report is already surfacing, and resist the urge to import a generic 400-term list wholesale. A list built from your own data will always outperform a template, because it reflects what people are actually searching before they click your ad.
Negative keywords should live at the level that matches how universally irrelevant the term is. Account-level negatives apply everywhere and should be reserved for terms that should never trigger any ad in the account, such as job-related searches or clearly unrelated categories. Campaign-level and ad group-level negatives are for terms that are wrong for one offer but might be perfectly fine for another campaign in the same account, and they will not accidentally override anything upstream.
Getting this wrong is the single most common negative keyword mistake, and it is worth checking for deliberately. A broad account-level negative like "shoes" on a shoe retailer's own account, or an exact-match negative that happens to match a search term that used to convert, can silently cut off good traffic with no obvious symptom beyond a slow decline in impressions. Google Ads flags some of these as negative keyword conflicts inside the interface, and it is worth reviewing that warning every time you add a new batch of terms. This kind of check is really just one piece of a wider review; our step-by-step Google Ads audit checklist walks through the rest, including Quality Score, bidding, and landing pages.
A handful of errors show up in almost every account that has not been reviewed in a while, and each one is easy to fix once you know to look for it.
None of these mistakes are expensive to fix, and most take less time than the wasted spend they are quietly causing. Negative keywords are one piece of a bigger optimization routine; our Google Ads optimization playbook covers the rest, from bidding to ad copy to landing pages.
Negative keywords work best as routine maintenance layered on top of solid targeting, not as a substitute for it. They clean up the edges of an account that is already aimed at the right audience through good keyword research, tight ad groups, and sensible match types on your regular keywords. If you are weighing how much of your marketing budget should go to paid search versus organic growth, our Google Ads vs SEO comparison breaks down when each channel earns its place, and negative keywords are one of the reasons paid search can start paying back faster once the account is clean.
What are negative keywords in Google Ads? They are search terms you tell Google Ads to exclude, so your ad will not trigger even if it matches one of your regular keywords. You add them at the campaign, ad group, or account level to stop paying for clicks that were never going to convert.
How do I add negative keywords in Google Ads? In Google Ads, open a campaign or ad group, go to Keywords, then Negative keywords, and click the plus button to type or paste terms. For a list that applies across several campaigns, build it once under Tools and Settings, then Shared library, then Negative keyword lists, and attach it to each campaign you want covered.
What is the difference between broad, phrase, and exact match negative keywords? Negative broad match blocks any search that contains all the words in your negative keyword, in any order. Negative phrase match blocks searches that contain the exact phrase in that order, with extra words allowed before or after. Negative exact match blocks only the identical search query and nothing else.
Can I use negative keywords in Performance Max campaigns? Yes. As of 2025 you can add up to 10,000 negative keywords per Performance Max campaign, and up to 1,000 more at the account level that apply across Search, Shopping, App, and Performance Max campaigns, according to Google Ads Help.
How many negative keywords can I add? Google Ads allows up to 5,000 negative keywords per shared list, up to 20 lists per account, and up to 1,000 negative keywords at the account level, per Google Ads Help. Individual campaigns and ad groups can hold thousands more directly.
Do negative keywords cost anything? No. Adding negative keywords is free. The value comes from what you stop paying for: clicks from searches that were never going to become a lead or a sale.
Where do I find new negative keywords to add? Start with the search terms report inside each campaign, which lists the exact queries that triggered your ads. Use Google's Keyword Planner for related low-intent variants, and list your competitors' brand names if you do not want to compete for their traffic.
Should negative keywords be at the account, campaign, or ad group level? Use account-level negatives only for terms that should never trigger any ad, such as job searches or adult content. Use campaign-level or ad group-level negatives for terms that are irrelevant to one offer but might be fine elsewhere in the account, since account-level negatives override everything underneath them.
Can a negative keyword block my own ads by accident? Yes, and it is the most common negative keyword mistake. A broad negative like shoes on a shoe store account, or an exact match negative that happens to match one of your own converting search terms, can silently cut off traffic. Check the negative keyword conflicts warning in Google Ads and review the list every time you add new keywords.
How often should you update your negative keyword list? Review the search terms report weekly for the first month of a new campaign, then move to a biweekly or monthly cadence once the list stabilizes. Revisit it whenever you add new keywords, since new keywords often surface new irrelevant queries too.
Open your search terms report, sort by cost, and read the last 30 days of actual queries. Add the obvious junk as negatives today, build a shared list from the starter categories above, and set a recurring reminder to review it weekly for the first month of any new campaign. If you want a second set of eyes on where your account is leaking budget, book a free Google Ads and SEO call with Rankite and we will show you exactly what to cut first.
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