Advertisers waste, on average, 20% of their Google Ads budget on clicks that will never convert. That’s not a typo. It’s the reality of running campaigns without negative keywords.

Think about that for a second. Every irrelevant click chips away at your budget, lowers your Quality Score, and distracts you from reaching the customers who are actually ready to buy. The fix? Negative keywords. They’re not optional. They’re the secret filter that keeps your ads sharp, efficient, and ROI-driven.

Let’s walk you through what negative keywords are, how they work, and exactly how to use them. By the end, you’ll not only know which terms to block, but also how to keep your campaigns running lean and profitable. Let’s dive in!

What Are Negative Keywords in Google Ads?

Negative keywords are words or phrases that prevent your ads from showing when a search query contains them. Instead of wasting money on irrelevant clicks, you focus your budget on users who are more likely to convert. Think of it as a filter. You block out the noise so only the right traffic makes it through.

Negative keyword definition in Google Ads

Google Ads defines a negative keyword as “a type of keyword that prevents your ad from being triggered by a certain word or phrase.” That means a negative keyword tells Google, “Don’t show my ad if this term is part of the search.” It’s a direct command that shields your campaign budget from irrelevant queries.

Take this example: if you advertise a premium project management tool, adding free as a negative keyword means your ad won’t appear for searches like free project management software. That small adjustment prevents your budget from being siphoned away by users who will never buy.

Here are some common scenarios where a negative keyword makes a difference:

• Price sensitivity: If you sell premium consulting services, exclude terms like cheap or discount to avoid bargain hunters.
• Job seekers: Service businesses should block words like jobs or careers to stop wasting clicks on employment searches.
• Research intent: SaaS companies often exclude review or comparison to cut out early-stage researchers and focus on buyers.

When you master the use of negative keywords, you’re not just cutting waste; you’re actively deciding which audiences never see your ads, which is as important as deciding who does.

The Role of negative keywords in campaign optimization

Once you’ve defined and applied negatives, the real magic shows up in your performance metrics. This isn’t just about filtering, it’s about improving efficiency at scale. Here’s where negative keywords push campaigns forward:

• Better click-through rate (CTR): By removing irrelevant impressions, more of your ad views come from people actually interested in your offer.
• Higher Quality Score: Google rewards relevance. When CTR goes up, your Quality Score climbs, which lowers your CPC.
• More accurate data: Clean traffic means your analytics reflect reality. You’ll know exactly which keywords are profitable and which to cut.

When you track your marketing metrics, you’ll notice a measurable shift: better CTR, reduced CPC, and conversions that reflect the traffic you actually want.

Why advertisers need negative keywords to save budget

The financial impact of negative keywords is where most advertisers feel the difference. Every irrelevant click you cut is money redirected toward qualified traffic. And the numbers add up fast.

Imagine you’re spending $1,000 a month on Google Ads. If 20% of that spend is wasted on irrelevant clicks, you’re losing $200 every month. That is $2,400 over the course of a year, which you could have invested in higher-intent keywords, retargeting, or even testing new ad creatives.

Here are three areas where you can save the most money:

• Reducing cost per acquisition (CPA): Filtering out bad clicks lowers the average cost it takes to land a customer.
• Freeing budget for high-intent keywords: Dollars saved from irrelevant traffic can be shifted into searches that convert.
• Preventing runaway spend in broad campaigns: Large budgets spread across many ad groups bleed faster without negatives in place.

How Do Negative Keywords Work in Google Ads?

Negative keywords control when your ad appears by telling Google which searches to ignore. Without them, your ads can show on broad, loosely related queries. With them, your targeting becomes sharper, your CTR goes up, and your costs go down. Think of it as refining the funnel—fewer junk clicks, more qualified traffic.

Negative keyword match types

Just like positive keywords, negatives come in three match types: broad, phrase, and exact. Each offers a different level of control over what queries get filtered. When you are in your Google Ads account, you designate the match type by indicators around the keyword as you add it. Google has 3 matching types you can use to exclude searches:

• Broad match: If you exclude shoes, your ad won’t appear for any query containing the word shoes (e.g., “red shoes for men”).
• Phrase match: Excluding running shoes blocks only searches containing that full phrase, like “best running shoes.”
• Exact match: Excluding [running shoes] blocks only that exact query, but not “red running shoes” or “cheap running shoes.”

Using the right mix of match types lets you tighten or loosen exclusions depending on your campaign goals. Let’s see how each matching type works if we were selling CRM software.

Broad match negative keywords examples

Broad match negatives cast the widest net, so they’re great for filtering out entire categories of irrelevant traffic. Only use these if you know you want to ensure your ads never show based on specific words. Common examples include:

• Free: blocks “free CRM tools,” “best free CRM.”
• Jobs: blocks “CRM jobs,” “CRM career opportunities.”
• Cheap: blocks “cheap CRM,” “cheapest project management tool.”

Broad match negatives are powerful, but use them carefully. If you go too broad, you may unintentionally block relevant searches.

Phrase match negative keywords examples

Phrase match negatives are a step more precise. They’re best when you want to filter specific intent phrases without cutting out all related traffic. Example scenarios:

• “CRM training”: blocks queries like “online CRM training.”
• “CRM tutorials”: blocks “CRM tutorials for beginners.”
• “CRM comparison”: blocks “CRM comparison chart.”

These negatives are especially useful when you want to avoid education- or research-based clicks but still capture high-intent queries.

Exact match negative keywords with examples

Exact match negatives give you the tightest control. They exclude only the query you specify, nothing more. Examples:

• [CRM software review] → blocks exactly that search but not “best CRM software review.”
• [time tracking software] → blocks only that query, but would allow “cheapest tracing software”.
• [project management system] → excludes just the exact phrase.

Exact match negatives are great for fine-tuning campaigns when you’ve already optimized at the broad and phrase level.

Where to Add Negative Keywords in Google Ads

Knowing how negative keywords work is only half the battle. To get the most out of them, you need to apply them at the right level. Negative keywords can be set at the ad group level, campaign level, or account level. The difference is how broad their impact will be, from tightly focused exclusions to sweeping blocks across your entire account.

Ad group-level negative keywords (most specific)

Ad group negatives are the sharpest tool in your kit. They let you control traffic inside a single campaign so each ad group captures only the queries it’s meant to.

Example scenarios:

• Ad group for “CRM for small business” → exclude enterprise to keep traffic relevant.
• Ad group for “CRM for enterprise” → exclude small business to avoid overlap.
• Ad group for “time tracking” → exclude free to block low-value clicks.

👉 This level is best when you want to prevent ad groups from competing with each other or when you need the tightest possible control over traffic

Campaign-level negative keywords (balanced control)

Campaign-level negatives give you broader coverage, applying to every ad group inside a campaign. This is useful when you’re running multiple campaigns with different goals, and you want to filter out terms that don’t fit that campaign’s intent.

Example scenarios:

• A SaaS campaign → exclude open source or download to avoid non-paying users.
• A premium services campaign → exclude cheap or budget to stay aligned with high-value clients.
• An e-commerce product campaign → exclude wholesale if you sell only directly to consumers.

👉 This level is best for aligning negatives with campaign goals while still keeping flexibility across your account.

Account-level negative keywords (broadest scope)

Account-level negatives apply across every campaign you run. They’re perfect for universal terms that will never bring in qualified leads, no matter the campaign.

Common examples include:

• Jobs / careers → blocks employment-related searches.
• DIY / tutorial / training → filters out users who want to learn instead of buy.
• Free → universally cuts out low-intent searches.

👉 This level is best for sweeping exclusions that apply to your entire business. Think of it as your permanent blacklist.

[/cta]Pro Tip: Work from the bottom up. Start with ad group negatives to fine-tune targeting, layer on campaign negatives to align strategy, and finish with account negatives as a catch-all. This layered approach ensures you don’t block too much too soon while still keeping your pay-per-click ads efficient.[/cta]

Negative Keyword Lists in Google Ads

Once you understand match types and where to apply negative keywords, the next step is efficiency. That’s where negative keyword lists come in. Instead of adding the same exclusions over and over, you create reusable lists that can be applied across multiple campaigns. This saves time, ensures consistency, and makes scaling easier.

Why negative keyword lists matter

Lists turn negative keywords from one-off adjustments into a system. With a master list, you can update exclusions in one place and instantly improve every campaign that uses it. Practical benefits include:

• Time savings: no more manually adding “free” or “jobs” in every campaign.
• Consistency: every campaign blocks the same irrelevant queries, so you don’t miss anything.
• Scalability: as your account grows, one list update applies across dozens of campaigns.

Types of negative keyword lists to create

Not all lists are created equal. Building the right categories helps you stay organized and strategic. Examples include:

• Universal lists: apply across all campaigns (e.g., free, jobs, careers, DIY, tutorial).
• Industry-specific lists: SaaS might block open source, services might block cheap, e-commerce might block wholesale.
• Campaign-specific lists: one list for top-of-funnel campaigns (blocking transactional intent), another for bottom-of-funnel (blocking informational queries).

How to build and use negative keyword lists

Creating lists is straightforward, but using them effectively takes planning. Start by combining what you’ve already learned about match types and levels of application:

• Account-level lists: Use broad match negatives like jobs or free to block universal low-intent traffic across all campaigns. This ensures you never pay for irrelevant clicks, no matter how many campaigns you launch in the future. Think of this list as your permanent safeguard against wasted spend.
• Campaign-level lists: Apply phrase match negatives such as “CRM tutorial” to filter out research-heavy searches in campaigns designed to target buyers. This keeps awareness or informational queries out of campaigns where the goal is conversion, so your budget only fuels clicks with real purchase intent.
• Ad group-level lists: Add exact match negatives to fine-tune targeting within a single ad group. For example, if one ad group targets “CRM for small business,” you can exclude [CRM for enterprise] at this level to prevent cross-over traffic. This keeps your ad groups from competing against each other and improves the clarity of your performance data.

This layered approach makes your lists not just convenient, but strategic. Each level protects your account in a different way: account lists stop global waste, campaign lists align negatives with goals, and ad group lists keep traffic segmented for cleaner optimization.

How to Find Negative Keywords for Google Ads

The success of your negative keyword strategy comes down to discovery. It’s not enough to add a few obvious terms like free or jobs. The best advertisers combine ongoing analysis, proactive research, and smart use of tools to continually refine their campaigns. Here’s how to build a reliable system for finding negatives that keep your ads profitable.

Using the Google Ads Search Terms Report

The Search Terms Report is the single most valuable resource for uncovering negatives. It shows the actual queries people typed before clicking your ad, so you can spot wasted spend immediately. This is a simple way to uncover negative keywords:

1. Go to your Search Terms Report and sort by spend.
2. Look for high-cost terms that produced no conversions.
3. Identify patterns (e.g., people searching jobs, training, or DIY queries).
4. Add them to your negative keyword lists at the right level (ad group, campaign, or account).

Examples of what you’ll find:

• A B2B SaaS campaign targeting “CRM software” might see clicks from CRM jobs near me.
• A luxury retail campaign might pick up clicks for cheap handbags or discount shoes.
• A local service campaign might see plumbing training course or how to fix a drain.

👉 This is your reactive defense system. It plugs the leaks you can see.

Using Keyword Planner to identify negatives

Most people use Keyword Planner to find opportunities. Smart advertisers also use it to find what to avoid. This is a 3-step guide to using Keyword Planner to find negative keywords:

1. Enter your core keyword (e.g., CRM software).
2. Scan the list for irrelevant modifiers like cheap, free, DIY, tutorial, training, jobs, reviews.
3. Build a pre-launch negative keyword list from these findings.

By filtering before launch, you protect your budget from day one. Instead of reacting after wasted clicks, you set up a preventative guardrail.

Example scenario: A SaaS company targeting “project management tool” might see open source project management tool suggested. If they only sell paid products, this goes straight to their universal negatives.

Brainstorming and competitor analysis

Sometimes tools aren’t enough. The fastest way to find negatives is to ask: Who isn’t my customer?

Ways to approach this:

• Intent filters: If you offer premium services, block terms like cheap, budget, affordable.
• Competitor searches: If you don’t want competitor-click waste, exclude names like Salesforce or Zoho.
• Industry patterns: SaaS often blocks open source; services often block DIY; e-commerce might block wholesale.

Competitor analysis hack: Search your own target keyword in Google. Scroll the autocomplete and “People Also Ask” results. Many of those related queries (best free CRM, CRM training, CRM comparison) make great negatives.

Tools to scale negative keyword discovery

Platforms like Semrush, WordStream, or PPC Protect can surface hundreds of negative keyword ideas in minutes. These tools can help you scale your operation and find hidden negative keywords in groups. Here are a few reasons you should start using these tools:

• Speed: Identify large batches of negatives quickly.
• Breadth: Discover niche or longtail negatives you may never think of manually.
• Automation: Sync directly into Google Ads lists and update at scale.

Example workflow:

• Use Semrush’s PPC Keyword Tool to build a negative keyword list based on related queries.
• Run WordStream’s Free Keyword Tool to compare overlaps.
• Upload into Google Ads as a shared list, then monitor results in your Search Terms Report.

Caution: Tools are a starting point, not a replacement for judgment. Blindly excluding every suggestion can lead to overblocking, where you cut out profitable queries along with the waste.

Advanced Strategies for Negative Keywords in Google Ads

Negative keywords are more than a cost-cutting tool. When used strategically, they can shape the quality of your traffic, improve ad efficiency, and even inform your broader marketing decisions. These advanced strategies go beyond the basics and show you how to use negatives like a pro.

Review and refine on a schedule

The biggest mistake business owners make is setting negative keywords once and never touching them again. Search behavior changes every week. If you don’t adjust, irrelevant clicks sneak back in and bleed your budget. Here’s a simple way to refine based on a schedule:

1. Check Search Terms Report weekly (or bi-weekly for smaller accounts): Sort by spend and filter for zero conversions.
2. Identify patterns: For example, a home cleaning service might see cleaning jobs, DIY cleaning hacks, or cheap cleaners near me.
3. Update your negatives: Add them at the right level (ad group, campaign, or account).
4. Repeat consistently: Treat it like financial bookkeeping—small leaks caught early save thousands over a year.

👉 A business spending $2,000 a month could easily save $200–$400 monthly just by cutting bad queries consistently.

Avoid overblocking with negative keyword balance

Overblocking is just as dangerous as underblocking. If you’re too aggressive, you cut off valuable traffic and starve your campaigns. Here is a 3-step process you can take to make sure you aren’t overusing negative keywords in your Google ads campaigns:

• Step 1: Evaluate conversions, not just clicks. For example, CRM reviews may look irrelevant, but often those clicks convert later because people want reassurance before buying.
• Step 2: Isolate questionable terms. Move them to a low-bid ad group to test. If they burn money, exclude them. If they convert, scale them.
• Step 3: Revisit old negatives quarterly. Business models evolve. A keyword you blocked last year (like free trial) may now fit if you launched a freemium version.

Align negative keywords with the funnel stage

One of the most overlooked strategies is using negatives to sculpt traffic by funnel stage. Each campaign should serve a specific purpose: awareness, consideration, or conversion. Negatives keep those boundaries clean.

Examples of funnel alignment:

• Top-of-funnel campaigns (TOFU): Exclude buy, demo, price. These ads should educate, not sell. Example: A marketing automation SaaS could run ads for “what is marketing automation” while blocking demo queries.
• Mid-funnel campaigns (MOFU): Exclude what is, definition, tutorial. Here, ads should focus on comparisons and solutions.
• Bottom-of-funnel campaigns (BOFU): Exclude comparison, reviews, free trial if you want only purchase-ready buyers.

Why it matters: This avoids “message mismatch.” Someone searching what is CRM doesn’t need to see your “Book a Demo” ad—they need education first. By aligning negatives to the funnel, your CTR, Quality Score, and conversion rates all improve.

Leverage shared lists across multiple campaigns

Shared lists let you manage negatives across multiple campaigns with one update. It’s a massive time-saver and keeps your account consistent.

How to set them up effectively:

1. Create a Universal List: Add jobs, free, careers, cheap. Apply this across your account.
2. Create Industry Lists: SaaS blocks open source; service businesses block DIY; e-commerce blocks wholesale.
3. Create Funnel Lists: TOFU campaigns exclude transactional terms, BOFU campaigns exclude educational ones.
4. Update monthly: A single tweak (like adding training) instantly improves every campaign attached.

Impact on accounts: Imagine running 12 campaigns. Without shared lists, you’d have to manually add each exclusion 12 times. With shared lists, it’s one update across the board. That efficiency compounds over time.

Integrate negative keywords with other campaign data

The smartest advertisers treat negatives as part of their overall data ecosystem, not just Google Ads cleanup.

• Google Analytics: Exclude search terms with high bounce rates and zero conversions. Example: CRM classes might drive traffic but only leads to instant exits.
• Conversion tracking: Identify keywords with lots of clicks but no form fills or sales. Exclude at campaign level.
• Competitor tracking: See if competitor names are triggering your ads. Either exclude them or segment into their own campaign with controlled bids.
• CRM data: Feed back sales outcomes. If leads from basic CRM tools never close, exclude those terms in Ads.

Why it matters: This turns negatives from a “budget shield” into a growth lever. You’re actively shaping who enters your funnel based on real-world data.

Top 3 Negative Keyword Mistakes Small Business Owners Make

Negative keywords can make or break your Google Ads campaigns. Unfortunately, most small business owners fall into the same traps. These mistakes quietly drain budgets and distort campaign data, leaving you wondering why results don’t match the spend. Let’s break down the top three mistakes, and how to fix them.

Mistake 1: Setting negatives once and never reviewing them

Many business owners add a handful of obvious negatives like free or jobs and stop there. The problem? Search trends evolve constantly. Queries that weren’t a problem last month can suddenly start eating your budget.

Example: A local landscaping company excludes free but misses new queries like DIY lawn care hacks. Those clicks keep rolling in, draining the budget without producing leads. How do you fix it? Take these three steps:

• Review your Search Terms Report at least bi-weekly.
• Sort by spend and filter out non-converting queries.
• Add new negatives consistently so your campaigns stay clean.

👉 This simple discipline can save hundreds per month, especially in competitive local markets.

Mistake 2: Overblocking valuable traffic

In an attempt to save money, some business owners get too aggressive with negatives. They exclude anything that doesn’t convert immediately, but in doing so, they block traffic that has real purchase potential.

Example: A SaaS business excludes reviews because they assume researchers don’t convert. In reality, many buyers click review-related queries right before making a purchase. By blocking it, they cut off high-intent leads. Here are the steps we would take to fix this issue:

• Test before excluding. Move questionable queries into a low-bid ad group and monitor performance.
• Check assisted conversions. Some terms don’t convert on first click but contribute later.
• Revisit negatives quarterly. A keyword that didn’t fit last year might align with your offering now.

👉 Remember: The goal is precision, not blanket exclusions.

Mistake 3: Not aligning negatives with campaign goals

Every campaign has a purpose: awareness, consideration, or conversion. When you use the same negatives everywhere, you blur the lines and limit campaign performance.

Example: A law firm runs a top-of-funnel campaign to build awareness but excludes what is and definition queries. That traffic was perfect for awareness ads, but it got blocked because negatives weren’t aligned with campaign intent. This would be our recommended solution to this problem:

• Match negatives to the funnel stage:
  • TOFU campaigns: exclude transactional search intent terms like pricing or buy.
  • BOFU campaigns: exclude informational search intent terms like tutorial or what is.
• Use separate negative keyword lists for TOFU, MOFU, and BOFU campaigns.
• Review CTR and conversion rates by funnel stage to confirm your structure is working.

👉 When negatives are aligned with goals, every campaign pulls in the right direction. Always make sure you know what search intent matches the stage of the funnel you are targeting.

Conclusion: Turning Negative Keywords Into a Growth Engine

Negative keywords are one of the most underused levers in Google Ads. Most advertisers see them only as a way to “cut waste,” but as you’ve seen, they do much more. They shape who sees your ads, protect your budget, and improve the quality of every click you pay for.

When you define them properly, apply them at the right level, systemize with lists, and refine them over time, your ads stop being a blunt instrument. They become a precise growth engine.

The challenge? Doing this consistently while running a business isn’t easy. That’s why many owners hit a ceiling managing campaigns themselves.