As a copywriter for almost 20 years, keywords have played a major part in lots of the online advertising and writing I’ve done. Every click costs money in today’s online world, so it’s more important than ever to show your ads to the right people. To that end, we spend a lot of time picking the best words for our ads, writing catchy messages, and setting bids with the ultimate goal of finding that perfect customer. But, knowing which words to avoid can be just as important as knowing which words to use.
That’s exactly what negative keywords do. They’re like your ad campaign’s helpful gatekeepers: They let in the people who are truly interested in what you offer, and politely turn away anyone who isn’t. Without them, your ads could pop up for searches that have nothing to do with your business, causing you to waste money on clicks from people who won’t buy, and meaning your ads just won’t work as well.
From my years in advertising, I can tell you that ignoring negative keywords is like leaving money on the table. These keywords are a key part of any good pay-per-click (PPC) plan, whether you’re using Google Ads, Realize, or any other platform that can help you use and monitor your keywords. Getting this right isn’t only about saving cash, either — it’s about making your message clearer, giving people a better experience, and building ads that work smarter and harder for you.
Understanding Negative Keywords
A negative keyword in online advertising is a word or phrase that stops your ad from showing up when someone searches for that term. While your regular keywords tell the ad platform when to show your ad, negative keywords tell it when not to. It’s a big difference, and it’s what makes your ads hit the right target. If you don’t use them, your carefully made ads might be seen by a huge group of people who aren’t really interested, which wastes your money, your time and efforts, and makes your ads less effective.
Search engines and ad platforms are smart, but they don’t always know exactly what someone means. The same word can have many different meanings. “Apple,” for example, could be a fruit, a tech company, or the Beatles’ iconic record label, and if you’re trying to sell fresh fruit while your ad shows up for someone trying to buy an iPad, that’s a lost opportunity. A negative keyword like “iPhone” or “MacBook” would stop that impression (when your ad is seen) and, more importantly, hit the brakes on that useless click. This is why negative keywords are so essential, since they tackle two big challenges in online advertising: wasted spending and ad relevance.
How Do Negative Keywords Prevent Your Ads From Showing for Irrelevant Searches?
Negative keywords work by filtering things out. When a user types something into a search engine or looks at content on a website, the ad platform first checks what they typed or what the page is about against your regular keywords. Then, before your ad even thinks about showing up, it checks that same search or content against your negative keyword list. If there’s a match with a negative keyword, your ad just won’t show. It’s a simple but super powerful way to avoid showing your ad to someone who has no intention of buying. I’ve seen campaigns completely turn around just by taking the time to build a strong list of negative keywords — it’s an easy fix with big potential.
What Are the Different Match Types for Negative Keywords?
Just like regular keywords, negative keywords have different match types, which give you different levels of control over when your ads are stopped, and getting to know them is important for precise targeting. As an example, if you sell fancy clothes and don’t want your ads to show for searches like “cheap clothes,” just adding “cheap” as a broad negative might block too much, and you’ll most likely want a more specific match type. I’ll get into it a bit more later on, but for now, understand that they give you the fine-tuned control you need to reach the audience you’re aiming for.
Benefits of Using Negative Keywords
There’s more to negative keywords than just keeping costs down: They’re essential for all-around efficiency, and for making your advertising truly relevant. When your ads are more relevant, more people who see them and want what they’re showing will click through. A higher CTR tells ad platforms that your ads are valuable and useful, which in turn can improve your Quality Score, too.
How Do Negative Keywords Help Improve Campaign Relevance?
Negative keywords are a powerful option in your online advertising toolbox for getting your ads in front of the right eyes. Let’s say you’re running ads for your high-quality, custom-made furniture. Without negative keywords, your ads might appear in searches like “cheap furniture assembly,” which, while including “furniture,” is clearly not a search aligned with the pieces you’re making and selling. By adding “assembly” as a negative keyword, you make sure your ads only show to people truly looking for your level of quality furniture. This directly makes your campaign more relevant because you’re reaching people whose needs perfectly match what you offer.
Don’t think of your negative keyword list as a one-and-done, though: You should be refining it every so often based on the data and trends you’re seeing. Every time you clean up your negative keyword list, you’re sharpening your campaign’s focus.
How Can Negative Keywords Reduce Wasted Ad Spend on Irrelevant Clicks?
This is often the first and most obvious benefit. Every time someone clicks your ad who isn’t a potential customer, you’re paying for nothing, and it’s basically throwing money away. Negative keywords act like a shield for your budget, stopping those costly, irrelevant clicks. By filtering out people who aren’t qualified, you ensure your ad money goes only to users who are truly interested, making your spending that much more efficient.
Identifying and Implementing Negative Keywords
How Do You Identify Potential Negative Keywords for Your Campaigns?
One of your best tools is going to be the search term report in whatever advertising platform you’re using. Looking at this report shows you the exact words people typed that made your ads appear, and it’s a goldmine of insight. It runs deeper than that, too, with key clues on what your next move to improve your campaign should be. It’s not about what you think people are searching for, but what they actually searched for, so check it every week, especially when campaigns are new. Here are a few things to look for:
- Completely unrelated terms: These are low hanging fruit, and easy wins to block.
- Terms with low sales: If a term gets clicks but no sales, it might mean the person wasn’t really looking for what you offer.
- Terms that show low buying intent: Such as “How to build a website for free” for a web design company.
Besides the search term report, regular keyword research tools (like Google Keyword Planner, Semrush, Ahrefs, Realize, etc.) can also help. When you’re looking for good keywords, pay attention to related terms that pop up, especially those that might suggest a different goal.
Another approach is to do what we creatives do: brainstorm. Get into character as your perfect customer, and then think like someone who isn’t your customer but might use similar words. Think about common first-searched terms like “free,” “cheap,” “jobs,” “reviews,” “DIY,” or even specific brand names you don’t sell.
What Are Some Common Categories of Negative Keywords?
Whatever product or service you’re offering is going to have its own set of niche words you’ll want to include and exclude, but here’s a quick list of common negative keyword types that businesses in general can use:
- Free/low-cost words: “free,” “cheap,” “discount,” “coupon,” “bargain.” Unless you actually offer free services, these often bring in people who aren’t serious buyers.
- Job seekers: “jobs,” “careers,” “employment,” “hiring.” If you’re selling a product and not offering employment, you don’t want people who are looking for work clicking your ads.
- Research/information: “what is,” “how to,” “examples,” “pictures,” “reviews.” While some research can lead to a sale, often these users are just gathering info and aren’t ready to buy.
- Competitors: If you don’t want your ads to show up when people search for your competitors’ names, make sure to include them on your negative list.
- Wrong product types: For example, if you sell men’s shoes, you’d want to block “women’s shoes.”
- Adult content: If your product or service has nothing to do with adult content, it’s smart to block terms that might be related to it. Just in case.
How do you add negative keywords to your advertising platform (e.g., Google Ads)?
Most advertising platforms make this pretty easy. In Google Ads, you’ll usually find a “Negative keywords” section within your campaigns or ad groups. Simply type in the words or phrases you want to block and track the results.
As far as using negative keywords at the campaign or ad group level, it really depends on how you’ve set up your campaign.
- Campaign level: Use negative keywords here if they’re completely useless across all the ad groups in that campaign. Going back to the example above, if you only sell new cars, “used” would be a negative keyword for the whole campaign.
- Ad group level: Use this when a negative keyword should only stop ads in one specific ad group, but might be fine for another. My general advice: Start at the campaign level for big blocks, then get more specific at the ad group level.
Negative Keyword Match Types in Detail
How Do Broad Match Negative Keywords Work?
A broad match stops your ad from showing if the search query contains all the words in your negative keyword, no matter the order, and often includes the similar words around it too (like plurals, synonyms, and even misspellings). For example, if you add “free download” as a broad match negative, your ad won’t show for: “free music download,” “download free software,” “downloading free games.” But, your ad might still show up for: “free music,” and “software download” (because “download” and “free” aren’t together, or the meaning is interpreted differently.) Use broad match for the really obvious, universally unhelpful terms you want to block aggressively across all variations.
What Are the Nuances of Phrase Match Negative Keywords?
A phrase match negative keyword stops your ad from showing if the search query includes the exact phrase of your negative keyword, in the exact order — it can still have other words before or after the phrase, too. So, if you add “running shoes” as a phrase match negative, your ad won’t show for: “best running shoes for sale,” “discount running shoes.” But, it will show for “shoes for running” since the words are in a different order, and “running fast shoes” because a word is stuck in the middle. These are really useful tools that give you good control without being too strict. I suggest using them for the specific irrelevant phrases you find in your search term reports.
When Should You Use Exact Match Negative Keywords?
An exact match negative keyword only stops your ad from showing if the search query is exactly the same as your negative keyword, with no other words before, after, or in between. So, as an example, if you add “[cheap watches]” as an exact match negative, your ad won’t show for “cheap watches,” but will for “buy cheap watches,” and “cheap watch.” These are good for when you need super precise blocking. They’re also great for stopping the very specific, unhelpful searches you’ve found, making sure you don’t accidentally block good searches that have slight changes within them.
How Do Different Match Types Impact Ad Triggering?
Different match types directly affect when your ads show (or don’t show). Broad match negatives cast the widest net, but the problem is that they may block more than you mean to if you’re not careful. Phrase match gets more precise, since that blocks only specific word combinations, but exact match is the most precise since they block only the exact search. Choosing the right match type for each negative keyword is crucial to making your ads work better. Remember that it’s always about finding the right balance between saving money and making sure you don’t miss out on potential customers.
Best Practices For Negative Keywords
How Often Should You Review and Update Your Negative Keyword Lists?
Often! Don’t get too obsessive about it, but I highly suggest checking your search term reports at least once a week if you’re just starting out or it’s during a busy time. For campaigns that have been running for a while, once a month or every two weeks might be enough. The online world changes and evolves all the time, and so do the ways people search: What was relevant last month might not be now, so make sure to keep up with your keywords frequently.
What Are Some Advanced Strategies For Negative Keyword Implementation?
Once you’ve got the hang of managing the basics, take a deeper dive with these methods:
- Negative keyword lists: Create shared lists of common negative words (like “free” or “jobs”) and use them across multiple campaigns. Doing this saves you time and keeps things consistent.
- Competitive negatives: If you don’t want to show up in searches for your competitors’ names, make sure those are strong exact and phrase match negatives. This prevents accidental views or clicks if people search for “(your brand) vs. (competitor’s name).”
- The “zero conversions” rule: If a search term has gotten lots of clicks but zero sales over a long time, it’s a strong candidate to become a negative, even if it seems a little related. What people intend to do matters more than just the words they use.
How to Avoid Accidentally Blocking Relevant Searches With Negative Keywords
This is where it gets tricky, since you don’t want to go too far and block good customers by mistake. Start with a phrase or exact match for anything you’re not sure about — you can always make it broader later. Also, be sure to watch your ad performance closely: If your website traffic suddenly drops, or you’re getting fewer sales, check your recently added negatives and make adjustments. Look into using the “Conflicts” tool — some platforms will warn you if a negative keyword might be blocking one of your good keywords.
How to handle plurals, misspellings, and variations of negative keywords
Unlike regular keywords, negative keywords don’t always automatically cover similar words like plurals or misspellings for broad or phrase match. If you add “shoe” as a broad match negative, there’s a chance it might block “shoes,” but it’s not guaranteed for every situation or platform. So, for really important negative terms, it’s often smart to include common plurals and misspellings (e.g., “cheep”). For exact match negatives, you’ll need to be really precise; for example, “[shoes]” won’t block “[shoe].”
Key Takeaways
Negative keywords are much more than just a list of words to avoid — they’re a smart way to make your advertising more efficient and effective, and one that you can learn to perfect based on what matters to you and your campaign. By carefully finding, using, and updating them, you can help ensure that your ad money is going to the most valuable audience. This is what’s going to improve your CTR, Quality Score, and most importantly, what you get back from your ad spending. It’s an ongoing process, but one that definitely pays off in the long run.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is the difference between a regular keyword and a negative keyword?
The big difference between a regular keyword and a negative keyword is the job they do in your ad campaign. A regular keyword is a word or phrase that you want your ad to show up for when someone searches for it or looks at related content. Negative keywords are the flipside of this, a keyword or phrase that tells the ad platform to not show your ad. The goals of a negative keyword are to block unhelpful traffic, save money that would be wasted on clicks from people who won’t buy, and make sure your ads are only seen by those most likely to become customers.
Can negative keywords hurt my campaign performance?
Yes, they can! While negative keywords are incredibly useful for making your ads better and more precise, using them incorrectly (or too much) can definitely hurt your campaign. The biggest risk is being too aggressive and adding negative keywords that accidentally block searches from genuinely interested people out there.
Another way they can cause harm is by narrowing your audience too much. It’s good to be targeting the right users, but if you have too many specific negative keywords, you might unnecessarily reduce how often your ads can be seen and clicked.
How many negative keywords should I use?
There’s really no magic number for how many negative keywords you should use, and it ultimately depends on your business, how specific your product or service is, and how broad your initial keywords are. A very niche product might need fewer negative keywords than a general service that could be searched for in many irrelevant ways. Some campaigns might work perfectly fine with just a few dozen negative keywords, while others could benefit from hundreds, or even thousands.
What’s even more important than the number is the quality and relevance of your negative keywords. Focus on finding and using the right ones — those that consistently appear in your search term reports as irrelevant, or those you can expect will attract people who aren’t qualified buyers.
What are some examples of effective negative keywords for different industries?
Finding effective negative keywords can depend a lot on your specific business, but here’s a list of some common examples across different industries:
Online shops (selling products):
- “Free,” “cheap,” “discount,” “used,” “second hand,” “DIY”: Unless you offer these, users searching terms like this usually means they’re looking for something free, very cheap, used, or want to build it themselves, not buy a new product.
- “Review,” “forum,” “blog,” “wiki”: These often mean someone is just looking for information, not ready to buy.
- Specific competitor brands: If you don’t sell those brands, blocking them stops mistaken clicks.
- “Jobs,” “career,” “hiring”: For ads selling products, these are irrelevant because they mean someone is looking for work.
Service businesses (e.g., plumbers, web designers):
- “Jobs,” “careers,” “training,” “certificate”: These block people looking for work or courses in your field.
- “DIY,” “how to fix,” “tutorial,” “guide”: Blocks people trying to do the service themselves instead of hiring a professional.
- “Free,” “pro bono”: If your services cost money, these block people looking for free help.
- “Reviews,” “opinions,” “forum”: Again, this often means someone is gathering info, not looking to hire.
Software/SaaS companies:
- “Free trial” (use with caution): Only use this if you specifically want to avoid people mainly looking for free access, or if your free trial isn’t meant to bring in sales.
- “Crack,” “torrent,” “keygen,” “pirated”: Essential for blocking searches related to illegal software downloads.
- “Jobs,” “developer,” “API”: Unless your campaign is specifically for developers or hiring, these terms are usually not going to be relevant.
- “Login,” “support,” “help”: These indicate existing customers looking for assistance, not new leads.
Real estate:
- “Rental,” “lease,” “apartment,” “for rent”: If you only sell properties, these terms are irrelevant.
- “Foreclosure,” “auction,” “bank owned”: If you don’t deal with these types of properties, block them.
- “Jobs,” “agent training”: Blocks people looking for careers or training in real estate.
- “Free appraisal,” “estimate value”: Unless these are what you use to get leads, they can attract people not ready to buy or sell.
This is all just a jumping-off point — the best negative keywords will always come from carefully checking your own campaign’s search term reports and really understanding your target audience and how they search.
