What are negative keywords?
They're words or phrases you tell Google to avoid. If a search contains one, your ad won't show for it.
A plumber bidding on "boiler repair" might add "jobs", "course" and "manual" as negatives. That way the ad doesn't show to someone looking for plumbing jobs, training, or how to fix the boiler themselves.
How do negative keyword match types work?
Negative keywords have three match types, and they behave differently from normal keywords. Pick the one that blocks what you want and nothing more.
- Negative broad match: blocks searches that contain all the words, in any order. "free quote" blocks "quote free roofing" but not "roofing quote".
- Negative phrase match: blocks searches that contain the exact phrase, in that order, with other words around it.
- Negative exact match: blocks only that exact search, with no extra words.
Do negative keywords cover plurals and misspellings?
No. Normal keywords match close variants such as plurals and misspellings, but Google says negative keywords don't. Add "job" and "jobs", "course" and "courses", and any common misspelling you see in your search terms.
Where can you add negative keywords?
Add each negative at the level that matches how widely it should apply.
- Ad group: to stop one ad group showing for a search another ad group handles better.
- Campaign: to block a search for everything in that campaign.
- Shared lists: build a list once, such as "jobs and training", and apply it to several campaigns.
- Account level: for searches you never want, in any campaign. These also apply to Performance Max and Shopping.
How do you find negative keywords?
Mostly from your own data. The search terms report shows the real searches that triggered your ads, and it's the most useful page in the account.
Before launch, you can predict some: search your main keywords in Google and Keyword Planner, and note the results that aren't about what you sell. After launch, the search terms report does the work.
How do you use this negative keywords guide, step by step?
This is the routine we follow on every account. The first round takes an hour. After that, it's a short check every couple of weeks.
- Before launch, write a starter list of searches you'd never want: jobs, careers, training, free, DIY, manuals and places you don't serve.
- Put those in shared lists by theme and apply them to the right campaigns.
- After a week, open the search terms report for every campaign.
- Mark each search: wanted, not wanted, or belongs in another ad group.
- Add the unwanted ones as negatives, at the narrowest level that does the job.
- Pick the match type: phrase for a word that's always wrong, exact for one bad search you can't block more widely.
- Add plurals and misspellings of each new negative.
- Check your new negatives don't block any of your own keywords.
- Repeat every couple of weeks, and note what each round saved.
Which negative keywords do most businesses need?
Every account is different, but these themes come up in most of them. Check each against what you sell before you add it.
- Jobs and careers: jobs, vacancies, salary, apprenticeship.
- Training: course, training, qualification, how to.
- Free and DIY: free, DIY, template, manual, if you don't offer them.
- Wrong product: the things people confuse with what you sell.
- Wrong place: towns and areas you don't serve.
- Existing customers: login, account and customer service searches, which belong on your own site.
Can you have too many negative keywords?
Yes. An overgrown list can block searches you'd happily pay for, and you'll never see them, because blocked searches don't appear in the report.
Review your lists every few months. If a campaign's traffic suddenly drops, check recent negatives first.