Negative Keywords: Stopping Wasted Google Ads Clicks
Short answer: Negative keywords tell Google Ads which searches you don't want to pay for. Find them in the search terms report every week, add the obvious ones (jobs, free, DIY, suburbs you don't service) as negatives at the right level, and remember that negatives don't automatically cover plurals or synonyms, so you add those yourself. Twenty minutes a week usually stops the worst leaks.
How negatives behave (it isn't how normal keywords work)
Google's negative keyword help page makes one point that catches most small advertisers out: negative keywords "won't match to close variants or other expansions." Its example: excluding "flowers" stops your ad on "red flowers" but not on "red flower". So if you want to block both, add both. Same for synonyms. The page does say negatives automatically account for casing and misspellings, so you don't need to add those separately.
There are three negative match types for Search campaigns:
| Negative type | How you write it | Blocks the ad when the search… | Example negative: running shoes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Broad (default) | running shoes |
contains all the words, in any order | Blocks "shoes running", "blue running shoes"; not "running shoe" |
| Phrase | "running shoes" |
contains the words in that order, extra words allowed | Blocks "blue running shoes"; not "shoes running" |
| Exact | [running shoes] |
is exactly those words, nothing extra | Blocks "running shoes" only |
For most small accounts, single-word broad negatives ("jobs", "free", "salary") do the heavy lifting. Use phrase and exact negatives when a word is fine in some searches and wrong in others.
Where to add them
- Ad group or campaign: for terms that are wrong for one service but right for another. A plumber running separate campaigns for blocked drains and hot water systems might use "hot water" as a negative in the drains campaign only.
- Negative keyword lists: shared lists you build once and attach to several campaigns. Useful for "wrong suburbs" or "competitor names".
- Account-level negatives: Google's help says an account-level list applies automatically to all eligible Search and Shopping inventory across relevant campaign types. Put the terms that are wrong for your whole business here: jobs, training courses, free.
Running Performance Max? As of November 2026, Google's help page for Performance Max describes adding negative keywords to a specific Performance Max campaign as well as at account level, applying to Search and Shopping inventory only.
The weekly routine
Set a calendar reminder for the same time every week. Monday morning works because the weekend's searches are in.
- Open the search terms report. Google's help path: Campaigns in the left panel, then Insights and reports, then Search terms. Set the date range to the last 7 days.
- Sort by cost, highest first. Your money is in the top 20 rows.
- Read each search term and ask one question: would I be happy to get a phone call from this person? "emergency plumber parramatta" yes. "plumber apprenticeship sydney" no.
- Add the bad ones as negatives. Tick the term and add it as a negative keyword. Decide the level: if it's wrong everywhere (apprenticeship), add it to the account-level list; if it's wrong for this campaign only, add it there.
- Prefer the single problem word. Rather than excluding "plumber apprenticeship sydney", exclude "apprenticeship". One word now blocks a whole family of searches.
- Add the plural and the synonym. If you add "apprenticeship", also add "apprenticeships" and "apprentice".
- Scan for good surprises. Searches that convert but aren't in your keyword list are worth adding as keywords.
- Note anything odd in a one-line log: date, term, action. It helps when results shift.
A note on what you won't see: Google explains that search terms without enough query activity are left out of the report for privacy reasons. So the report never shows every search; it shows the ones with enough volume. That's another reason to block the problem word rather than individual phrases.
Once a month, also check that a new negative isn't blocking good traffic. A negative like "cheap" might be wrong for a premium builder but right for a budget removalist.
Starter negative lists by business type
These are starting points to adapt, not lists to paste in blindly. Every word below might be fine for some businesses.
Every business (account level)
jobs, job, careers, career, salary, wage, hiring, employment, apprenticeship, apprenticeships, course, courses, training, tafe, certificate, free, template, pdf, wikipedia, meaning, definition
Trades (plumbers, electricians, builders)
diy, how to, youtube, bunnings, parts, wholesale, supplier, licence (only if you aren't selling training), salvage, second hand, gumtree
Clinics and allied health
free clinic, bulk billing (only if you don't bulk bill), course, degree, university, symptoms (consider phrase match), images
Cafés, restaurants and catering
recipe, recipes, ingredients, calories, menu template, jobs near me, franchise, for sale
Local services that cover set areas
Every suburb, town or region you don't service. If you're on the Gold Coast and get clicks from "Brisbane northside" searches, add those place names to a shared "Areas we don't service" list and attach it to every campaign. Remember to add common short forms locals use.
Service businesses that don't sell products
buy, shop, for sale, price list pdf, amazon, ebay, wholesale
Common mistakes
- Adding long, exact search terms one by one. You'll be doing it forever. Find the root word.
- Excluding your own core words. Adding "repair" as a negative because of one bad repair search can switch off half your account. Check before saving.
- Setting it and never checking. New wasted searches appear every season; your routine is what catches them.
- Forgetting shared lists aren't attached. A list does nothing until it's applied to campaigns.
FAQ
How many negative keywords should I have?
There's no target number. Lists grow with every weekly review, and that's fine. The measure that matters is simpler: are the most expensive search terms each week ones you'd be glad to pay for?
Will negatives reduce my clicks?
They should reduce wasted clicks. Total clicks may fall slightly while enquiries stay the same or rise, which is the point.
Do negatives work on Display and YouTube ads?
Differently. Google says negatives on Display and Video campaigns are treated more like excluded topics, and some excluded terms can still appear on pages where your ads show.
If your search terms report is a long scroll of jobs and DIY searches and you'd like a clean set of lists built for your account, tell us what you advertise and where.