Negative keywords

What are negative keywords?

Negative keywords are words or phrases you do not want your ads to show for. Searches that match them are excluded. Unlike regular keywords, negative keywords do not match synonyms or close variants. You set them at campaign, ad group or list level.

Why are negative keywords important?

• Less waste: you do not pay for clicks from people looking for something else.
• Better quality: your ads reach more relevant searches.
• Control with broad keywords: they keep your reach within bounds.

Examples of negative keywords

• A sporting goods store excludes “free”, “second hand” and “job”.
• A local plumber excludes “training” and “course”, because he does not sell training.
• A B2B software company puts “internship” and “free” on a shared list for all its campaigns.

How do you use negative keywords?

Check the search terms report regularly and add searches that do not fit as negative keywords. Because negative keywords do not match variants, add plurals and common forms yourself. Shared lists save work across multiple Google Ads campaigns.