Negative keywords: the most ignored Google Ads setting
Negative keywords stop ads showing for searches containing specific terms even when the target keyword technically matches. Reviewing the search term report weekly for the first month of a new campaign usually reveals ten to twenty worth adding immediately.
M. Rodrigues
Head of Search
Negative keywords stop ads showing for searches containing specific terms even when the target keyword technically matches. Reviewing the search term report weekly for the first month of a new campaign usually reveals ten to twenty worth adding immediately.
What negative keywords actually do
They stop your ads from showing for searches that include specific terms, even if your target keyword technically matches. Without them, broad match keywords can trigger your ad for searches with completely different intent.
Common wasted-spend triggers
Searches containing "free", "jobs", "salary", "course", or "how to do it myself" frequently trigger ads for commercial keywords, generating clicks from people who were never going to become customers.
Build the list from search term reports
Your Google Ads search term report shows exactly what people typed before your ad showed. Reviewing this weekly for the first month of any new campaign usually reveals ten to twenty negative keywords worth adding immediately.
Revisit it regularly
Negative keyword lists aren't a one-time setup. New irrelevant search terms appear as your campaigns scale, so this is an ongoing maintenance task, not a launch checklist item.
Frequently asked
How do we apply this in our own business?
Start by documenting your current baseline before changing anything. Most of the value in this approach comes from being able to prove what changed and why.
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