Negative keywords for small business: where to start

A negative keyword tells Google Ads not to show your ad when a search contains a word you choose, like “jobs” for a plumber who doesn’t want job seekers. Google lets you put up to 1,000 of them in one account-level list that covers Search and Shopping traffic across your account, including Performance Max.

Every click costs money, even when the searcher was never going to buy. Negative keywords are one of the few tools that let you say “no” to Google directly. That makes them worth a regular look.

Why the wrong searches cost more than the click

Say you run a plumbing company. Your ad shows for “plumber jobs near me.” That person wants work, not a plumber. If they click, you pay.

There is a quieter cost too. Automated bidding learns from who clicks and who converts. A conversion is a sale, call or form you count as a result. When lots of the wrong people click, Google has worse data to learn from.

If your campaign uses broad match or AI Max, it matches more loosely, so negatives matter even more. See broad match and the AI Max auto-upgrade.

How the match types work for negatives

Negative keywords have the same three match types as normal keywords, but they behave more strictly. Google’s example uses the negative “running shoes”:

• Broad match negative: blocks a search that contains all the words, in any order. “Shoes running” is blocked. “Running shoe” is not.
• Phrase match negative: blocks a search with the words together, in the same order. Extra words are fine. “Blue running shoes” is blocked. “Shoes running” is not.
• Exact match negative: blocks only that exact search. “Running shoes” is blocked. “Blue running shoes” is not.

The big difference: negatives don’t match close variants. Google handles misspellings and capital letters, but not synonyms or singular and plural forms. So if you block “job,” also block “jobs.”

For most small businesses, a single word as a broad match negative is the simplest and safest place to start.

Words small businesses often block

Only block these if they truly don’t fit what you sell.

• Jobs and careers: jobs, careers, hiring, salary, internship, resume.
• Free stuff: free, freebie. Skip this if people search for your free quote or trial.
• Do it yourself: DIY, how to, tutorial, video. These people often want to learn, not hire.
• Other places: names of cities or regions you don’t serve.
• Price or condition: used, cheap, rental, wholesale, if you don’t sell those.
• Other intent: login, reviews, complaints, or brands you don’t carry.

Be careful with short, common words. Blocking “cheap” also blocks “cheap emergency plumber,” which you might want.

Where to add them

• Ad group or campaign: affects only that ad group or campaign. Good for words that are fine in one campaign but not another.
• Negative keyword list: a saved list you can attach to several campaigns. Google allows up to 20 lists per account and 5,000 keywords per list. A list does nothing until you apply it.
• Account level: one list of up to 1,000 negatives that applies to all eligible Search and Shopping traffic. Best for words you never want, like “jobs.”

How to check what you’re paying for

1. Go to Campaigns, then Insights and reports, then Search terms.
2. Set the date range to the last 30 days.
3. Sort by Cost, highest first.
4. Look for searches that cost money, brought no conversions and don’t match what you sell.

(If you can’t find it, search for “search terms” in the Google Ads search bar.)

Google leaves some low-volume searches out of this report for privacy reasons, so you won’t see every search. Start with the ones you can see. For more on reading the report, see the search terms report.

How to add negative keywords

From the search terms report:

1. In Search terms, tick the box next to each search you want to block.
2. Click Add as negative keyword.
3. Choose where it goes: the ad group, the campaign, or a negative keyword list.
4. Click Save.

Google adds negatives from this report as exact match, so each one blocks only that exact search. To block a word in every search, like “jobs,” add the single word as a broad match negative by hand, as below.

At the account level:

1. Click Admin, then Account settings.
2. Open the Negative keywords section.
3. Enter one keyword per line and pick the match type.
4. Click Save.

(If you can’t find it, search for “negative keywords” in the Google Ads search bar.)

For a single campaign, open the campaign’s negative keywords section instead and add them the same way. Before you save, check that no negative overlaps with a keyword you bid on. If it does, it can stop that keyword from showing your ad.

When to leave it alone

You don’t need to block every odd search. Many get one click and never come back. Focus on terms that keep costing money and never convert.

Don’t overdo it either. Too many negatives can block good customers and shrink your traffic. If clicks or conversions drop after you add a batch, check whether one of them is too broad. Look again every two to four weeks, not every day.

Check it automatically

The free SpendCanary scan reads your search terms and compares them with the business you describe. SpendCanary flags search terms with at least $10 of cost and no conversions that clearly don’t match the business you describe.