Reviewing your Google Ads dashboard and seeing budget spent on irrelevant clicks can be frustrating, but negative keywords give you much better control over this traffic. Every search query is data that helps you build a smarter, more profitable campaign.
While finding the best keywords to bid on is crucial for driving traffic, knowing what not to rank for is just as important. By intentionally filtering your traffic, you help ensure more of your budget is spent on high-intent, conversion-ready users.
Key Takeaways
- Negative keywords prevent your ads from showing for specific, irrelevant search queries.
- Unlike positive keywords, negative keywords do not match to close variants or synonyms; you must add plurals and misspellings manually.
- There are three negative match types: Broad, Phrase, and Exact.
- Regularly auditing your Search Terms Report is the most effective way to discover new negative keyword opportunities.
What Are Negative Match Keywords?
Negative match keywords allow you to exclude your ads from showing on specific search queries. They act as a filter for traffic that doesn’t align with your campaign goals.
The primary benefits of utilizing negative keywords include:
- Improving Click-Through Rate (CTR): Because your ads only show to a highly relevant audience, a larger percentage of the people who see your ad will click on it.
- Increasing Conversion Rates: You filter out low-intent informational searches and target buyers, meaning the traffic you receive is more likely to convert.
- Reducing Wasted Ad Spend: Your budget goes toward valuable prospects rather than users searching for unrelated topics.
Understanding the 3 Negative Keyword Match Types
When utilizing negative keyword match types, there is a crucial distinction to keep in mind: they behave differently than your positive match types. Negative match types do not automatically exclude close variants, synonyms, or grammatical shifts. You must be deliberate with your exclusions.
Negative Broad Match
This is the default setting. It excludes your ads if the user’s search contains all the negative keyword terms, regardless of what order they are typed in.
- Best for: Broadly filtering out irrelevant topics without needing to guess the exact phrasing the user might type.
Negative Phrase Match
This excludes your ads if the search contains the exact keyword terms in the exact order. The user can have words before or after the phrase, but the phrase itself must remain intact to trigger the block.
- Best for: Blocking specific phrases or concepts while allowing your ad to show for other relevant variations of those individual words.
Negative Exact Match
This excludes ads only if the search query is the exact keyword term, in the exact order, with absolutely no extra words before or after.
- Best for: Highly targeted exclusions. It is ideal when a specific, standalone query doesn’t convert, but long-tail versions of that same query remain profitable.
Pro-Tip: The 16-Word Limit Rule
Google’s negative keywords only evaluate the first -16 words of a user’s search query. If your negative keyword happens to be the -17th word (or later) in a very long search, your ad will still show. Keep this technical limitation in mind for highly complex, long-tail searches!
Negative Keywords Example Scenarios
To see this in action, imagine you run an online store selling “new running shoes.” You want to ensure you aren’t paying for clicks from users looking for used shoes or children’s shoes.
| Match Type | Negative Keyword | Query: “used running shoes” | Query: “running shoes” | Query: “new running shoes for kids” |
| Broad | -used | Ad Blocked | Ad Shows | Ad Shows |
| Phrase | -“kids shoes” | Ad Shows | Ad Shows | Ad Shows |
| Exact | -[running shoes] | Ad Shows | Ad Blocked | Ad Shows |
Explanation of the Table:
- Broad (-used): Because “used” is in the first query, the ad is blocked.
- Phrase (-“kids shoes”): The ad shows for all three queries. In the query “new running shoes for kids”, the exact phrase “kids shoes” does not appear side-by-side. To successfully block this specific query, you would need to use -“kids” as your negative keyword.
- Exact (-[running shoes]): The ad is blocked only when the user types “running shoes” and nothing else. If they add any other words, the ad will show.
How to Use Negative Keyword Match Types Effectively
Step 1: Mine Your Search Terms Report
Your Search Terms Report shows exactly what actual queries are triggering your ads. Make it a habit to review this report weekly or bi-weekly, sort by impressions or cost to quickly identify the biggest budget-wasters, and flag those irrelevant terms to add to your negative keyword list.
Step 2: Understand the Hierarchy
Apply negative keywords at different levels of your account to maintain structure:
- Account Level: Use for brand safety terms or universal exclusions (like “free” or “cheap” for luxury brands).
- Campaign Level: Use for separating different product categories.
- Ad Group Level: Use for sculpting traffic between similar ad groups to ensure the most relevant ad triggers.
Step 3: Account for Misspellings and Plurals
Because negative keywords do not cover close variants, you must be thorough. Manually add singular and plural forms, as well as common typos, to your negative lists.
Step 4: Avoid Over-Restricting
Be careful not to use too many negative broad match keywords. Over-restricting can accidentally block valuable, high-intent traffic. Always review your lists to ensure you are only blocking definitively irrelevant searches.
Conclusion
Mastering negative match types is a continuous process that directly impacts your Return on Investment (ROI). By taking control of where your ads do not show, you free up your budget to capture the exact audience looking for your specific products and services.
Log in and audit your Search Terms Report today to start weeding out irrelevant clicks and improving your campaign’s efficiency.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Do negative match types work the exact same way as positive match types?
No, they operate differently. While positive match types match to synonyms and close variants, negative keywords require exactness. You must add plurals, singulars, and misspellings manually to ensure a term is fully blocked. - How many negative keywords should I have in my account?
There is no magic number; it relies on quality over quantity. Some accounts operate efficiently with a few dozen account-level negatives, while large e-commerce accounts require thousands. Add them strategically based on data from your Search Terms Report. - Can adding negative keywords improve my Quality Score?
Yes. By utilizing negative keywords, you prevent your ad from showing to users who are unlikely to click it, naturally increasing your Click-Through Rate (CTR). Since Google relies heavily on expected CTR to calculate Quality Score, keeping your traffic highly relevant will boost your score and lower your costs. - Can I use negative keywords with Performance Max (PMax) campaigns?
Yes, absolutely! While early versions of PMax lacked this control, Google has since updated the platform. You can now apply negative keywords to PMax in three main ways:
- Account-Level Lists: Perfect for blocking universally irrelevant terms across all campaigns.
- Campaign-Level Negatives: You can now add up to 10,000 negative keywords directly to individual PMax campaigns within the Google Ads interface or apply Shared Negative Keyword Lists.
- Brand Exclusions: A specific setting to prevent your PMax campaign from cannibalizing your branded search traffic.
- Why are my ads still showing for negative keywords?
If you see negated terms triggering your ads in the Search Terms Report, it is usually due to one of three reasons:
- The -16-Word Limit: Google only evaluates the first -16 words of a search query. If your negative keyword is the -17th word, the ad will still trigger.
- Match Type Formatting: Using the wrong match type limits your block. For example, an exact match negative like -[cheap running shoes] will not block the search for “cheap red running shoes”.
- Plurals and Close Variants: Unlike positive keywords, negative keywords do not cover misspellings, synonyms, or plurals. If your negative keyword is -shoe, your ad can still show for the plural search “shoes”.