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Google Ads negative keywords: the list that protects your budget
Negative keywords stop your ads from showing on the wrong searches. How to find them, the match types, and a starter list for trades and home services.
Published on · Joh · 6 min read
A negative keyword tells Google which searches you do not want to appear on. If you are a plumber and exclude "jobs", your ad will not show when someone types "plumber jobs Leeds". You do not pay for the click of a candidate looking for a position.
Why it is essential
Google matches your keywords to searches it considers close, especially on broad match. That is useful for finding phrasings you had not thought of. It is costly when it matches "bespoke kitchen" with "bespoke kitchen IKEA free plan".
Every off-topic click costs the same as a buyer's click. On a small budget, a few dozen wasted clicks a month are enough to turn a profitable campaign into a loss.
The three match types
Negative keywords have their own match types, which do not behave like those of positive keywords.
| Type | Written as | What is excluded |
|---|---|---|
| Broad match | jobs | Any search containing the word, in any order |
| Phrase match | "free plan" | Searches containing the phrase, words in that order |
| Exact match | [plumber] | Only the identical search, nothing else |
Careful: a negative does not cover variants. Excluding "course" does not exclude "courses". You need to add both.
Where to find them
In the search terms report. It lists the real searches that triggered your ads. I read it every week: every search that could never have become a customer becomes a negative.
Upfront, with common sense. Even before launch, some families of searches are predictable in home services.
A starter list
Adapt it to your trade, but these families come back almost every time:
- Jobs: jobs, recruitment, salary, vacancy, apprenticeship, internship
- Training: course, courses, become, qualification, college, training
- Free and DIY: free, tutorial, how to, yourself, DIY
- Out of area: the towns you do not cover, if typed with your trade
- What you don't do: second-hand, hire, spare parts, depending on your business
One caution: do not make a negative of a word your customers also use. "Price" rules out browsers, but also people comparing before they sign. I almost always keep it.
Account level or campaign level
A shared list applies to several campaigns at once: handy for jobs and training, which are never welcome. Campaign-specific negatives split searches between campaigns, for example so that "emergency" goes to the repair campaign and not the renovation one.
Further reading: What Google Ads budget to plan and Performance Max, when to use it.
Want to know what useless searches are costing you? . We open your search terms report together.