Glossary
Term | Meaning |
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Negative Keywords | The words you tell Google not to use when showing your ad |
Positive Keywords (Standard Keywords) | The words you do want Google to use for your ad |
PPC (Pay-Per-Click) | An online advertising method where you pay only when someone clicks on your ad |
discovery campaigns | a way to reach people as they explore new things on YouTube, Discover (part of the Google app), and Gmail |
Quality Score | A grade Google gives your ad based on how useful and relevant it is to people. Higher scores mean better ads and lower costs per click. |
CPC (Cost Per Click) | The amount of money you pay each time someone clicks on your ad. |
Google Shopping / Shopping Ads | ads that show pictures of products, their prices, and the store selling them right in Google search results. |
ROI (Return on Investment) | It shows how much profit or benefit you get compared to how much money you spent. |
Search Term Report | A list of the exact words or phrases people typed into Google that made your ad show up. |
Broad Match | A type of keyword in ads that lets your ad show for lots of similar searches, not just the exact word. |
Phrase Match | A type of keyword in ads that lets your ad show only when someone searches for your exact keyword phrase, in the same order, but it can have extra words before or after. |
Exact Match | A type of keyword in ads that makes your ad show only when someone searches for your keyword exactly. |
N-Gram Analysis | A way to look at text or search data by breaking it into small pieces (words or groups of words) to see which combinations appear most often. |
Shared Negative Keyword Lists | Lists of words you don’t want your ads to show for, and you can use the same list across multiple campaigns to save time and avoid unwanted clicks. |
Are you tired of using up your budget on pay-per-click (PPC) and gaining nothing in return? You’re not alone. Many businesses throw their money down the drain and pay for clicks that don't convert into leads. But here's the good news: There’s a simple strategy to take charge of your ad spend and enhance your targeting: Negative keywords.
What Are Negative Keywords?
By now you probably know what a PPC campaign is and how it works (you don’t? Why are you even here then? Check out our beginner’s guide to PPC campaigns: {click here}). In any ad, you choose a few words and target them in your campaign. When people use these keywords in their query, your ad will show up to them.
But what can we do to prevent clicks from those who don’t want your product or service?
Imagine you have a bakery cooking artisan bread. You run a Google Ads campaign to attract local customers. Yet your ad starts appearing when people search for "free bread recipes" or "how to bake bread at home." When these people click on your ad, they waste your budget and pull your focus away from potential customers.
This is where negative keywords save the day. All you need to do is list the words you don’t want, and Google prevents your ad from showing up for them. This will keep your budget focused on the right audience, save money and boost ROI.
Negative vs. Positive Keywords
Positive or standard keywords are the search queries you do want to appear for. For example, if you sell paint and run a PPC campaign, then your standard keywords might be “buy paint online” or “wall paint”. This enhances your business by targeting those who are actively searching for you.
Negative keywords, on the other hand, are some search terms for which you don't want your ads to show. Listing these terms as negative keywords for your campaign will filter the search results and save your budget. Take the paint example. You don't want to show up for "how to paint", "free paint", or "paint jobs".
Match Types
How do searchers find your ad? With the keywords, right?
Now imagine someone searches for something including your keywords; your ad appears, they click on it, and realize your website isn't what they were looking for, and leave your website. That’s ridiculous. What’s the solution? Well, it may be time to study a little about match types.
Match types tell how much a user’s search query matches your keywords, too broad or too narrow?
It goes without saying that if you have a border match type, you’ll get a lot of irrelevant clicks. But a narrower match type gives fewer clicks that are targeted better.
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Broad Match:
If you’re using broad match, your ad appears for searches that have any of your keywords, in any order, as well as related variations and synonyms.
For example, your keyword is “paint supplies”, your ad shows up for “painting materials”, "paint brushes”, and “how to paint”.
Pros | Cons |
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Maximum reach | Attracting irrelevant traffic |
Best for discovery campaigns | Higher waste |
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Phrase Match
With phrase match, your ad triggers when someone searches your exact keywords, in the same order (there can be words before or after)
For example, your keyword is “wall paint” and you’re using phrase match, then searches like “buy wall paint” and “cheap wall paint near me” trigger your ad. On the other hand, a keyword like “paint for walls” doesn’t trigger your ad, because order matters.
Pros | Cons |
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More precise (than broad match) | Less flexible (than broad match) |
Balance between relevance and reach |
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Exact Match
Ad only shows when the search query exactly matches your keyword (or varies slightly, such as plural or singular, and misspellings).
Assume you're using an exact match in your advertisement, and your keyword is “wall paint”. Your ad will only trigger “wall paint” or “walls paint”, which is a very close variant of the main keyword. Using this search type ensures your ad won’t trigger irrelevant variations.
Pros | Cons |
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Maximum control | Low reach |
Minimal wasted clicks | Losing the relevant search that don’t match keywords |
When and How to Use Negative Keyword Match Types
Now that we know what match types are, we're supposed to choose one for our campaign. How to actually do that depends on your campaign goals and audience behavior. Here’s how to decide:
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Start Broad, Then Refine: When you’re trying a campaign for the first time, go with broad matches to eliminate large volumes of irrelevant traffic. As the campaign goes on, analyze your search term reports to discover patterns and refine your list with phrases or exact matches.
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Use Phrase Match for Intent-Driven Campaigns: Phrase match is ideal when you want to get rid of specific phrases that show low purchase intent (e.g., “free trial” or “cheap alternatives”).
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Rely on Exact Match for Precision Exclusions: Exact match works best for campaigns that target niche audiences or high-value keywords. For example, list terms like “internship” as negative keywords if you’re only targeting experienced professionals.
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Combine Match Types: A mix of match types balances relevance and reach.
Why Should I Care about Negative Keywords?
Negative keywords enable you to block searches that won’t lead to customers and make a purchase. By excluding terms like “free” or “DIY,” you ensure your ads show up only to users with purchase intent. And that’s loaded with benefits for your business:
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It reduces wasted ad spend: Since you’re only paying for relevant clicks, you avoid paying for clicks that won’t lead to conversions.
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It improves targeting: Excluding negative terms focuses your budget on reaching the right audience.
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It enhances ad relevance: Negative keywords bring relevant users. Higher relevance often leads to better quality scores and lower CPCs.
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It Boosts ROI: Efficient targeting means more clicks from users likely to convert. Less wasted spend + higher conversion rates = stronger returns on your ad investment.
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How to Implement Negative Keywords?
Negative keywords save your budget and ensure every dollar is spent on the right audience. That’s why listing negative keywords isn’t something to skip.
Identify and implement negative keywords before hitting Go Live. This way, you’ll minimize wasted ad spend and boost your campaigns’ ROI.
So how should I prepare my negative keywords?
Let’s break it into several steps: before launching your ad, during its early stages, and as you scale to the next levels.
First Steps to Implement Negative Keywords
Many businesses dive into the world of internet advertising blindly and forget the key details. One of these details? The steps you take before running your PPC campaign. It’s like the foundation of your work: a carefully crafted negative keyword strategy.
By preparing negative keywords before launching the ad, you build a great opportunity for your business to grow. Spending time on preparation now will pay off later with improved ad relevancy, higher conversion rate, enhanced quality score, lower cost-per-click, and stronger ROI.
You lay the groundwork by conducting research, selecting match types, and tailoring strategies for your niche.
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Researching
To build an effective negative list, you must start with comprehensive research. Use these tools to identify irrelevant search terms:
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Google Ads Keyword Planner: This free tool helps you identify keywords that aren't related to your offerings. Use it to find search terms that attract the wrong audience.
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Competitor Analysis: Analyze competitors’ PPC campaigns to see what terms they’re excluding. Tools like SEMrush and SpyFu can provide valuable insights into their negative keyword strategies.
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Industry Reports and Forums: Explore forums like Reddit or industry-specific communities. It helps you understand the irrelevant terms that users might associate with your niche.
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Understanding Platform-Specific Options
Negative keywords work differently across PPC platforms like Google Ads and Bing Ads. Study them to craft an effective strategy:
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Google Ads Negative Keywords: Use match types (broad, phrase, exact) to fine-tune how specific or general the exclusions are. For example, blocking “free” in a broad match could exclude any search containing the word. However, an exact match limits exclusions to precise terms.
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Bing Ads Negative Keywords: Similar to Google, Bing Ads also supports exclusion through match types, which ensures your campaigns are targeted.
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PPC Keyword Exclusions Across Platforms: When running your campaigns on multiple platforms, you must understand the differences between platforms. Each platform may interpret match types slightly differently, so research and testing are essential.
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Tailor Negative Keywords to Your Niche
No two businesses are the same, and your negative keyword strategy should reflect your unique audience. Consider these factors:
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Irrelevant Intent: Exclude terms that imply no intent to purchase. For example, block phrases like “free templates” or “DIY solutions” if you only sell premium products or services.
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Geographic Exclusions: If your business operates in Orange, CA, exclude irrelevant location-based searches like “services in New York."
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Demographic Relevance: If you target specific age groups or industries, ensure your negative keywords filter out irrelevant audiences.
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Next Level Tips to Implement Negative Keywords
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Multi-Word Negative Keywords
Imagine that you have a bakery in Orange County. You offer some free recipes along with delicious Ariston bread. Now you want to exclude the word “free” in your negative keywords, but that means people won’t find you when looking for free recipes. Here’s the solution:
Don’t exclude single words; instead, implement more than one word as the negative keyword. Exclude “free Ariston bread”. This way, you block specific irrelevant searches and enhance your targeting.
Using multi-word negative keywords means that you’re not over-blocking searches; instead, you target specific irrelevant searches.
How Shpuld I Do It?
You can always use your search term reports and identify the queries that generate the most unqualified clicks. Competitor’s ads also give you an idea about irrelevant phrases so you can exclude them. And finally get insight from customer interactions.
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N-Gram Analysis
An n-gram is a sequence of words that usually appear together in search terms. For example ?“cheap” and “download” appear frequently in irrelevant searches like “cheap software download” or “download free templates.”
When you use an n-gram analysis, you can identify these patterns and block them as negative keywords.
N-gram helps you analyze search term patterns. Using it, you’ll be able to find common phrases or words that lead to wasted clicks. By identifying these patterns, you can craft better negative keyword lists.
How Should I Do It?
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Use search term reports: Download your search term reports from platforms like Google Ads or Bing Ads.
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Analyze Patterns: We need to analyze the frequent phrases or words that don’t end up in sales or leads. You can employ tools such as Excel, Python, and PPC software developed specifically for this purpose.
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Create a new list of negative keywords: Now you can add the most repeated words and phrases as negative keywords in your campaign.
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Shared Negative keywords list
Imagine running multiple campaigns or accounts. It would be difficult to add words and phrases to each of them manually. A shared negative keyword list might be your solution.
As the name suggests, a shared negative keyword list is a centralized record of negative keywords that can be applied to different campaigns. For example, you can create a list of general terms to exclude (e.g., “free,” “jobs,” “cheap”) from all your active campaigns.
How Should I Do It?
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Create a master list: You might already know what are irrelevant keywords in your industry’s research. Compile a list of these terms that need to be excluded.
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Share across campaigns: Make the list "shared" in platforms such as Google Ads and use it for all your relevant campaigns.
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Customize per campaigns: Add campaign-specific negative keywords in addition to the shared list for customized targeting.
You can access different ad groups here.
Results
Some SEO companies always discourage running PPC and recommend SEO services. In the long run, SEO services pay off better and the results don't vanish into thin air, but it’s not in contradiction with PPC ads. Starting to apply SEO services, it will take weeks to months to see an actual result. In the meantime, you can run ads and attract customers. If you dot every i and cross every t, you’ll have an excellent ROI, while we will be working on your website for long-term results.
Mistakes to Avoid
Remember, you don’t need over-blocking. Don’t exclude words that could still bring qualified traffic. Only add obvious negatives, such as free, jobs, cheap, and any other negative keywords in your field.
PPC and negative keyword strategy isn't an automated device to set and forget it. You must optimize and refine it by auditing search terms on a weekly or monthly basis. Some negative keywords might be accidentally blocking good traffic. Identify and remove them.
One other thing you must consider in your refining is seasonal or contextual adjustments. During promotions, allow keywords you’d usually exclude (e.g., free sample if you’re actually offering one). Also, adjust your keywords based on geography, product line, or campaign goals.
And finally, remember, the goal isn’t to block as many terms as possible; it’s to protect your budget while keeping reach.
Learn More: Negative Products
Now that we’ve looked at negative keywords, let’s take a step further and explore a related concept: negative products. In Shopping Ads like Google Shopping, we can exclude some products from our PPC shopping feed so they don’t appear in campaigns. These products are called negative products. By excluding them, we aim to prevent ads for low-margin, out-of-stock, and seasonal items, or items that are not meant to be advertised.
Imagine you have a shop for painting and you also sell paint brushes, but their profit margin is tiny. Running Shopping Ads on them would waste the budget. So, you exclude them as negative products from your Shopping campaign feed.
Final Thoughts
Negative keywords are not just a tool to save money. They’re a cornerstone of effective PPC campaign management. By employing advanced strategies like n-gram analysis, shared lists, and multi-word exclusions, you can boost ad relevance, ensure your ads resonate with your target audience, improve quality scores, and enhance conversion rates (CVR).