A good negative keywords list is the cheapest optimization in Google Ads. In the accounts we audit, 20–40% of Search spend in the first months goes to queries that could never convert: job seekers, students, DIY researchers, people looking for free tools, and people searching for a competitor by name. Every one of those clicks is money that should have gone to someone with a credit card and a problem you solve.
Below is the Google Ads negative keywords list we add to almost every new account on day one, grouped by category, followed by how to apply it and how to keep it growing from your own search terms report.
How to use this list
- Go to Tools → Shared library → Exclusion lists → Negative keyword lists. Create one list per category below (easier to switch off a category for an account where it does not apply).
- Add the terms as phrase match negatives (in quotes) unless noted. Phrase match blocks any query containing the term in that word order; broad match negatives are stricter than most people expect, and exact match negatives are too narrow to be useful here.
- Apply the lists at the account level (Account settings → Negative keyword lists) or to every Search campaign.
- Review your search terms report weekly for the first two months, then every two weeks, and add new negatives to the right list.
Do not apply these to Shopping or Performance Max blindly — campaign-level negatives work there too, but check the list for terms that are legitimately part of your product names first.
Category 1: jobs and careers
job, jobs, career, careers, hiring, recruitment, recruiter, vacancy, vacancies, salary, salaries, wage, internship, intern, apprentice, apprenticeship, resume, CV, employment, “work from home”, “part time”, “full time”, indeed, linkedin jobs, glassdoor
Category 2: free and cheap
free, freebie, “for free”, “no cost”, cheap, cheapest, discount code, coupon, voucher, promo code, “giveaway”, torrent, crack, pirated, “open source” (unless you sell open-source services)
Category 3: DIY, how-to and research
“how to”, DIY, “do it yourself”, tutorial, guide, instructions, manual, template, templates, “step by step”, “what is”, definition, meaning, wikipedia, pdf, ebook, “case study”, statistics, “vs”, “versus”, comparison, review, reviews (keep “reviews” only if you have no review-based landing page)
Note: for an agency or consulting business some of these (“guide”, “what is”) can be legitimate top-of-funnel queries. We still exclude them from campaigns optimized for leads and let blog content capture them organically.
Category 4: education and training
course, courses, class, classes, training, certification, certificate, certified, degree, diploma, university, college, school, academy, bootcamp, lesson, lessons, webinar, exam, syllabus, “study”
Category 5: software and tools (for service businesses)
software, app, apps, download, plugin, extension, API, SDK, “open source”, GitHub, “login”, “sign in”, “log in”, dashboard, “tool” (test first — “tool” is sometimes part of real product queries)
Category 6: adult, legal and brand safety
porn, sex, nude, adult, xxx, escort, lawsuit, “scam”, “fraud”, “complaint”, “complaints”, “sued”, “class action”, “illegal”
Category 7: location mismatches
Add countries, states and cities you do not serve, in the languages your audience uses. For a US-only business targeting the whole country, excluding “UK”, “Canada”, “Australia”, “India” and “Dubai” still removes a surprising number of irrelevant clicks. For a local business, exclude neighboring cities you will not travel to.
Category 8: competitor names (optional, decide deliberately)
Bidding on competitor names is a strategy, not an accident. If you are not doing it on purpose, add your main competitors’ brand names as negatives so broad and phrase match keywords do not drift onto them. If you are doing it on purpose, keep those terms in a dedicated campaign with its own budget and expectations (lower CTR, higher CPC, lower Quality Score).
Category 9: your own irrelevant products or services
If you sell commercial cleaning but not residential, “house”, “home”, “apartment” and “carpet” belong in your negatives. If you build custom software but not WordPress sites, “WordPress”, “Wix”, “Shopify” and “template” do. This category is the most valuable one and only you can write it — start by listing the five requests you turn down most often.
Keeping the list alive: the search terms routine
- Weekly, 15 minutes: Campaigns → Insights and reports → Search terms, last 7 days, sorted by cost. Add anything irrelevant to the right list. Add anything relevant and high-converting as a new keyword.
- Monthly: look at the “Other search terms” line. If it is a large share of spend, your match types are too loose or your campaigns need more structure.
- Quarterly: check negatives against your keyword list for conflicts (Google warns you, but only in the campaign where the conflict exists).
Negatives are also the first thing we check when a client says their campaign is not converting — usually the search terms report explains half the problem in five minutes.
Negative keywords in Performance Max and Shopping
Performance Max now supports campaign-level negative keywords (rolled out broadly in 2025), and brand exclusions handle competitor and own-brand traffic. Standard Shopping has always supported negatives and relies on them heavily, since you cannot pick keywords there. We covered the structural differences in Google Shopping vs Performance Max.
FAQ
Should negatives be phrase, broad or exact match?
Phrase match for lists like the ones above. Broad match negatives require all words to be present (in any order) and are good for multi-word exclusions; exact negatives are only for blocking one specific query.
Can too many negative keywords hurt my campaign?
Yes, if they block real demand. “Cheap” is a classic example for a budget brand. Review conversions by search term before mass-adding, and keep an eye on impression volume after applying a big list.
Do negative keywords affect Quality Score?
Indirectly: removing irrelevant queries raises CTR on the remaining traffic, which feeds into expected CTR and over time into Quality Score and CPC.
How many negative keywords is normal?
A mature Search account typically carries several hundred to a few thousand across its lists. There is no limit that matters in practice (lists hold up to 5,000 terms each).
Need help with your campaigns?
Every Google Search Ads setup we deliver ships with these lists already applied and customized to the business. If your account is already running, a Google Ads audit includes a full search terms review with a ready-to-paste negative list — or try the free mini-audit first.