Short version: Adding a negative keyword takes about thirty seconds. Choosing the right match type and the right level takes judgement, and getting either wrong either leaves the waste running or blocks searches you were making money from. Work from the search terms report, add negatives at the level that matches how broadly the term applies, and check what you blocked a week later.
Negative keywords are the cheapest optimisation in Google Ads. Every irrelevant search you exclude is budget that moves to a search that can convert. On most accounts we audit, the first negative keyword pass frees somewhere between five and fifteen percent of spend without touching a single bid.
How to add negative keywords: the steps
Start where the evidence is, which is the search terms report, not your imagination:
- Open the search terms report. In Google Ads, go to Campaigns, then Insights and reports, then Search terms. Set the date range to the last 30 to 90 days so you have enough volume to judge.
- Filter to terms with cost. Add a filter for clicks greater than zero, then sort by cost descending. A term that has spent money and never converted is the one worth your attention.
- Tick the terms you want to exclude using the checkboxes on the left.
- Click "Add as negative keyword" above the table.
- Choose the level: ad group, campaign, or a negative keyword list. This is the decision that matters most, and it is covered below.
- Choose the match type, then save.
To add negatives directly without going through the search terms report, go to the campaign, open Audiences, keywords and content, then Search keywords, and select the Negative keywords tab. That is the right path when you already know what you want to block, such as a competitor name or a category you do not sell.
Negative keyword match types work differently
This is where most of the damage happens, because negative match types do not behave like positive ones. The critical difference: negative keywords do not match close variants. A negative for "shoe" will not block "shoes". Plurals, misspellings, and singular forms all need to be added separately.
- Negative broad match (typed plainly, no punctuation). Blocks any search containing all of those words in any order. A negative broad of
free shippingblocks "free shipping shoes" and "shoes with free shipping" but not "free delivery". This is the workhorse. - Negative phrase match (in quotation marks). Blocks searches containing that exact sequence of words, with anything before or after.
"running shoes"blocks "cheap running shoes" but not "shoes for running". - Negative exact match (in square brackets). Blocks only that precise search and nothing else.
[running shoes]blocks exactly that term while "best running shoes" still serves.
The practical rule: use negative exact when you are excluding one specific search that failed, and negative phrase or broad when you are excluding an entire concept, such as "free", "jobs", "diy", or "how to make".
Ad group, campaign, or list: where to add them
Level determines blast radius, and this is where accounts get quietly damaged:
- Ad group level. Use when the term is wrong for this ad group but fine elsewhere. Classic case: adding "kids" as a negative in your adult footwear ad group while a separate kids ad group still targets it. Also how you stop your own ad groups competing for the same search.
- Campaign level. Use when the term is wrong for this campaign but might be right in another. A term that suits your prospecting campaign but not your brand campaign belongs here.
- Negative keyword lists. Use for terms that are wrong everywhere and always. Build one master list of universal junk, then apply it to every campaign. Update it once and every campaign inherits the change, which is why it beats adding the same negative in fifteen places.
To build a list, go to Tools, then Shared library, then Negative keyword lists. Create it once, apply it to all campaigns, and add to it as you find new junk. On a mature account this list should be the first thing you set up and the last thing you neglect.
The negatives almost every account needs
Some categories waste money on nearly every account. Worth checking your search terms for all of these:
- Free intent. "free", "cheap", "discount code", "coupon". People looking for free are not looking to pay you, though be careful if you genuinely run offers.
- Job seekers. "jobs", "career", "salary", "hiring", "vacancy". They will never buy and they click a lot.
- Research and education. "what is", "how to make", "diy", "tutorial", "meaning", "wikipedia". Informational intent on a commercial campaign burns budget.
- Wrong audience. "wholesale" if you sell retail, "second hand" and "used" if you sell new, "rental" if you sell outright.
- Competitor names, unless you are deliberately running a competitor conquesting campaign with its own budget and expectations.
- Products you do not stock. The single biggest e-commerce leak. If your feed has no size 13 and no vegan range, those searches are pure waste.
Four mistakes worth avoiding
- Blocking too broadly. Adding
freeas a negative broad match blocks "free shipping", which is often exactly the buyer you want. Check what a broad negative would have blocked before you add it. - Forgetting plurals and misspellings. Because negative keywords ignore close variants, you need both "shoe" and "shoes". Scan for the common misspellings too.
- Conflicting with your own keywords. A negative that overlaps an active keyword silently switches that keyword off. Google flags some conflicts under Recommendations, but not all of them.
- Adding negatives once and never again. Search terms drift constantly, especially on broad match and Performance Max. A monthly pass on any account spending meaningfully is the minimum.
Negative keywords in Performance Max
Performance Max historically gave almost no negative keyword control, which is why so much waste hid inside it. Account-level negative keyword lists can now be applied to Performance Max campaigns, and campaign-level negatives are available too. This is the first place to look if a PMax campaign is spending well and converting badly, because brand and irrelevant traffic mixing into the same campaign is a common cause. Our piece on what Performance Max really does with your budget covers the wider picture.
Check what you blocked
A week after any significant negative keyword pass, go back and confirm you cut waste rather than volume. Compare impressions, clicks, and conversions for the affected campaigns against the prior period. A drop in cost with conversions holding steady means it worked. A drop in conversions alongside the cost means a negative went too wide, and the fix is to find it and either narrow the match type or remove it.
That verification step is the one most people skip, and it is the difference between negative keywords being an optimisation and being a slow leak in the other direction.
Where to start
If you have never done a negative keyword pass, open the search terms report for the last 90 days, filter to clicks greater than zero and conversions equal to zero, and sort by cost. The top twenty rows will usually pay for the exercise several times over. Build a shared list from the universal junk, add the account-specific terms at the right level, then diarise a monthly repeat.
If you want someone to run that pass across your account and show you exactly what is being wasted, request a free audit and we will send you the search terms that are costing you money.
About the author
This guide is written by Vasant Chaudhary, a Google Ads specialist with more than five years of experience managing over 50 e-commerce accounts across the US, UK, and India. He focuses on Google Shopping, Performance Max, and product feed management. Get in touch or start with a free audit.