Starter Negative Keyword Lists

Negative keyword lists for Google Ads

Negative keywords tell Google Ads which searches you don't want your ads to appear for. This PDF gives you themed starting lists to adapt:

• Jobs and careers: for people looking for work rather than a supplier, such as vacancies, salaries and apprenticeships.
• Research and DIY: for people wanting to learn or do it themselves, such as tutorials, templates and definitions.
• Bargain hunters: for businesses that don't compete on price, covering discount, second-hand and marketplace searches.
• Wrong intent: forums, images, encyclopaedia-style searches, and terms such as “for sale” or “wholesale” where they don't fit what you sell.
• Ecommerce and B2B extras: support and order-tracking searches for online shops, and student or school project searches for business-to-business sellers.

Negative match types explained

Negative keywords behave differently from the keywords you bid on, and the PDF explains each type with an example:

• Negative broad: blocks a search only when every one of your words appears, whatever the order.
• Negative phrase: blocks searches with your words in that sequence, even when other words surround them.
• Negative exact: blocks only that exact search, with nothing added.

The catch: negatives won't pick up plurals, synonyms or near variations, so list those separately. Capital letters and misspellings are now handled automatically.

Why negative keywords matter

Every click on a search that was never going to convert still costs you. Broad match can show your ads for a wide range of related searches, so a well-kept negative list helps keep your spend on people who might buy. Shared negative lists save time too: you build them once and apply them across campaigns.

The mistakes we see most often

• Pasting a list without reading it: “free” would also block people asking for a free quote or free delivery, and “course” or “training” would block a training provider's best searches.
• Blocking “hiring”: people searching to hire a service can be ready buyers.
• Excluding “near me”: these searches often come from people ready to buy, so they should almost never be negatives.
• Forgetting plurals and variants: adding “job” but not “jobs”, or “career” but not “careers”.
• Setting and forgetting: new irrelevant searches keep appearing in the search terms report, so the lists need regular additions.

What to do first

Open your search terms report for the last few months and look for searches that could never lead to a sale. Compare them with the starter lists, then build your own shared lists, checking each word against your own products and services before you add it. Choose the match type deliberately: use phrase or exact negatives when a single word on its own could block good searches. Then make reviewing search terms part of a regular routine.

When to bring in a specialist

If your account has many campaigns, a large product range or years of accumulated negatives, conflicts become harder to spot: a negative in one list can quietly block keywords you're bidding on elsewhere. A PPC specialist can review existing lists, check for negatives that clash with active keywords and set up a review routine that suits the size of your account.