Negative keywords help prevent Google Ads from paying for searches that are clearly outside the customer intent your campaign needs. The best negative-keyword strategy is not downloading a giant universal list. It is identifying the kinds of searches your business should never pay for and then reviewing real search terms continuously.
This guide gives practical negative keyword examples by intent so you can build a cleaner list without accidentally blocking valuable searches.
Job-seeker negative keywords
Businesses advertising services often attract employment searches. Common examples include:
- jobs
- careers
- salary
- hiring
- resume
- internship
- apprenticeship
- indeed
Before adding these account-wide, confirm that recruiting is not part of the campaign goal.
Free and DIY intent
For paid professional services, searches centered on doing the work without a provider are often weak commercial prospects:
- free
- DIY
- template
- download
- course
- tutorial
- how to do it yourself
Do not automatically block every informational modifier. Some research searches can still lead to customers, especially for higher-consideration services.
Education and training searches
If you sell the service rather than training people to perform it, consider terms such as:
- certification
- school
- class
- degree
- training
- exam
- license requirements
Wrong-location searches
Location targeting is not a substitute for search-term review. Add cities, states, or countries that repeatedly produce irrelevant traffic when you cannot serve them. Also verify Google's location settings so campaigns emphasize people actually in your service area.
Irrelevant service variations
A roofing company may not want searches for roofing materials. A salon may not want beauty-school searches. A B2B agency may not want consumer social-media-management jobs. Build negatives around services, products, audiences, and use cases you explicitly do not provide.
Existing-customer and support intent
Depending on the business, searches containing terms like login, support, phone number, customer service, refund, warranty, manual, or troubleshooting may belong in a separate campaign or should be excluded from acquisition campaigns.
B2B vs B2C modifiers
If your economics depend on one audience, look for terms that indicate the wrong buyer. Examples can include wholesale, retail, personal, enterprise, commercial, residential, consumer, or business. Do not use these blindly; their value depends on your offer.
Competitor and brand terms
Competitor names are not automatically negative keywords. They can be useful or expensive depending on campaign strategy. The same is true for your own brand. Decide deliberately whether those searches belong in separate campaigns rather than mixing them with non-brand acquisition traffic.
How to build negatives from real search terms
- Open the Search terms report.
- Sort by cost, clicks, and conversion activity.
- Identify searches that cannot realistically become customers.
- Group repeated patterns by intent.
- Add the narrowest useful negative match type.
- Review the effect before expanding the list.
For the broader process, read our guide to negative keywords in Google Ads and our Google Ads lead-generation setup guide.
Negative keyword mistakes to avoid
- Adding huge copied lists without reviewing context
- Blocking words that also appear in high-intent searches
- Using account-wide negatives when only one campaign needs them
- Ignoring close variations in actual search terms
- Judging a query only by whether it converted once
- Never revisiting the list after the business changes
Frequently asked questions
What is a good negative keyword list?
A good list blocks clearly irrelevant intent while preserving searches that can realistically become customers. It should be based primarily on your offer and real search-term data.
Should I use negative broad, phrase, or exact match?
Use the narrowest match that reliably excludes the unwanted intent. Negative match behavior differs from positive keyword matching, so test carefully before adding broad exclusions.
How often should I review search terms?
New or rapidly changing campaigns often need frequent review. Mature campaigns can use a less frequent cadence, but search-term quality should still be checked consistently.
Paying for the wrong searches? Request a free marketing audit from Vast Scale Media.