Using negative keywords is one of the most overlooked but effective strategies to optimize your Google Ads or Bing Ads campaigns. How do you make the most of this important tool? Let’s go over what negative keywords are, why they’re important, and the most efficient means to add them.

Negative Keywords

When you add negative keywords, you’re telling the algorithm that you don’t want your ads to show if certain words and phrases are included in a user’s search.

Let’s say your keyword is women’s bicycle, but your store only sells new bikes. Adding used to your negative keyword list means your ad won’t come up if someone searches for used women’s bicycle.

I can’t stress this enough: you have to include negative keywords and regularly check your search terms report to cut out irrelevant searches, especially if you use broad match keywords.

Remember — you pay for every click. Why would you want to pay for clicks that you know won’t work for your business? 

Like keywords, negative keywords have match types: negative broad match, negative phrase match, and negative exact match. There is no negative modified broad match. As Google states, “these negative match types work differently than their positive counterparts. The main difference is that you’ll need to add synonyms, singular or plural versions, misspellings, and other close variations if you want to exclude them.”

The taxonomy for negative keywords is a minus sign (–) followed by either “quotation marks” for negative phrase match or [piano brackets] for negative exact match. If you only use the minus sign, your keyword is in negative broad match, which I do not recommend you use.

Checking your search terms report

To see the search terms that triggered clicks on your ad, navigate to the Keywords tab and click on “Search terms.” Here, you’ll find the actual search terms that users typed into Google when they clicked on your ad. You can place a checkmark on an individual keyword to see how broad match, modified broad match, or phrase match expanded your keyword list.

The irrelevant searches you find in the Search terms report should inspire the addition of negative keywords. The next section discusses the most efficient way to add them.

Adding negative keywords

Sort your search terms by descending impressions, so you start with queries that most often triggered your ads. When you add a checkbox to select a search term that’s irrelevant, an option appears to Add as negative keyword. When you add negatives from this screen, the default match type is negative exact match, which you’ll see signified by piano brackets. In the used bike example, the word used would never be relevant, so it’s better to add -“used” as a negative phrase match keyword, rather than trying to add each exact match iteration of user queries. This way, you’ll filter out more junk in the future.

Of course, you don’t have to wait for irrelevant search queries to add negative keywords. Negative keywords should be an integral part of building your keyword list at the outset of campaign creation.

Shared Negative Keywords Lists

If negatives will be shared across several campaigns, you can save time by creating a Negative Keyword List in your Shared Library.

To do so, navigate to Tools in the upper right-hand corner of your dashboard. Under Shared Library, click on Negative keyword lists. Click the blue + sign to create a new list. Give it a name, add your keywords (using the appropriate negative keyword taxonomy) and save the list. You can then assign this negative keyword list to any current or future campaign.

Common negative keyword scenarios to consider

Below is a list of negative keywords to consider. As every ad campaign is different, they won’t all apply to your business. In fact, you may find that you explicitly wish to target some of these keywords. Take this as a list of idea starters, not gospel.

  • Free: queries that include “free” or “for free.”
    • Example: Let’s say you sell a paid software solution, but you don’t think it’s worth it to advertise to people who include “free” in their queries. Add -“free” as a negative phrase match keyword.
  • Geographical: any geographic areas that you don’t serve or that don’t apply to your products.
    • Example: I had a previous client who sold international toll-free phone numbers. If we didn’t offer numbers from certain countries, I added those countries to our negative keywords.
  • Informational (as opposed to transactional): queries that include “what is,” “what are,” or “definition”
    • Example: Let’s say you sell a Bluetooth device, but find people are clicking on your ad after searching something like “what is bluetooth.”
  • Acronyms: queries that include “what does” or “stand for”
    • Example: If your keyword includes an acronym like PPC, you might want to cut out queries such as “what does PPC stand for.”
  • Competitors: the names of other businesses or domains
    • Sometimes it’s strategic to bid on your competitor’s name. However, if you find these clicks result in high bounce rates or low ROI, you might want to consider adding their names as negative keywords.
  • Comparisons: queries that include “comparison,” “vs,” or “difference between”
    • Users may still be in their consideration phase if they’re comparing your product or service to another.
  • Discount codes or coupons: Are people ready to buy your product, but go to Google in the middle of checkout looking for discount codes? Consider adding relevant negative keywords so you don’t pay for these clicks.

Negative keywords are a positive for your PPC campaigns

Adding negative keywords is a smart way to optimize your budget so you don’t pay for clicks you don’t want.

For more money-saving ideas, check out my book 3 Expensive Google Ads Mistakes (and How To Avoid Them).

Kim Kohatsu
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