Negative keywords are terms you add to your Google Ads account to stop your ads showing for irrelevant searches. They protect your budget, improve your click-through rate, and help your campaigns reach people who are actually likely to buy.

What actually is a negative keyword?

When you run ads on Google, your budget does not just go towards the searches you want. It can also get spent on searches that are vaguely related but completely irrelevant to your business.

Say you sell premium office chairs. Without the right controls, your ads might show for “cheap office chairs” or “free assembly instructions.” Those people are not your customers. Negative keywords are how you stop paying for them.

A negative keyword tells Google to not show your ad for that search. You are not blocking everyone. You are filtering out the searches that will never lead anywhere useful.

Why are negative keywords so important for your budget?

Every irrelevant click costs money. In a Google Ads account without negative keywords, that waste adds up fast.

The impact is not just financial. Irrelevant clicks drag down your Quality Score, which affects how much you pay per click across your whole campaign. Google rewards relevance. When your ads keep showing for unrelated queries, your score drops and your costs rise.

Negative keywords improve click-through rates by filtering out traffic that was never going to engage. Better CTR leads to a better Quality Score and lower costs. Your conversion rate benefits too. If the wrong people stop clicking, the people who do are far more likely to buy.

How do negative keyword match types work in Google Ads?

Negative keywords in Google Ads have three match types, and they behave differently.

Broad match negative keywords

The default setting. Broad match negative keywords block your ads for any search containing all of the terms you specified, in any order. Add “cheap shoes” and your ad will not show for any search that includes both words together.

Phrase match negative keywords

Negative phrase match blocks your ads when the exact keyword phrase appears in a search, in the same order. Additional words can appear around it. More precise than broad match, useful when word order matters.

Exact match negative keywords

Exact match negative keywords block your ads only for that precise search term with no additional words. If someone adds an extra word, your ad may still show. Use this when you want to block a specific term without over-blocking related searches.

One important detail: negative keywords do not automatically exclude close variants or plurals. If you add “accountant,” searches for “accountants” may still trigger your ad. Add both forms manually.

How do you find negative keywords for your campaigns?

Search Terms Report

The Google Ads search terms report shows the actual queries that triggered your ads. Review it regularly. Any search that would not convert for your business is a candidate to add as a negative keyword.

Your own knowledge of the business

Think about the customers you cannot help. If you run a premium service, block “cheap,” “budget,” and “free.” If you are local only, block irrelevant regions. You can add negatives at account level to cover all campaigns, at campaign level for a specific campaign, or at ad group level for the most precise control.

What are the most common negative keyword mistakes?

Over-blocking

Too many negatives added without care can cut off searches that would have converted. Review your lists regularly.

Never revisiting the search terms report

New queries appear all the time. Check the report at least once a fortnight and add negative keyword opportunities as you find them.

Ignoring singular and plural forms

Google Ads does not automatically cover both. Block “service” and you may still show for “services.” Add both forms when building your lists.

How can Netzoll help with your negative keyword strategy?

Negative keywords are one piece of a larger puzzle. At Netzoll, we manage PPC campaigns end to end for SMEs across the UK. That means keyword research, campaign builds, Performance Max management, and regular search terms reviews to keep your negative keyword lists sharp and your spend focused.

Every account we run is built around the same principle: your budget should only go towards searches that are likely to convert. If your campaigns have been running without much oversight, there is almost always wasted spend to recover.

Get in touch with the Netzoll team to find out what your account could be doing better.