8 Google Ads Negative Keywords Every Account Should Have

Negative keywords are the unglamorous workhorse of Google Ads optimization. Adding them isn't sexy. There's no "launched a new campaign" satisfaction. Just clicking through search terms reports and adding words to a list.

But negative keywords are also the single highest-ROI ongoing optimization in any account. Every irrelevant click you stop is direct, measurable savings. A solid negative keyword list typically saves 20-30% of monthly ad spend with zero impact on legitimate lead volume.

Most accounts we audit have negative keyword lists with 10-50 terms. That's nowhere near enough. Healthy accounts have 200-1,000+ terms in their cumulative negative lists.

Here are the 8 universal categories that should be in every Google Ads account, regardless of industry.

1. "Free" intent terms

These signal someone wants free, not paid. They almost never convert.

Add as account-level negatives:

• free
• no cost
• no charge
• complimentary
• gratis
• without cost
• for free

Exception: If you legitimately offer free trials or free consultations as your conversion mechanism, keep "free" but block other terms in this category.

2. Educational / DIY intent

People learning how to do something themselves rarely buy a service that does it for them.

Add as account-level negatives:

• how to
• diy
• do it yourself
• tutorial
• guide
• explained
• learn how
• beginner

Exception: If you sell training/courses, keep these. Otherwise, block them.

3. Job seeker intent

Job-related searches drive significant traffic to professional service ads. None of it converts.

Add as account-level negatives:

• jobs
• careers
• hiring
• employment
• salary
• pay
• job description
• internship
• recruitment
• recruiter

These are CRITICAL for B2B service accounts (consulting, legal, accounting, agencies). They can also matter for healthcare practices ("nurse jobs near me" triggers ads for "nurses near me").

4. Reviews / research intent

People comparing services often do so by reading reviews — they're not ready to buy.

Add as account-level negatives:

• review
• reviews
• ratings
• complaints
• bbb
• better business bureau
• yelp
• glassdoor

Exception: If you actively use review-stage targeting (rare and advanced), keep these. For 95% of accounts, block them.

5. Wikipedia / Reddit / YouTube intent

Searches with these platforms in the query are explicitly looking for community discussion or video content, not service providers.

Add as account-level negatives:

• wikipedia
• wiki
• reddit
• youtube
• quora
• tiktok
• forum

6. Geographic exclusions for non-service areas

Most accounts target a city but get clicks from nearby cities they don't serve. Add the names of those cities as negatives.

For a Boston-only practice, examples:

• new york
• nyc
• new york city
• philadelphia
• philly
• chicago
• los angeles
• la
• atlanta

Also add international terms if you only serve US:

• india
• pakistan
• philippines
• nigeria
• uk (if US-only)
• europe

This single change often drops CPL 15-25% for local service businesses.

7. Competitor brand names (with strategic exception)

Bidding on competitor brand names CAN work, but you need to do it deliberately in a separate campaign — not get scooped by random competitor mentions in broad match.

Add as account-level negatives (then bid on them in dedicated competitor campaigns if desired):

• [Top 10 competitor brand names in your space]

If you don't run competitor campaigns, blocking competitor names entirely is fine. Don't waste money showing your ad to people specifically looking for a competitor.

8. Industry-specific noise terms

These vary by industry. Examples for common verticals:

B2B SaaS:

• demo (if you don't offer demos)
• alternative (if researching, not buying)
• vs (comparison shopping)
• pricing (early-stage, often won't convert)
• login (existing customers searching for portal)
• support (existing customers, not prospects)

Real Estate:

• zillow
• redfin
• realtor.com
• mls
• foreclosure (specialty intent)
• rental (if you sell, not rent)
• rent (same)

Healthcare:

• side effects
• symptoms (if not diagnostic)
• pictures of (image searches)
• generic name (often = pharmaceutical research)

Legal:

• pro bono
• legal aid
• self help
• represent myself

E-commerce:

• coupon
• promo code
• discount code
• amazon (often Amazon-specific searches)

Home services:

• license
• license number
• bbb complaint
• consumer complaint

How to actually maintain a negative keyword list

Building the list is one thing. Maintaining it is another.

The weekly negative keyword routine (15 min)

Every Monday morning:

1. Open Google Ads → Keywords → Search terms
2. Filter by last 7 days
3. Sort by Cost (descending)
4. Review the top 20-30 search terms
5. For each term that's not converting and not relevant: add as a negative keyword

Most accounts can handle this in 15 minutes. Done weekly, the list grows to 500+ terms over a year — and most of the ad spend leaks have been plugged.

Account-level vs campaign-level negatives

• Account-level negatives: Apply to ALL campaigns. Use for the universal categories above (jobs, free, DIY, etc.)
• Campaign-level negatives: Apply to specific campaigns. Use for campaign-specific exclusions (e.g., "luxury" campaign blocks "cheap" / "budget").

Most accounts mix these up. Use account-level for universal exclusions. Save campaign-level for nuanced bid targeting.

Shared negative keyword lists

Tools → Shared library → Negative keyword lists.

Create lists by category:

• "Universal Negatives" (jobs, free, DIY, reviews)
• "Geographic Exclusions" (cities you don't serve)
• "Industry Noise" (vertical-specific)
• "Competitor Brands" (companies you don't want overlap with)

Then apply lists to campaigns. Updates propagate automatically.

What happens after you implement this

Most accounts that go from a sparse list (10-50 terms) to a comprehensive list (200+ terms across the categories above) see:

• 20-30% reduction in irrelevant clicks
• 15-25% improvement in click-through rate (because ads now show only to relevant searches, which improves Quality Score)
• 10-20% lower CPC over time (Quality Score improvements compound)
• 30-50% improvement in conversion rate (more qualified clicks = more conversions)

The combined effect: same budget produces 30-50% more qualified leads.

The negative keyword mistake to avoid

Don't add too aggressively. Some negatives accidentally block converting terms.

Examples of overly-aggressive negatives we've seen:

• "Best" — blocks "best [your service]" which is often high-intent
• "Buy" — blocks legitimate purchase intent
• "Service" — blocks "[service type] service near me"

Test broad negatives carefully. When in doubt, use phrase match negatives ("free trial" — only blocks the phrase, not searches with both words separately) instead of broad match negatives.

The list to start with today

If you only have 30 minutes, add these 50 terms as account-level negatives right now (broad match):

free, jobs, careers, hiring, salary, employment,
how to, diy, tutorial, guide, learn,
review, reviews, ratings, complaints, bbb,
wikipedia, reddit, youtube, quora, forum,
india, pakistan, philippines (if US-only),
[5 main competitor brand names],
demo, login, support (if B2B SaaS),
craigslist, ebay (if not e-commerce),
pdf, manual, instructions,
spanish, español (if English-only),
movie, song, lyrics, episode,
amazon (often siphons retail searches),
cheap, discount (if premium positioning),
template, example, sample, ideas

This list alone typically saves 15-25% of monthly spend.

Free negative keyword audit

If you're spending $5K+/month on Google Ads, we'll audit your search terms report and identify the negatives you're missing.

Most audits identify $1,000-3,000/month in obvious leaks per $5K spent — meaning the "audit" pays for itself many times over even before strategic improvements.

30-min Loom, yours to keep.