--- title: Negative Keyword — definition and use in Google Ads | Siite description: "Negative keywords explained: the match types, the searches that quietly drain a local ad budget, and how a negative list gets built and maintained." url: "https://siite.co/dictionary/negative-keyword" type: static generatedAt: "2026-10-22T08:21:10.815Z" --- Paid Media # Negative Keyword A term you exclude from a Google Ads campaign so your ads never show for it — the main tool for stopping spend on searches that cannot become jobs. Also goes by Negatives, Negative match [![Siite](/images/layout/logo.svg)Written by Siite](/about/)Updated September 8, 2026 ## Entry contents [All Terms A to Z←Browse the full dictionary](/dictionary/) A negative keyword tells Google which searches must never trigger your ads. They use the same match types as ordinary keywords, and they can be applied to one ad group, a whole campaign, or across the account as a shared list. They are the main tool for making sure an expensive click comes from somebody who might actually buy. > **Briefly explained** > > - Words and phrases that stop your ad from appearing. > - Applied per ad group, per campaign or account-wide. > - Built from the search terms report, not from guesswork. > - Too broad an exclusion is as expensive as none at all. ## Why does a list matter so much? Because a large share of matched traffic has no intention of hiring anyone, and it clicks at exactly the same price as a customer with an urgent problem. Job seekers, students, DIY researchers, parts buyers and people in a town you do not cover all arrive through the same keyword. Without exclusions, they spend the budget before the buyers get there. ## What is usually worth excluding? Most of the waste falls into five categories. - **Employment:** jobs, hiring, salary, apprentice, career - **DIY and education:** how to, diagram, manual, tutorial, course - **Parts and equipment:** for sale, used, replacement part, wholesale - **No commercial intent:** free, cheapest, calculator, template - **Wrong service or wrong place**, including the towns and regions you do not cover ## How do the match types work here? The same three, with the opposite effect. - **Broad negative:** Blocks searches containing those words in any order. The bluntest, and the easiest to regret. - **Phrase negative:** Blocks searches containing that phrase in order. - **Exact negative:** Blocks only that search. The safest when you are unsure. Add each exclusion at the level where it is genuinely true. A word that is irrelevant in one campaign may be the whole point of another. ## How is the list maintained? From the search terms report, on a schedule. - Weekly while an account is new and learning - Monthly once it settles - After every change to [match types](/dictionary/match-type/) or budgets - After adding an automated campaign type, which widens matching again This is not a job that finishes. Search behavior moves, Google loosens matching over time, and a list built last year is blocking a different internet. ## What do the terms mean? - **Search terms report:** What people actually typed, as opposed to the keywords you bid on. The source for every good negative. - **Shared negative list:** One list applied across several campaigns. - **Brand exclusion:** Stopping an automated campaign from bidding on your own name. - **Match type:** How loosely the exclusion is interpreted. Owner questions ## What owners ask us about Negative Keyword ### How often should I review search terms? +Weekly on a new account, monthly once it settles. Broad match and automated campaign types make this more important, not less. ### Can negative keywords hurt my campaign? +Yes, when they are too broad. A negative phrase added at account level can silently block the exact work you sell. Add each one at the level where the exclusion is actually true. ### Do negative keywords work in Performance Max? +Account-level lists apply, and campaign-level negatives are available. The controls are thinner than in search campaigns, which is why the search terms and brand exclusions need watching. ### Should I exclude my own brand name? +Only after you have checked what it costs you. Brand clicks are cheap and often defensive, because a competitor may be bidding on your name. Exclude it in automated campaigns, not everywhere. ### How big should the list get? +As big as the search terms report justifies, and no bigger. A list copied from the internet blocks traffic you have never seen and creates problems nobody later understands.Put this to work ## Guides that use this Step-by-step playbooks from the team, written for owners doing the work themselves. No sign-up and no email required. [### Texas HVAC summer ad-spend curve: why doubling July loses money Most Austin HVAC operators double their Google Ads budget in July. CPCs rise faster than demand and ROAS collapses. Here's the curve we run instead. Read the guide→](/articles/texas-hvac-summer-ad-spend-curve/)4.9191 reviewsWhere this turns into work ## A budget pointed at buyers We read the search terms every week, cut what cannot become work, and keep the exclusions narrow enough that they never block the jobs you want. [See the service→](/services/google-ads/)[Ask us about it](/contact/) ![Mikkel Friis, Marketing Manager at Siite](/images/team/panel/mikkel-friis.webp) *Our marketing manager* ## Related entries - [### Quality Score Google Ads' 1-10 diagnostic estimating how relevant your keyword, ad and landing page are to a searcher — better relevance generally means a lower cost per click.](/dictionary/quality-score/) - [### Cost Per Lead What you spend to generate one inquiry — total marketing cost for a channel divided by the number of leads it produced in the same period.](/dictionary/cost-per-lead/) - [### Customer Acquisition Cost The full cost of winning one paying customer — marketing and sales spend for a period divided by the number of new customers it produced.](/dictionary/customer-acquisition-cost/) [All terms A to Z Browse every term A to Z Open the dictionary→](/dictionary/)