Every pound spent on Google Ads should contribute to meaningful results. Yet many marketers watch their budgets drain away on irrelevant clicks that never convert. The potential solution? Mastering the art of negative keywords.
Negative keywords are your secret weapon for preventing ads from appearing in irrelevant searches. When used strategically, they transform wasteful campaigns into precisely targeted machines that attract qualified prospects whilst protecting your budget from unwanted traffic.
Whether you’re a marketing manager juggling multiple campaigns or a small business owner maximising every advertising pound, understanding negative keywords will dramatically improve your Google Ads performance. This blog will show you exactly how to identify, implement, and utilise negative keywords for maximum impact.
What are negative keywords?
Negative keywords are terms you add to your Google Ads campaigns to prevent your advertisements from triggering when users search for specific words or phrases. Think of them as filters that block irrelevant traffic before it reaches your ads.
When you add “free” as a negative keyword, your ads won’t appear when someone searches for “free legal advice” or “free consultation.” This ensures your budget focuses on users with genuine commercial intent rather than those seeking complimentary services.
Negative keywords work across different campaign types, from Search campaigns to Display Network advertising. They give you more control over when and where your ads appear, helping you reach the most relevant audience for your business.
Rather than casting a wide net and hoping for the best, negative keywords allow you to sculpt your audience with more accuracy. This targeted approach leads to higher click-through rates, better quality scores, and ultimately, more conversions.
Why negative keywords matter for campaign success
The benefits of implementing a robust negative keyword strategy go beyond simply avoiding unwanted clicks. They improve virtually every aspect of your campaign performance.
Budget protection and cost efficiency
Every click from an irrelevant search term represents wasted spend. For a family law practice, appearing for searches like “lawyer jobs” or “law degree requirements” consumes budget without generating leads. Negative keywords for ‘job’ and ‘degree’ would eliminate this waste, allowing you to invest more in high-converting traffic.
Improved click-through rates
When your ads only appear for relevant searches, more users click through because your offering matches their intent. Higher CTRs signal to Google that your ads are valuable to users, which can improve your ad positions and reduce costs over time.
Enhanced quality score
Google rewards relevant ads with better quality scores. By using negative keywords to ensure tight relevance between search queries, ads, and landing pages, you’ll see improved scores that lead to lower costs per click and better ad positions.
Better conversion rates
Users who click your ads after negative keyword filtering are more likely to convert because they’re genuinely interested in what you are advertising. This improved relevance means more leads and sales from your advertising investment.
Building your negative keyword list
Creating an effective negative keyword list requires ongoing research and refinement. Start with these methods for identifying terms to exclude:
Keyword research foundation
Begin your negative keyword research during initial campaign planning. As you identify target keywords, simultaneously note irrelevant terms that could trigger your ads inappropriately.
For a family law firm targeting “divorce solicitor,” you might discover related searches for “divorce solicitor salary,” “divorce solicitor education requirements,” or “divorce solicitor jobs”. These career-focused terms should immediately join your negative keyword list.
Search terms report analysis
Your most valuable source of negative keywords comes from actual search queries. Google Ads’ Search Terms Report reveals the exact phrases triggering your ads, highlighting opportunities for refinement.
Review this report weekly, looking for patterns of irrelevant searches. Filter by performance metrics to identify queries with high impressions but low CTRs or conversion rates. These underperforming terms are prime candidates for negative keyword treatment.
Competitor research
Analyse what competitors are bidding on to uncover potential negative keywords. Tools like SEMrush or manual Google searches can reveal terms adjacent to your market that you’ll want to avoid.
If you’re a premium family law practice, you might discover competitors bidding on “cheap divorce lawyer” or “no win no fee legal services.” Adding “cheap,” “budget,” and “no win no fee” as negatives helps position your practice where you want to be seen.
SERP evaluation
Conduct Google searches for your target keywords and examine the search engine results page (SERP). Look for competing ads, related searches, and autocomplete suggestions that reveal irrelevant terms users might associate with your keywords.
This hands-on approach often uncovers negative keywords that automated tools miss, particularly local variations or industry-specific terms.
3 steps to create a negative keyword list
Let’s walk through creating a negative keyword list for a family law practice targeting divorce and child custody cases as our example. I recommend always using the singular version of a word where possible, as well as it’s plural counterpart. This would mean including both job and jobs.
Step 1: Core negative categories
Start with universal negatives that apply across all campaigns, these will be specific to your industry, so for law firms:
- Career terms: job, career, salary, degree, education
- Free services: free, gratis, no cost, complimentary, no win no fee
- DIY alternatives: self, yourself, own
- Irrelevant practice areas: criminal, personal injury, immigration
Step 2: Service-specific negatives
Create targeted lists for different practice areas, these lists will be attached to their relevant campaigns:
Divorce campaigns might exclude:
- Planning terms: planning, thinking about, considering
- General information: definition, meaning, process, how to
- Other relationship issues: annulment
Child custody campaigns might exclude:
- Pet custody: dog, cat, pet, animal
- General custody: jail, prison, police, arrest
- Unrelated custody: bank, financial, asset
Step 3: Quality and pricing modifiers
Consider your positioning when adding pricing and quality-related negatives. An upmarket law firm may not offer legal aid for their services, so marketers would need to exclude:
- Budget-focused: cheap, discount, budget, inexpensive, legal aid
- Urgency mismatches: emergency, urgent, immediate (if you don’t offer same-day service)
How many negative keywords do I need?
This question doesn’t have a universal answer, but new campaigns typically benefit from 25-75 negative keywords covering obvious irrelevancies. This prevents the most common wasteful clicks, whilst allowing room for discovery through search terms reports.
More established campaigns often develop negative keyword lists of 200-500 terms as they refine targeting over months of optimisation. This growth reflects a deeper understanding of audience behaviour and search patterns.
Maximising your campaign potential
Negative keywords represent one of the most powerful yet underutilised tools in Google Ads. They transform unfocused campaigns into precision-targeted lead generation engines that make every pound of ad spend count.
Start implementing negative keywords today by reviewing your search terms reports and identifying obvious irrelevancies. Remember that negative keyword management is an ongoing process, not a one-time setup task. The most successful campaigns continuously refine their negative keyword strategies based on real performance data and evolving search behaviour.
Take control of your campaign targeting today and watch your Google Ads performance improve.
