How to Find Negative Keywords in Google Ads: 7 Methods That Actually Work
Stop wasting budget on irrelevant clicks. Learn 7 proven methods to find negative keywords in Google Ads, from search terms reports to competitor analysis and AI tools.
March 11, 202613 min read
Negative keywords are the most overlooked profit lever in Google Ads. Every irrelevant search query that triggers your ad costs you money and teaches Google's algorithm the wrong lessons about who your customers are. The average Google Ads account wastes 20-30% of its budget on irrelevant clicks that could be prevented with proper negative keyword management.
The challenge is not understanding that negative keywords matter — most advertisers know that. The challenge is systematically finding them before they drain your budget. This guide covers seven methods, from basic to advanced, that will help you build a comprehensive negative keyword strategy.
Method 1: Mining the Search Terms Report
The Search Terms Report is your primary source for negative keywords. It shows the actual queries people typed before clicking your ad. Google Ads > Keywords > Search Terms gives you this report, though Google now hides a growing percentage of queries under 'Other search terms' for privacy reasons.
How to mine it effectively
Set the date range to the last 30 days for a meaningful sample size
Sort by Cost (descending) — the most expensive irrelevant queries are your highest priority negatives
Filter for queries with zero conversions and CTR below your account average — these are likely irrelevant
Look for patterns: if 'free' appears in 15 different queries and you sell a paid product, add 'free' as a negative at the campaign level
Check queries with conversions too — sometimes a query converts but at a CPA 5x higher than your target, making it unprofitable
Do this weekly for the first month, then biweekly. New irrelevant queries appear constantly as Google expands match types, especially with Broad match keywords.
Method 2: Pre-Launch Keyword Research Negatives
Do not wait for your budget to get wasted. Before launching any campaign, research the keyword landscape to identify obvious negatives. Use Google Keyword Planner: enter your target keyword and scroll through the suggestions. Any suggestion that is clearly irrelevant to your offer becomes a negative.
Search your target keyword on Google and note autocomplete suggestions that are irrelevant
Check 'People Also Ask' and 'Related Searches' for query patterns you want to exclude
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If you sell B2B software, preemptively add negatives like 'free', 'open source', 'tutorial', 'course', 'salary', 'jobs', 'internship'
For local businesses, add negatives for cities and regions you do not serve
For premium products, add price-sensitive terms like 'cheap', 'budget', 'discount' if they attract the wrong buyers
Method 3: Google Ads Recommendations (With Caution)
Google Ads occasionally suggests negative keywords in the Recommendations tab. These can be useful but require careful review — Google's recommendations are optimized for Google's revenue, not necessarily your profitability. Accept negative keyword recommendations that clearly match irrelevant queries, but verify each one against your actual business context.
Method 4: Competitor and Industry Negative Lists
Every industry has a standard set of negative keywords. For example, almost every B2B advertiser should exclude 'jobs', 'careers', 'salary', 'internship', and 'training'. Every paid product should exclude 'free', 'open source', and 'crack'. Start with these industry baselines and customize from there.
Ecommerce: Exclude 'DIY', 'homemade', 'recipe', 'how to make', 'repair', 'manual'
Professional services: Exclude 'salary', 'jobs', 'template', 'free tool', 'calculator' (unless your landing page IS a calculator)
Local services: Exclude all cities/regions you do not serve, plus 'near me' variants for distant locations
Create shared negative keyword lists in Google Ads (Tools > Shared Library > Negative Keyword Lists) and apply them across all relevant campaigns. This prevents you from having to add the same negatives to every campaign individually.
Method 5: Analyzing Your Google Analytics Data
Google Analytics reveals what people do after they click. Connect Google Analytics to your Google Ads account and look at the Acquisition > Google Ads > Search Queries report. Filter for queries with high bounce rates (above 80%) and zero goal completions. These are queries where people clicked, saw your page, and immediately left — a strong signal of irrelevance.
Sort by bounce rate (descending) and filter for queries with at least 10 sessions
Check average session duration: queries with under 10 seconds average are almost certainly irrelevant
Look at the landing page for these queries — sometimes the query is relevant but the landing page is wrong
Cross-reference with your Search Terms Report to confirm the query is actually triggering your ads
Method 6: Using N-Gram Analysis for Pattern Discovery
N-gram analysis breaks search queries into individual words and word pairs, then counts how often each appears. This reveals hidden patterns that are invisible when reading queries one at a time. For example, you might not notice that the word 'template' appears in 47 different search queries that cost you 340 euros last month with zero conversions.
How to run an n-gram analysis
Export your Search Terms Report for the last 90 days
Use a spreadsheet or script to split each query into individual words (unigrams) and two-word pairs (bigrams)
For each word/pair, sum up total cost, clicks, and conversions
Sort by cost descending and look for high-cost, zero-conversion terms — these are your negative keyword candidates
Verify each candidate manually before adding it — sometimes a word appears in both relevant and irrelevant queries
This method is particularly powerful for accounts with Broad match keywords, where the variety of triggered queries is enormous and manual review misses patterns.
Method 7: AI-Powered Negative Keyword Discovery
Modern AI tools can analyze your search terms data and identify negative keyword opportunities that humans miss. AI excels at pattern recognition across thousands of queries, finding semantic clusters of irrelevant traffic and suggesting negatives you would not have thought of.
AI tools can also predict which queries are likely to be irrelevant based on their similarity to known irrelevant queries in your account. This proactive approach catches wasted spend before it happens, rather than waiting for the Search Terms Report to show the damage.
Negative Keyword Match Types: Getting Them Right
Just like regular keywords, negative keywords have match types that control how broadly they block queries. Using the wrong match type is a common mistake that either blocks too little (wasting money) or too much (losing good traffic).
Negative broad match (default): Blocks queries containing ALL words in any order. 'free trial' blocks 'free trial software' and 'trial free download' but NOT 'free software' (missing 'trial')
Negative phrase match: Blocks queries containing the exact phrase in order. 'free trial' blocks 'get free trial now' but NOT 'free product trial'
Negative exact match: Blocks only the exact query. 'free trial' only blocks 'free trial' — nothing else
Rule of thumb: Use broad match for single-word negatives ('free', 'jobs'), phrase match for two-word concepts ('free trial', 'job openings'), and exact match rarely
Maintenance: The Ongoing Negative Keyword Habit
Negative keyword management is not a one-time task. New irrelevant queries appear every week as Google broadens match types and user behavior evolves. The most profitable Google Ads accounts we manage have a disciplined weekly or biweekly review process.
Week 1-4 of a new campaign: Review search terms daily, adding 5-20 negatives per session
Month 2-6: Review weekly, adding 3-10 negatives per session
Month 6+: Review biweekly, adding 1-5 negatives per session as the list matures
Quarterly: Audit your negative keyword lists for over-blocking — remove any negatives that might be blocking relevant queries
Let AdPredictor automatically analyze your search terms and flag negative keyword opportunities every time your account syncs — start your free trial