Negative Keywords Google Ads: Complete Strategy Guide + Starter List 2026
Negative keywords are your most underused lever for cutting wasted spend and improving Quality Score. Here's a complete strategy guide, match type rules, and a starter list of 50+ negatives you should add today.
Negative keywords are the words and phrases that prevent your ads from showing for irrelevant searches. Unlike most Google Ads optimizations, adding negatives is purely additive — you only block bad traffic, you never risk losing good traffic. Yet most accounts use a fraction of the negatives they should.
Why Negative Keywords Matter More Than You Think
The typical Google Ads account wastes 15-25% of its budget on irrelevant clicks. On a $3,000/month budget, that's $450-$750 per month going to people who will never buy. Negative keywords are the most direct way to stop this leak — and their benefit compounds: better traffic = higher CTR = better Quality Score = lower CPC for everyone.
The Three Match Types for Negatives
- Negative broad match: Blocks queries containing ALL your negative words in any order. Default type. Use for general irrelevancies
- Negative phrase match: Blocks queries containing your exact phrase. Use when word order matters (e.g., 'free trial' but not 'trial free period')
- Negative exact match: Blocks only the exact query. Use when a word is irrelevant in one specific context but relevant in others
Universal Negatives: Add These to Every Account
These terms are almost never relevant for a paid product or service and should be in every account's shared negative list:
- Intent negatives: free, cheap, budget, low cost, cheapest, discount, affordable (unless you sell on price)
- Learning intent: how to, tutorial, course, training, learn, DIY, guide (unless you sell educational content)
- Job/career: jobs, careers, salary, hiring, job openings, internship, resume
- Research intent: what is, definition, meaning, history, wiki, wikipedia
- Negative social proof: scam, fraud, lawsuit, complaints, fake
- Download/software: download, torrent, crack, free download
Industry-Specific Negatives
Beyond universal negatives, build a list specific to your industry. For a B2B SaaS product, add: student, nonprofit, personal, hobby, side project, consumer, individual. For ecommerce: wholesale, bulk, B2B (if B2C). For local services: nationwide, virtual, remote (if local-only).
How to Build Your List from Search Terms Data
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