Every Google Ads account leaks money in the same places. Someone searching for a job at a company like yours, a student looking for a free template, a DIY enthusiast wanting a tutorial, or a shopper hunting a used version on a marketplace. None of them will ever convert, and all of them can trigger your ads if your Google Ads negative keywords list is thin.
This post is a working reference, not a theory piece. Below you will find 126 negative keywords grouped into 10 themes, recommendations by campaign type (Search, Shopping, Performance Max, Display, YouTube, local services), and a short walkthrough of adding negatives at account, campaign and ad group level in the current Google Ads interface. Copy the blocks, paste them into a shared list, and you will typically recover a meaningful slice of wasted spend within the first month.
Quick refresher: how negative keywords actually behave
Negative keywords tell Google which searches should not trigger your ads. They behave differently from normal keywords in three important ways, and getting this wrong is why many lists underperform.
| Negative match type | Format | Blocks | Best used for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Broad | free trial | Searches containing all the words, in any order | Wide themes: jobs, adult, DIY, downloads |
| Phrase | “free trial” | Searches containing the exact phrase in that order | Multi-word intent signals |
| Exact | [free trial] | Only that exact search | Surgical exclusions, ambiguous single words |
Three rules to remember:
- Negative keywords do not match close variants. Plurals, misspellings and synonyms are not covered automatically. If you block job, you must also block jobs, joblist and so on.
- They are capped. A negative keyword can contain up to 10 words and 80 characters. You can add up to 10,000 negatives per campaign, 5,000 per negative keyword list, and 1,000 at account level.
- Only three symbols are allowed: ampersands (&), accent marks and asterisks. Everything else is stripped or rejected.
The 126-term Google Ads negative keywords list
Each block below is formatted for copy and paste. Add them as broad match negatives unless a note says otherwise, and always sanity-check against your own offer before pasting. If you sell training courses, obviously do not block course.
1. Job seekers and careers (14 terms)
The single biggest budget leak in B2B and service accounts. People search your service name plus a career word and land on your landing page.
job, jobs, career, careers, hiring, vacancy, vacancies, recruitment, recruiter, internship, apprenticeship, salary, resume, cv
2. Free, cheap and discount hunters (16 terms)
Keep free only if you genuinely run a free trial or freemium funnel. Otherwise it is pure waste.
free, freeware, gratis, no cost, cheap, cheapest, low cost, budget, discount, coupon, coupons, promo code, voucher, freebie, giveaway, bargain
3. DIY and self-service intent (10 terms)
Critical for trades, agencies, repair and home services. These searchers want to do the job themselves.
diy, do it yourself, homemade, build your own, make your own, how to make, how to build, how to fix, self service, step by step
4. Education, research and informational queries (16 terms)
High volume, near-zero conversion rate outside of ed-tech.
course, courses, class, classes, training, certification, certificate, tutorial, webinar, definition, meaning, what is, examples, pdf, ebook, wikipedia
5. Reviews, complaints and reputation searches (12 terms)
Useful to exclude on cold prospecting campaigns, but consider keeping alternative and vs in a dedicated competitor-conquesting campaign where you control the message.
review, reviews, complaint, complaints, scam, fraud, ripoff, lawsuit, is it legit, testimonials, comparison, ratings
6. Adult and offensive terms (10 terms)
Even with content filters, ambiguous product names (rubber, tools, toys, straps, escorts as in vehicle convoys) attract this traffic. Add these once at account level and forget about them.
porn, porno, xxx, sex, nude, naked, escort, hentai, nsfw, hookup
7. Existing customers and support queries (12 terms)
You do not need to pay for people who are already customers looking for your login page or a refund form.
login, log in, sign in, my account, customer service, phone number, cancel, cancellation, refund, unsubscribe, tracking, complaint form
8. Used, rental, wholesale and marketplaces (14 terms)
Essential for ecommerce and Shopping. These users have already decided to buy elsewhere or second-hand.
used, second hand, refurbished, pre owned, rental, rent, lease, wholesale, bulk, auction, ebay, amazon, aliexpress, craigslist
9. Downloads, images, videos and piracy (12 terms)
Software, SaaS and creative businesses lose an alarming amount of budget here.
download, free download, torrent, crack, cracked, keygen, apk, mod, clipart, wallpaper, stock photo, gif
10. Miscellaneous low-intent modifiers (10 terms)
Add these carefully and check your search terms report first, because a few can be legitimate in some verticals.
reddit, quora, forum, blog, news, history, images, pictures, meme, funny
Total: 126 terms. Two more groups cannot be listed generically because they are unique to you:
- Competitor brand names. If you are not running a deliberate conquesting campaign, add every direct competitor as a phrase negative. Also add their common misspellings.
- Off-target geography. Cities, regions or countries you do not serve. This is faster and more reliable than relying on location targeting alone, because a user in your area can still search “plumber in Manchester” while sitting in London.
What to exclude by campaign type
A single master list is a good baseline, but the highest-value negatives change depending on what the campaign is doing.
| Campaign type | Priority negative groups | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Search (lead gen / B2B) | Jobs, education, free, reviews, support, adult | Job and course terms usually account for the largest share of wasted clicks |
| Search (ecommerce) | Used/marketplace, free, DIY, downloads, coupon | Block coupon terms unless you run a coupon-affiliate strategy |
| Shopping | Used, rental, repair, parts, manual, adult | Also exclude accessory terms if you only sell the main product |
| Performance Max | Full master list at campaign and account level | PMax accepts campaign-level negative keywords and negative keyword lists; use both |
| Display | Content and placement exclusions | Negative keywords work at a topic level here, so keep them broad |
| YouTube / Video | Adult, kids content, gaming, meme, reaction | Pair with placement exclusions, which are more effective than keywords |
| Local services / trades | DIY, jobs, courses, wholesale, off-target cities | Add “how to” and “near me” variants for areas outside your radius |
How to add negative keywords in the current Google Ads interface
Google has reshuffled its navigation several times. Here is where everything lives today.
Ad group level
Use this when a term is valid elsewhere in the campaign but wrong for one specific ad group (classic example: excluding “women” from a men’s category ad group).
- Open Campaigns in the left navigation, then Audiences, keywords and content.
- Click Search keywords, then switch to the Negative search keywords tab.
- Click the plus button, choose Ad group as the level, and select the ad group.
- Paste your terms, one per line, then choose the match type by wrapping in quotes or brackets.
Campaign level
The default place for anything that protects a specific offer or budget.
- Go to the same Negative search keywords tab.
- Click the plus button and select Campaign.
- Paste the list, or choose Use negative keyword list to apply a shared list you have already built.
Shared negative keyword lists (the efficient method)
Build the list once and apply it to every campaign in the account. This is how you should handle the 126 terms above.
- Click Tools in the left navigation.
- Open Shared library, then Exclusion lists and select Negative keyword lists.
- Click the plus button, name the list something descriptive such as “Master – Jobs, Free, Adult”, and paste the terms.
- Tick the list, click Apply to campaigns, and select all relevant campaigns including Performance Max.
Tip: create three or four separate lists rather than one giant one. A “Jobs”, “Free and DIY”, “Adult and unrelated” and “Competitors” split lets you apply the right combination per campaign without duplicating work. You can apply up to 20 lists per campaign.
Account level
Account-level negatives apply to every eligible campaign automatically, which makes them perfect for adult terms, offensive language and brands you never want association with.
- Click Admin at the bottom of the left navigation.
- Open Account settings.
- Expand the Negative keywords section and add your terms (limit 1,000).
Note that account-level negatives are a blunt instrument. Do not put commercial terms in there, only the ones you would never want to serve on under any circumstances. a studio that gets this right treats this as a baseline.
The 15-minute monthly routine
A static list decays. Search behaviour changes, and broad match plus AI-driven matching constantly introduce new queries. Build this into your calendar:
- Open Campaigns > Insights and reports > Search terms.
- Set the date range to the last 30 days and sort by cost, descending.
- Scan the top 100 rows. Tick anything with spend and zero conversions that is clearly off-intent.
- Click Add as negative keyword and push it to the right level: ad group if it is contextual, campaign if it is offer-specific, shared list if it is a whole theme.
- Every quarter, filter the search terms report by Conversions = 0 and Cost > 0 to catch the slow bleed of small, repeated waste.
Five mistakes that make negative lists backfire
- Blocking your own money terms. Adding cheap in a discount ecommerce account, or course when you sell training, kills volume overnight. Always cross-check against your converting search terms first.
- Conflicting negatives. A negative keyword that overlaps a positive keyword wins. Use the conflict report in the Negative keywords tab to spot these.
- Over-using broad negatives. The broad negative free blocks “free shipping on premium leather boots”. Use phrase or exact when the word can appear in genuine buying queries.
- Ignoring plurals and misspellings. Negatives do not expand to close variants. Add both singular and plural forms.
- Applying lists only to Search. Performance Max and Shopping campaigns need the same protection, and they now support both campaign-level negatives and shared lists.
FAQ
What are negative keywords in Google Ads?
Negative keywords are terms you exclude so that your ads are not shown for searches containing them. They filter traffic rather than attract it, which improves click-through rate, quality signals and cost per conversion by removing clicks that were never going to convert.
What are examples of negative keywords?
The most universal examples are free, jobs, salary, diy, used, download, login, course and reddit, plus your competitors’ brand names and any cities you do not serve. The full 126-term list above groups these by theme. A comparable breakdown sits on goodfellastech.com.
Why do I only see negative keywords in Google Ads?
This usually happens for one of three reasons: you are looking at a campaign type that does not use positive keywords (Performance Max, Shopping, Dynamic Search Ads or Display), you have the Negative search keywords tab selected instead of Search keywords, or a filter is active on the table. Switch tabs and clear filters to see your standard keywords again.
How many negative keywords can I add?
Up to 10,000 per campaign, 5,000 per shared negative keyword list, 20 lists per campaign, and 1,000 at account level. Each individual negative keyword is limited to 10 words and 80 characters.
Do negative keywords work in Performance Max?
Yes. Performance Max supports campaign-level negative keywords and shared negative keyword lists, alongside account-level negatives and brand exclusions. Applying your master list to PMax is one of the fastest ways to clean up its search partner and Shopping traffic.
Should I use broad, phrase or exact negatives?
Use broad for whole themes you never want (jobs, adult, downloads). Use phrase for multi-word intent signals such as “how to make”. Use exact when a word has legitimate commercial meaning in your niche and you only want to block one specific query.
Next step
Paste the ten blocks above into a shared negative keyword list, apply it across every campaign including Performance Max, then run the 15-minute search terms routine at the end of each month. Most accounts recover 10 to 30 percent of their search spend from this single exercise, and that budget goes straight back into the queries that actually convert.
If you would rather have an audit done for you, the team at Shatter Studios reviews search term reports, negative structures and campaign settings as part of every paid media engagement.