188+ Google Ads Negative Keywords
That Save Your Budget

Negative keywords are terms you add to your campaign to prevent your ads from showing when someone searches for those terms. For example, a plumber adding 'jobs' as a negative keyword won't show ads when someone searches 'plumber jobs near me.' Without negatives, Google's broad and phrase match types will show your ads for searches that include your keywords but have completely different intent — like people looking for employment, DIY tutorials, or free services. Negatives are the single most effective way to reduce wasted spend.

A well-maintained local service campaign should have 50-200 negative keywords. Start with 30-50 universal negatives (jobs, hiring, salary, DIY, YouTube, free, how to, training, certification, school) on day one. Then review your search terms report weekly for the first month and biweekly after that, adding 5-15 new negatives each review. Most accounts stabilize around 100-150 negatives after 3 months. Google allows up to 5,000 negative keywords per campaign and 10,000 per account via shared lists.

In Google Ads, go to your campaign, click 'Keywords' in the left menu, then select the 'Negative keywords' tab. You can add them at the campaign level (affects all ad groups in that campaign) or the ad group level (affects only that ad group). For universal terms like 'jobs' and 'free,' add them at the campaign level. For more specific exclusions, use ad group-level negatives. You can also create shared negative keyword lists under Tools > Shared Library > Negative keyword lists, which can be applied across multiple campaigns at once.

Without negative keywords, 20-30% of your ad spend typically goes to irrelevant clicks. A plumber campaign without negatives will show ads for 'plumber salary,' 'how to fix a toilet yourself,' 'plumbing apprenticeship,' and 'free plumber.' These clicks cost $8-$25 each and have zero chance of converting into customers. Over a month at $2,000 budget, that's $400-$600 wasted. Worse, these irrelevant clicks lower your click-through rate, which drops your Quality Score, which raises your CPC on the good keywords — creating a downward spiral.

Review your search terms report and add new negatives weekly for the first 4-6 weeks of a campaign. After the initial period, biweekly reviews are sufficient for most accounts. Set a recurring calendar reminder — the most common mistake is reviewing search terms once and never coming back. Seasonal changes can introduce new irrelevant terms too (e.g., 'Christmas lighting jobs' appearing in October). Accounts spending over $3,000/mo should review search terms at least twice per week to catch waste quickly.