What are Negative Keywords?

Negative keywords are search terms you exclude from your ad campaigns. They stop your ad from showing for irrelevant searches, reduce wasted budget and improve your Quality Score. They are essential in any serious SEA strategy.

How do negative keywords work?

In Google Ads you add negative keywords at campaign or ad group level. Like regular keywords, negative keywords come in three types: broad, phrase and exact. They are especially essential when you use broad match types, which otherwise attract too much irrelevant traffic.

Why are negative keywords so important?

Without negative keywords you pay for clicks from people who will never convert. They keep the CPC low, the CPA under control and the CTR high. A higher CTR also leads directly to a better Quality Score.

Building negative keyword lists

Analyse the search terms report in Google Ads regularly and add irrelevant terms. Also set up shared negative keyword lists that you can apply to several campaigns. ROXTAR builds and maintains negative keyword lists as part of our Google Ads service.

How many negative keywords can I add?

You can add thousands of negative keywords per campaign. Google Ads also supports shared negative keyword lists that you can use across your account.

How do I know which keywords to exclude?

The search terms report in Google Ads shows you exactly which searches your ads appeared for and how they performed.

Can a negative keyword block my own campaigns?

Yes, that is a common mistake. Always check whether negative terms conflict with your regular keywords. More at developers.google.com/search.