Absolutely—negative keywords help you filter out irrelevant traffic and save budget. Here’s how to add them in Google Ads, plus some best‑practice tips and examples.
1. Decide Level: Campaign vs. Ad Group
- Campaign level: applies across all ad groups—good for broad exclusions (e.g. “free”).
- Ad group level: fine‑tunes individual ad groups—ideal for niche exclusions (e.g. “Detroit”).
2. In the Google Ads UI
- Sign in to your Google Ads account.
- In the left menu, click Keywords, then choose Negative keywords.
- Click the “+” (plus) button.
- Select whether to add to a Campaign or Ad group, then pick the specific campaign/ad group.
- Enter your negative keywords (one per line).
- Click Save.
3. Match Types
- Broad match (no symbols): excludes searches containing all terms, in any order (e.g.
free coupon). - Phrase match (
" "): excludes searches containing the exact phrase, in that order (e.g."free trial"). - Exact match (
[ ]): excludes searches matching exactly that term or very close variants (e.g.[jobs Detroit]).
4. Best Practices
- Start small: add a handful of high‑impact negatives (e.g. “free,” “cheap,” “jobs”).
- Review Search Terms weekly: identify irrelevant queries and add them as negatives.
- Use shared lists for common negatives across multiple campaigns (via Tools & Settings → Shared library → Negative keyword lists).
- Avoid over‑exclusion: too many negatives can kill volume. Focus on clear mismatches.
5. Example Negative Keywords
For a Detroit‑focused PPC service campaign:
- Broad
- free
- tutorial
- salary
- career
- Phrase
- “Google Ads tutorial”
- “PPC certification”
- “free course”
- Exact
- [jobs Detroit]
- [Detroit PPC jobs]
- [Google Ads careers]
Use these to prevent your ads from showing to job‑seekers, DIY learners, or bargain hunters.
Implementing these steps will tighten your targeting, reduce wasted clicks, and boost your ROI. Let me know if you’d like sample negative‑keyword lists for another niche!
