What is Negative Keywords?

Negative Keywords are search terms you specifically exclude from your campaigns. Adding them prevents your ads from showing when shoppers search for irrelevant terms, saving budget and improving efficiency.

Why Negative Keywords Matter

Without negative keywords, your ads may show for searches that:

• Don't relate to your product
• Have very low conversion rates
• Waste budget on clicks that don't convert
• Inflate your ACoS

Example

If you sell premium leather wallets, you might add these negatives:

• "cheap"
• "kids"
• "plastic"
• "free"

Types of Negative Keyword Matches

Negative Exact

• Blocks only that exact search term
• Most precise control
• Example: "cheap wallet" blocks only "cheap wallet"

Negative Phrase

• Blocks searches containing that phrase
• Broader protection
• Example: "cheap" blocks "cheap wallet", "cheap leather wallet", etc.

Where to Find Negative Keywords

1. Search Term Reports - Find low-converting terms
2. Auto campaigns - Review triggered searches
3. Competitor analysis - Terms irrelevant to your brand
4. Common sense - Terms that clearly don't fit

Negative Keyword Best Practices

1. Review weekly - Check Search Term Reports regularly
2. Be strategic - Don't over-negate and lose reach
3. Use phrase for broad blocking - Cover variations
4. Use exact for precision - When you want specificity
5. Apply campaign-level vs ad group - Different strategies

Common Negative Keyword Categories

• Price-related: free, cheap, discount, used
• Competitors: brand names (if not relevant)
• Irrelevant attributes: wrong color, size, material
• B2B vs B2C: wholesale, bulk (if consumer product)