How to Use the Search Terms Report to Find Negative Keywords in Google Ads

TL;DR: The Google Ads search terms report shows you exactly what people typed before clicking your ad. By reviewing it regularly, you can spot irrelevant queries, add them as negative keywords, and stop bleeding budget on clicks that will never convert. This guide walks you through the full process—from opening the report to applying negatives at the right level. Whether you're managing one campaign or fifty, this is one of the highest-ROI tasks in Google Ads optimization. It takes less than 30 minutes once you know what you're looking for.

Most Google Ads accounts are leaking money through the search terms report. Not because advertisers don't know it exists, but because they don't work it systematically. They glance at it occasionally, maybe block one or two obvious terms, and move on. Meanwhile, budget keeps flowing to queries that have zero chance of converting.

In most accounts I audit, 15–30% of search term spend is going to queries that are clearly irrelevant to the business. That's not a small rounding error. That's real money that could be redirected toward the terms that actually drive results.

This guide breaks down exactly how to use the search terms report to find negative keywords in Google Ads—step by step, with the specific filters, frameworks, and decisions that make the process efficient and repeatable.

Step 1: Open the Search Terms Report the Right Way

In the current Google Ads UI, navigate to the left-hand menu and go to Campaigns > Keywords > Search Terms. If you're using the older interface, it's under the Keywords tab at the top of the page. Either way, you'll land in the same report.

Here's a decision that matters before you even look at the data: are you opening this at the campaign level or the ad group level?

At the campaign level, you see all search terms across every ad group in that campaign. This is the right starting point for most audits. It gives you the full picture of what's triggering your ads.

At the ad group level, you're scoped to just one ad group. This is useful when you're doing surgical cleanup—for example, when you want to understand why a specific ad group is underperforming.

For your date range, 30–90 days is the sweet spot. Less than two weeks often doesn't have enough volume to make confident decisions. More than six months risks including intent patterns that no longer reflect your current audience or offer.

Before you do anything else, add a quick filter: Impressions > 10. This cuts out the long-tail noise from one-off queries that fired once and never will again. You want to focus your attention on terms with enough volume to actually matter.

Once you've got the report open with a sensible date range and that impressions filter applied, you're ready to start reading the data properly.

Step 2: Set Up the Columns That Tell the Real Story

The default column view in the search terms report isn't always configured for negative keyword hunting. Before you start analyzing, make sure you're looking at the right metrics.

The columns that actually matter here are: Search Term, Keyword, Clicks, Impressions, Cost, Conversions, Conv. Rate, and Cost/Conv. If any of these aren't visible, click the columns icon (the four-square grid near the top right of the table) and add them.

Here's what each column tells you in this context:

Search Term vs. Keyword: This distinction is fundamental. The "Keyword" column shows what you're bidding on. The "Search Term" column shows what the user actually typed. These are often very different, especially if you're using broad or phrase match keywords. Understanding this gap is the whole point of the exercise.

Cost + Conversions together: This is your primary signal. A search term with significant spend and zero conversions is a red flag. That doesn't automatically mean it's a negative—some terms need more data—but it's where you start.

Conv. Rate: Useful for spotting terms that convert at a much lower rate than your account average. If your account converts at 4% and a term is converting at 0.5% despite decent volume, that's worth investigating.

CTR in isolation is misleading. A search term with a 15% CTR sounds great until you realize it's people searching for "free [your product] download" who click out of curiosity and immediately bounce. High CTR on an irrelevant term just means you're efficiently burning budget.

What usually happens here is that advertisers focus too much on CTR and not enough on the cost-to-conversion relationship. Get those conversion columns in view before you start making decisions.

Step 3: Sort and Filter to Surface Junk Traffic Fast

Now the actual work begins. Here's the filtering sequence I use in most accounts:

Sort by Cost descending. This puts your most expensive search terms at the top. You're not trying to find every irrelevant term in the report—you're trying to find the ones costing you the most money first. Work top-down.

Apply a filter: Conversions = 0 AND Cost > your target CPA. If your target CPA is $50 and a search term has spent $80 with zero conversions, that's a clear candidate for exclusion. This filter isolates the terms where the math is already broken.

Next, use the search bar within the report to scan for known intent signals. Some of the most common negative keyword categories show up as specific words in the query. Search for terms like:

Freebie signals: "free", "gratis", "open source", "no cost"

Job seeker signals: "jobs", "careers", "salary", "hiring", "resume", "internship"

Informational/DIY signals: "how to", "tutorial", "what is", "DIY", "YouTube", "Reddit", "forum"

Wrong audience signals: competitor brand names (if you're not intentionally targeting them), unrelated industry terms

To give you a real-world example of how this plays out: a B2B SaaS company advertising a paid CRM tool might find "free CRM software" triggering their ads. That's a textbook negative keyword candidate. The searcher's intent is explicitly to avoid paying for anything. No amount of ad copy or landing page optimization will fix that mismatch.

If you suspect specific traffic sources are skewing your data, use the Segment dropdown to break results down by device or network. Search partner traffic, for instance, sometimes behaves very differently from Google Search traffic and can mask what's actually happening.

Step 4: Categorize Before You Click Anything

Resist the urge to immediately start checking boxes and adding negatives. Categorizing first prevents mistakes.

Sort every term you've flagged into one of three buckets:

Bucket 1: Clearly irrelevant. Add as negative immediately. No ambiguity. "Free [product]", "[competitor] alternative", "jobs at [industry]"—these are obvious exclusions.

Bucket 2: Borderline. These need more thought. Maybe the term looks slightly off but could still convert for a different product in your lineup. Maybe it's an informational query that sometimes leads to purchase intent. Apply the "would I write a specific ad for this term?" test. If the answer is no—if you couldn't write an ad that genuinely speaks to this query—it's probably a negative.

Bucket 3: Unexpectedly good. This is the part most guides skip. The search terms report doesn't just find negatives—it surfaces high-intent queries you're not explicitly bidding on. If you find a search term converting well that isn't in your keyword list, flag it to add as an exact match or phrase match keyword. This gives you direct control over bidding and ad copy for that term.

On competitor brand terms: this is a judgment call. If you're not intentionally running competitor conquest campaigns, add them as negatives to keep your targeting clean. If you are running conquest campaigns, those terms belong in a separate, dedicated campaign—not mixed in with your core keywords.

The distinction between informational and transactional intent is worth sharpening here. "How do CRM tools work" is informational. "Best CRM for small business" is transactional. Both might trigger the same keyword, but they deserve different treatment.

Step 5: Choose the Right Match Type for Your Negative Keywords

This is where most people make costly mistakes. Negative match types behave differently from positive match types, and getting this wrong can accidentally block terms you actually want.

Negative Broad Match blocks your ad from showing whenever a query contains all the words in your negative keyword, in any order. If you add "free" as a negative broad match, it will block "free CRM", "CRM free trial", and "get CRM for free". Use this when you want to block any query containing a specific word, regardless of context. It's a wide net.

Negative Phrase Match blocks queries that contain your negative keyword phrase in that exact order. Adding "how to build" as a negative phrase match blocks "how to build a CRM" and "how to build customer relationships" but not "build how to guide". Use this when you want to block a specific phrase pattern without casting too wide a net.

Negative Exact Match only blocks the precise query you specify. Negative exact [red shoes] only blocks someone searching for "red shoes"—nothing else. Use this for surgical exclusions where you want to block one specific query without affecting anything related.

One critical thing to know: negative keywords do not use close variants. Unlike positive keywords, where Google matches "shoe" to "shoes", a negative exact match for [shoes] will NOT block "shoe" or "sneakers". You have to be explicit. This is actually useful—it means you have more precise control—but it also means you can't assume one negative will cover all variations.

The common mistake I see is adding negative broad match terms that are too generic. Adding "software" as a negative broad match to a software company's campaign will devastate traffic. Be specific with broad negatives, and when in doubt, use phrase or exact match instead.

Step 6: Add Negatives at the Right Level

Where you add a negative keyword is just as important as which keyword you add. There are three levels to work with:

Ad group level is the most granular. Use this when a term is irrelevant for one specific ad group but might be fine for another. For example, if you have separate ad groups for "project management software" and "team collaboration tools", a term like "individual task tracker" might be fine for the second ad group but irrelevant for the first.

Campaign level applies the negative across all ad groups within that campaign. Use this when a term is irrelevant regardless of which ad group triggered it. This is the right level for most of the obvious exclusions you'll find.

Shared negative keyword lists are the most scalable option, especially for agencies managing multiple campaigns or clients. You create these under Tools > Shared Library > Negative keyword lists. Build the list once, then apply it to as many campaigns as you want. When you update the list, every campaign using it gets updated automatically.

The best practice for agencies is to maintain a "master exclusion list" that covers brand-wide irrelevant terms: competitor names (if not intentionally targeting), career-related terms, generic informational queries, and geographic terms outside your target area. Apply this list to every new campaign by default.

For individual client accounts, I recommend keeping a campaign-level list for campaign-specific exclusions and a shared list for account-wide ones. This keeps things organized and makes audits much faster.

Step 7: Build a Repeatable Review Cadence

A one-time cleanup is better than nothing, but the search terms report needs regular attention. New queries appear constantly as user behavior shifts and your keyword match types evolve.

A practical cadence that works for most accounts:

Weekly review for new campaigns (first 60–90 days) or high-spend campaigns where waste accumulates quickly.

Bi-weekly review for stable, established campaigns where the major junk traffic has already been filtered out.

Monthly review for low-spend or evergreen campaigns that don't change much.

Keep a running log of every negative you add and why. This sounds tedious, but it's genuinely useful. When a client asks why their traffic dropped, or when you're onboarding a new team member, that log is invaluable. It also helps you spot patterns over time—if you keep adding the same category of negatives, that might signal a match type problem upstream.

Set a recurring calendar reminder so this doesn't get skipped during busy periods. Better yet, make it a line item in your standard campaign optimization checklist so it happens automatically as part of your workflow.

Revisit negatives you've already added when campaign goals shift. If you originally excluded "enterprise" because you were targeting SMBs and then your client moves upmarket, those negatives need revisiting. Negative keyword lists aren't permanent—they should evolve with the account strategy.

For anyone managing multiple accounts, this is where tools like Keywordme genuinely change the workflow. Instead of exporting CSVs, working in spreadsheets, and re-uploading, you can action negatives directly inside the Google Ads Search Terms Report via a Chrome extension. One click to add a negative, right where you're already working. No tab switching, no export-import cycle. At scale, that time saving compounds fast.

Quick Reference: FAQ on Search Terms and Negative Keywords

Q: How is the search terms report different from the keywords report?

The keywords report shows what you're bidding on. The search terms report shows what users actually searched for. They're related but distinct. A single keyword can trigger dozens of different search terms depending on your match type settings.

Q: Can I see search terms for Performance Max campaigns?

Partially. Google shows a limited subset of search terms for Performance Max campaigns, sometimes referred to as "Search Categories" rather than individual queries. You don't get full visibility the way you do with standard Search campaigns. Account-level negative keywords can be applied to PMax, but campaign-level negative keyword support for PMax is limited as of current Google Ads functionality.

Q: How many negative keywords is too many?

There's no hard ceiling that should worry most advertisers. The practical concern is adding negatives that accidentally block converting traffic. Quality and accuracy matter more than quantity. A focused list of well-chosen negatives outperforms a bloated list of carelessly added ones.

Q: Should I add negatives before or after a campaign has data?

Both. Before launch, add obvious exclusions from known irrelevant categories (freebie seekers, job seekers, etc.) using a master exclusion list. After the campaign runs for a week or two, review the actual search terms data and add data-driven negatives based on what you see.

Q: What's the difference between a campaign-level and a shared negative keyword list?

Campaign-level negatives only apply to that one campaign. A shared list can be applied to multiple campaigns simultaneously and updated centrally. For single-campaign accounts, campaign-level negatives are fine. For multi-campaign or multi-client accounts, shared lists are significantly more efficient.

Your 7-Step Checklist: Putting It All Together

The search terms report is one of the most underused and highest-impact tools in Google Ads. Most advertisers open it occasionally. The ones who work it systematically—with the right filters, the right categorization framework, and a consistent cadence—consistently run leaner, more profitable accounts.

Here's your quick reference checklist:

1. Open the search terms report at the right level (campaign or ad group) with a 30–90 day date range and an impressions > 10 filter.

2. Configure your columns to show Cost, Conversions, Conv. Rate, and Cost/Conv. alongside the Search Term and Keyword columns.

3. Sort by Cost descending and filter for high-cost, zero-conversion terms to find the most expensive waste first.

4. Scan for intent signals: freebie, job seeker, informational, and wrong-audience terms.

5. Categorize terms into three buckets: clear negatives, borderline (apply the "would I write an ad for this?" test), and unexpectedly good terms to add as positive keywords.

6. Choose the right negative match type: broad for wide exclusions, phrase for pattern blocking, exact for surgical precision.

7. Add negatives at the right level: ad group for granular sculpting, campaign for broad exclusions, shared lists for scalable multi-campaign management.

Doing this manually works. But if you're managing more than a handful of campaigns, the export-spreadsheet-re-upload cycle gets old fast. Start your free 7-day trial of Keywordme and action negatives directly inside Google Ads—no spreadsheets, no switching tabs, just fast, clean optimization right where you're already working. Then $12/month after that.