8 Types for Your Negative Keywords List for Google Ads 2025

If you're running Google Ads, you're probably leaking money. It's not a matter of 'if,' but 'how much.' The culprit? Irrelevant search terms that trigger your ads for people who will never, ever buy from you. Think about it: job seekers looking for a career, students hunting for research papers, or DIY enthusiasts searching for a tutorial. Each click from these users is a direct hit to your budget with zero chance of a return.

This is where a powerful negative keywords list for Google Ads becomes your most valuable asset. It's not just a nice-to-have; it's a non-negotiable tool for protecting your ad spend and supercharging your campaign's efficiency. By proactively telling Google which searches not to show your ads for, you stop wasting money on unqualified traffic. This simple, strategic move is a direct path to significantly improve Google Ads performance and ROI by eliminating that wasted spend before it ever happens.

In this guide, we're skipping the fluff. We'll dive straight into 8 essential, categorized lists of negative keywords you can copy, paste, and implement today. We’ll cover everything from filtering out job hunters to deflecting price shoppers who aren't a good fit. Forget the vague theory; this is your actionable playbook to filter out the noise, connect with customers who are actually ready to convert, and plug those budget leaks for good. Let’s get started.

1. Job-Related Negative Keywords List

Unless you're a recruiter or a job board, there's a good chance you’re wasting a significant chunk of your ad budget on job seekers. It's a classic mix-up: someone searches for "e-commerce marketing," and Google doesn't know if they're looking for a service or a new gig. This is where a job-related negative keywords list becomes your campaign's best friend.

This list is one of the most universally applicable and high-impact additions you can make. It works by filtering out search queries that contain terms related to employment, careers, hiring, and salaries. The intent behind a search for "plumbing salary in Texas" is completely different from "plumber in Texas for emergency." By excluding the first, you ensure your ads only show to potential customers, not potential employees.

The impact can be immediate and substantial. For instance, an e-commerce store selling premium nursing scrubs saved 22% on their total ad spend just by excluding terms like 'nursing jobs' and 'RN hiring'. Similarly, a B2B SaaS company saw a 40% reduction in irrelevant clicks after adding a robust list of job-related negatives.

Actionable Tips for Implementation

To get the most out of this list, it's not enough to just add 'jobs'. You need to be strategic.

• Go Beyond "Jobs": Include related terms like hiring, careers, employment, salary, internship, resume, description, duties, and qualifications.
• Use Phrase Match: Add these as phrase match negatives (e.g., "job description") to catch longer queries while giving you more control than broad match.
• Industry-Specific Terms: Don't forget to add job titles specific to your industry. If you sell accounting software, you should add negative keywords like "accountant jobs" or "bookkeeper career."
• Monthly Search Term Reviews: Dedicate time each month to comb through your search term report. You'll almost always find new, creative ways people search for jobs that you can add to your negative keywords list.

This summary highlights the direct financial and efficiency gains from implementing a job-related negative keywords list.

As you can see, blocking job-seeker traffic isn't a minor tweak; it's a powerful lever for improving campaign efficiency and protecting your budget. By reallocating that saved ad spend, you can increase your bids on high-intent commercial keywords and drive more valuable conversions.

2. Free/Cheap/Discount Seekers Negative Keywords List

Unless you're competing to be the lowest-priced option on the market, bargain hunters can drain your Google Ads budget without ever converting. These users are on a mission for one thing: the absolute cheapest deal. A search for "free project management software" has a completely different intent than "best project management software for agencies," and serving your premium product ad to the first group is often a losing game.

This negative keywords list for Google Ads is essential for any business focused on value and quality over rock-bottom prices. It works by filtering out search queries containing terms like free, cheap, discount, bargain, and clearance. By excluding these, you ensure your ads are shown to users willing to invest in a quality solution, not just those looking for a freebie.

The results can be transformative for your key metrics. For example, a SaaS company boosted its qualified trial-to-paid conversion rate by 35% after adding negatives like 'free' and 'no cost'. In another case, a luxury furniture retailer improved their Return On Ad Spend (ROAS) by 50% by eliminating clicks from searches like 'cheap couches' and 'discount dining tables'. These clicks rarely lead to high-value sales and often just inflate costs.

Actionable Tips for Implementation

To effectively weed out bargain hunters without losing valuable customers, your approach needs to be nuanced.

• Be Specific with Your Exclusions: Go beyond just cheap. Add a comprehensive list including terms like free, bargain, low cost, discount, clearance, affordable, and even slang like dirt cheap.
• Create Strategic Exceptions: If you offer a valuable lead magnet like a "free consultation" or "free shipping," don't add these as broad negatives. Instead, add them as exact match negatives [free consultation] at the ad group level for campaigns where it's not relevant, allowing your lead-gen campaigns to run smoothly.
• Analyze Search Term Reports: Regularly review your search term reports to find new price-sensitive terms people are using. You might discover keywords like "poorman's [your product]" or "[your competitor] alternative free" that need to be excluded.
• Segment by Product Value: Be more aggressive with your negative list for high-ticket items where unqualified clicks are most expensive. For lower-priced items, you might be more lenient, as the definition of "cheap" is relative.

This strategy helps protect your brand's premium positioning and focuses your ad spend on attracting customers with higher lifetime value.

3. DIY/How-To/Tutorial Negative Keywords List

Unless you're selling toolkits or craft supplies, there's a high probability you're spending money on clicks from people who want to do it themselves. This is a common pitfall for service businesses and product sellers: someone searches "how to fix a leaky faucet," and Google shows them your ad for professional plumbing services. The user's intent is to learn, not to hire.

This is precisely where a DIY/How-To/Tutorial negative keywords list becomes a powerful tool for protecting your budget. It works by filtering out search queries that contain informational terms related to learning, creating, fixing, or self-education. The searcher looking for "DIY kitchen remodel ideas" has a completely different goal than someone searching for "kitchen remodeling contractors near me." By excluding the first type of query, you ensure your ads are shown to users with strong commercial intent who are ready to buy or hire.

The results can be transformative for lead quality and cost efficiency. For example, a plumbing service company in Phoenix reduced its cost per lead by 45% after excluding terms like 'how to fix' and 'DIY plumbing'. Likewise, a professional landscaping business saw a significant improvement in lead quality by filtering out searches for 'DIY landscaping' and 'garden tips', focusing their budget on users actively seeking professional help.

Actionable Tips for Implementation

To maximize the impact of this list, you need to think like a student, a hobbyist, and a DIY enthusiast.

• Expand Beyond "How-To": Include a wide range of informational keywords like tutorial, guide, DIY, fix, learn, instructions, for beginners, ideas, and tips.
• Leverage Phrase and Broad Match: Use phrase match for specific terms like "how to install" to block precise queries. Use broad match for single-word negatives like tutorial or DIY to cast a wider net.
• Create Content for Informational Keywords: Don't just block these terms; use them. Create blog posts or YouTube videos targeting these keywords to capture users early in their journey. You can then use remarketing to target them when they are ready to buy.
• Analyze Seasonality: DIY activity often has seasonal peaks, like gardening in the spring or home repairs in the fall. You could test removing some of these negatives during the off-season when DIY interest wanes and users may be more likely to hire a professional.

This summary shows how filtering out informational "do-it-yourself" searches can directly improve your campaign's bottom line.

As you can see, blocking DIY and tutorial-based searches is a strategic move to focus your ad spend on users who are past the research phase and ready to make a purchase. By reallocating the money saved from these irrelevant clicks, you can bid more competitively on high-conversion keywords, ultimately driving more qualified leads and sales for your business.

4. Competitor Brand Name Negative Keywords List

Deciding whether to bid on or block competitor brand names is a major strategic choice in Google Ads. While aggressive campaigns bid on competitor terms to poach customers, a defensive strategy involves adding competitor brand names to your negative keywords list. This approach is for brands that want to protect their budget and focus on building their own brand equity, rather than engaging in direct, often expensive, bidding wars.

This strategy works by preventing your ads from showing when a user specifically searches for a competitor. The searcher's intent is already focused on another brand, making them a low-probability, high-cost conversion. By excluding these terms, you ensure your budget is spent on users actively seeking a solution like yours, not a specific brand they already have in mind. It's about prioritizing high-intent, non-branded searches where you have a better chance to win.

The results can be a more efficient and profitable campaign. For example, a small CRM software company, focused on its unique features for startups, saved over 18% of its budget by excluding giants like "Salesforce" and "HubSpot." This allowed them to double down on generic keywords like "CRM for small business," attracting a more relevant audience. Similarly, a local boutique hotel chain focused on its unique, personalized experience by adding "Marriott" and "Hilton" as negatives, which improved their click-through rate on more targeted, experience-focused keywords.

Actionable Tips for Implementation

To implement this defensive strategy effectively, you need a clear plan.

• Build a Comprehensive List: Don't just add the main brand name. Include variations, product names, and branded feature names (e.g., "HubSpot CRM," "Salesforce Sales Cloud").
• Use Exact and Phrase Match: Add competitor brand names as exact match negatives [competitor brand] to block precise searches and as phrase match "competitor brand" to catch longer queries. This provides tight control.
• Monitor Your Own Brand Terms: Before you block competitors, see if they are bidding on your brand name. This might influence your decision. For deeper insights, you can learn more about conducting a Google Ads competitor analysis on keywordme.io.
• Keep Your List Current: The market changes. Schedule a quarterly review to identify new competitors and add them to your negative keywords list, ensuring your defensive shield remains strong.

This summary shows that while bidding on competitor terms is a popular tactic, strategically excluding them from your negative keywords list for Google Ads can be a powerful way to improve efficiency, protect your budget, and focus on building your own brand with a more qualified audience.

5. Academic/Educational Negative Keywords List

Unless you sell textbooks or university courses, your ad budget is likely being drained by students, academics, and researchers. This is a common pitfall, especially in technical, scientific, and medical industries. A user searching for a "B2B SaaS case study" might be a student doing homework, not a high-value enterprise lead. This is where an academic/educational negative keywords list becomes a critical tool for budget protection.

This list is designed to filter out search queries with clear educational or research intent, not commercial intent. By excluding terms related to academia, studying, and scholarly articles, you prevent your ads from showing to an audience that has zero intention of buying. The person looking for a "medical device research paper" is on a completely different journey than someone searching for a "medical device supplier." Excluding the former ensures your ad spend is focused solely on potential customers.

The results can be transformative. A medical device manufacturer, for instance, cut its irrelevant clicks by a staggering 55% by simply excluding terms like research paper, study, and journal. Likewise, a B2B software company targeting enterprise clients eliminated a flood of unqualified student traffic by adding negatives like case study and research project to their campaigns.

Actionable Tips for Implementation

To implement this list effectively, you need to think like a student or a researcher. Simply adding education won't cut it.

• Expand Your Vocabulary: Go beyond the obvious. Include terms like study, journal, thesis, dissertation, definition, example, course, tutorial, and syllabus.
• Be Careful with "Research": This term can be tricky. A potential B2B buyer might search for "research on CRM platforms." Use phrase or exact match negatives like "research paper" or "academic research" to avoid blocking legitimate commercial inquiries.
• Consider B2B Intent Signals: While you might block "case study" for a student project, a B2B buyer might be looking for a "HubSpot case study" as part of their evaluation. Analyze your search term reports carefully to differentiate between academic and commercial research intent.
• Layer with Demographics: For an extra layer of protection, consider using Google Ads' demographic targeting to exclude typical university age ranges (e.g., 18-24) from specific campaigns where you know your target audience is older.

This summary shows how a well-curated academic negative keywords list can dramatically improve lead quality and stop budget waste.

By blocking purely academic traffic, you ensure your marketing dollars are spent on users actively looking for a commercial solution. This strategic filtering allows you to reallocate your budget to more competitive, high-intent keywords, ultimately driving more profitable conversions for your business.

6. Information/News/Review Seeking Negative Keywords List

Not all traffic is created equal, especially when you're paying for every click. Users in the deep research phase, seeking reviews, comparisons, or news, often have very low immediate purchase intent. While they might be future customers, targeting them with high-cost, direct-response ads is like asking someone to marry you on the first date. It's too soon and too expensive.

This negative keywords list is designed to filter out these top-of-funnel, information-gathering searches. The intent behind a query like "best running shoes 2024" is fundamentally different from "buy nike air zoom pegasus." By adding terms like reviews, vs, comparison, and news to your negative keywords list for Google Ads, you can protect your budget and focus on users who are much closer to making a purchase.

The results can be transformative for your return on ad spend (ROAS). For instance, an e-commerce electronics store saw its ROAS improve by nearly 40% after excluding "review" and "vs" terms from its Shopping campaigns. Similarly, an insurance company focused on quote requests drastically cut wasted spend by excluding informational queries like "what is term life insurance" and "types of home insurance."

Actionable Tips for Implementation

Strategically blocking informational queries requires a nuanced approach to avoid cutting off your future sales pipeline entirely.

• Expand Beyond "Review": Your list should include a wide range of research terms, such as comparison, vs, alternative, pros and cons, what is, how does it work, and forum.
• Segment Your Campaigns: Don't just block these terms everywhere. Consider creating a separate, low-budget awareness campaign targeting these informational keywords with educational content like blog posts or guides. This way, you capture them early without hurting your main conversion campaigns.
• Leverage Remarketing: This is crucial. Use this negative list on your primary search campaigns, but build remarketing audiences from the traffic that lands on your educational content. You can then show them targeted ads once they've finished their research.
• Audit Your Search Terms Regularly: New informational queries pop up all the time. A consistent review of your search term report is the best way to find and add new negative keywords. For more advanced strategies on how to find negative keywords, you can learn more about finding negative keywords on keywordme.io.

This method helps you allocate your budget more effectively, ensuring your most expensive ads are shown to users with the highest commercial intent.

As the data shows, filtering out these preliminary research queries allows you to double down on bottom-of-funnel keywords. This strategic shift protects your ad spend from low-conversion clicks and directly boosts the profitability of your Google Ads account.

7. Wrong Location/Irrelevant Geographic Negative Keywords List

Unless you're a global enterprise, showing your ads to people in locations you don't serve is like setting your ad budget on fire. Geographic targeting settings in Google Ads are a great first line of defense, but they aren't foolproof. A user in Miami could easily search for "best pizza in New York," and your ad for a Manhattan pizzeria could still show up. This is where a geographic negative keywords list becomes essential.

This list filters out search queries containing cities, states, countries, or any geographic identifier outside your designated service area. For local service businesses, this is non-negotiable. The intent behind a search for "HVAC repair Houston" is completely different from "HVAC repair Dallas" if you only operate in Dallas. By excluding irrelevant locations, you ensure every dollar is spent reaching potential customers within your serviceable market.

The impact is often dramatic and immediate. For example, a plumbing company serving only Dallas successfully excluded 'Houston plumber', 'Austin plumber', and other Texas cities, which cut their unqualified calls by a staggering 70%. Similarly, a local HVAC company saw its cost per lead drop by 35% after adding the names of suburbs outside its 25-mile service radius to its negative keywords list.

Actionable Tips for Implementation

Proper location-based filtering requires more than just excluding a few major cities. You need a comprehensive approach.

• Layer on Top of Targeting: Always use geographic targeting settings as your primary filter. Your negative keywords list is the crucial second layer that catches location-specific searches from users who are physically within your target area but looking for services elsewhere.
• Think Big and Small: Include major cities, states, countries, and even continents you don't serve. Then, drill down to specific suburbs, neighborhoods, zip codes, and even airport codes that fall outside your operational boundaries.
• Consider Tourist Intent: If your business primarily serves locals (like a dental clinic), consider excluding terms related to major tourist destinations or landmarks in your city if search data shows they attract irrelevant clicks from visitors.
• Review and Update Regularly: Comb through your search term report monthly to find new geographic terms to exclude. If your service area ever expands or shrinks, this negative keywords list for Google Ads should be one of the first things you update.

8. B2C Terms for B2B Campaigns (and Vice Versa) Negative Keywords List

A common and costly mistake in Google Ads is mixing B2B (business-to-business) and B2C (business-to-consumer) audiences. A B2B software company doesn't want to pay for clicks from individuals looking for personal tools, just as a consumer-focused retailer wants to avoid inquiries from businesses seeking wholesale pricing. This is where a dedicated negative keywords list for audience segmentation is invaluable.

This list works by filtering out search queries that signal the wrong type of buyer. The buying journey, price sensitivity, and decision-making process for an enterprise client are vastly different from those of an individual consumer. By excluding terms associated with the audience you don't serve, you ensure your ad spend is laser-focused on prospects who can actually become customers.

The results of this segmentation can be dramatic. For instance, an enterprise software company reduced its unqualified trial sign-ups by 80% simply by excluding terms like 'personal use', 'home', and 'individual license'. Similarly, a B2B office furniture supplier successfully navigated the remote work surge by excluding 'home office' and 'residential' to avoid a flood of consumer clicks, preserving their budget for commercial leads.

Actionable Tips for Implementation

To properly segment your audience, you need to think like both a consumer and a business buyer.

• For B2B Campaigns: Exclude consumer-intent words like home, personal, individual, free trial for students, and for my family. Also, consider excluding quantity indicators like one or single if you primarily sell in bulk or multi-seat licenses.
• For B2C Campaigns: Exclude business-intent terms such as wholesale, bulk, reseller, enterprise, business pricing, commercial, and for my company. Be cautious with 'business' if you cater to home-based businesses.
• Review Industry Language: Pay close attention to terms specific to your field. In real estate, this could be residential vs. commercial. In electronics, it might be consumer grade vs. professional grade. To learn more about optimizing your outreach and ensuring you reach the right companies, consider exploring detailed B2B lead generation strategies.
• Use Audience Layering: This is a powerful tactic. In addition to using this negative keywords list for Google Ads, use Google's audience targeting features to layer on in-market or affinity audiences relevant to your target customer profile. You can discover more about Google Ads audience targeting here.

This strategy goes beyond simple keyword management; it’s about defining your customer at the campaign level. By separating B2B and B2C traffic, you stop wasting money on irrelevant clicks and can dedicate your budget to the searches that truly drive your business forward.

Negative Keywords Lists Comparison Guide

Automate and Accelerate Your Negative Keyword Workflow

And there you have it. We've journeyed through the digital junkyards of Google Ads, identifying the search terms that drain budgets and kill conversion rates. From job seekers looking for a paycheck to DIY enthusiasts hunting for free tutorials, the potential for wasted ad spend is massive. But now, you're armed with more than just awareness; you have a strategic playbook.

You've seen how to build robust negative keyword lists that act as a powerful shield for your campaigns. We covered the big offenders: the "free" and "cheap" hunters, the academic researchers, the information gatherers, and even those pesky irrelevant location searches that pull your ads way off course. Each list we've provided isn't just a collection of words; it's a specific defense mechanism designed to protect your ROI.

Think of it like this: every dollar you don't spend on an irrelevant click is a dollar you can reinvest into a click that actually matters. That’s the core principle here. Mastering negative keywords is one of the highest-leverage activities you can perform in your Google Ads account. It’s not just about cost savings; it's about reallocating your budget toward growth and profitability.

The Real Takeaway: From Manual Grind to Strategic Command

The ultimate goal isn’t to become the world’s best spreadsheet jockey, manually copying and pasting search terms all day. That’s a recipe for burnout, not breakthrough results. The real win is transforming this process from a reactive, time-consuming chore into a proactive, automated system.

Your negative keywords list for Google Ads should be a living, breathing part of your campaign strategy, constantly evolving without demanding all your time. This is where you graduate from simply managing your account to truly optimizing it.

Let's boil it down to the essentials:

• Proactive Prevention is Key: Don't wait for bad clicks to pile up. Use the starter lists from this article to build a foundational defense for any new campaign you launch. Block the obvious junk before it ever costs you a dime.
• Embrace the Search Terms Report: This report is your single source of truth. Schedule regular check-ins (daily for high-spend accounts, weekly for others) to mine for new negative keyword opportunities. Look for patterns, not just one-off irrelevant terms.
• Match Types Matter, A Lot: Remember the difference between broad, phrase, and exact match negatives. Use exact match [free online course] to block a specific query, and broad match free to block any search containing that word. A sloppy approach to match types can accidentally block valuable traffic, so be precise.
• Systemize Your Workflow: The most successful advertisers don't rely on memory. They build a repeatable process for identifying, categorizing, and adding negative keywords. This could be a shared team document, a project management task, or, even better, a dedicated tool.

By implementing these principles, you shift your focus from tedious data entry to high-impact strategic decisions. You’ll have more time to analyze performance, test new ad copy, explore expansion keywords, and actually grow the business. You stop playing defense and start playing offense. This isn't just about cleaning up your account; it’s about creating the bandwidth to scale it effectively.

Tired of the endless cycle of downloading search term reports and manually updating spreadsheets? We built Keywordme to solve this exact problem. Our tool helps you analyze junk terms, build a powerful negative keywords list for Google Ads, and apply it across your campaigns with a single click, turning hours of work into minutes. Stop the grind and start optimizing at scale by visiting Keywordme to see how it works.