How to Remove Junk Search Terms in Google Ads (Step-by-Step)

If your Google Ads budget keeps draining without much to show for it, junk search terms are likely a significant part of the problem. These are the irrelevant queries that trigger your ads—searches that have nothing to do with what you actually sell. Google's broad match and phrase match settings are designed to cast a wide net, but that net catches a lot of garbage along with the good stuff.

The result is wasted spend, weaker relevance signals, and a search terms report that's hard to act on. If you want to understand the broader picture of why this happens, this breakdown of why Google Ads traffic goes bad is worth reading alongside this guide.

This guide walks you through exactly how to find and remove junk search terms in Google Ads. You'll learn how to identify what actually counts as junk, how to filter your search terms report efficiently, how to add negative keywords at the right level with the right match type, and how to verify that your exclusions are actually working.

Whether you're managing one campaign or dozens, these steps give you a repeatable process. You don't need a spreadsheet or a separate dashboard—just a clear approach and the discipline to apply it consistently.

Step 1: Understand What Makes a Search Term "Junk"

Before you start excluding anything, it helps to be clear on a few definitions. A search term is the actual query a user typed into Google. A keyword is what you bid on in your campaign—it's what makes your ad eligible to show. These are not the same thing, and keeping that distinction clear matters throughout this process.

When Google matches your keyword to a user's search, it doesn't require an exact match (unless you're using exact match type). Broad match and phrase match both allow Google to show your ad for queries that are related to your keyword but may be quite different from it. That flexibility is useful for reaching more potential customers, but it also means your ads can show up for searches that have nothing to do with your offer.

A junk search term is any query that doesn't align with what you're selling. That covers several categories:

Wrong intent: Informational searches like "what is project management" when you're selling project management software. The person is researching, not buying.

Free-seeking queries: Searches containing "free," "open source," "no cost," or "gratis" when your product is paid. These users are not your customers.

Job-related searches: Queries like "project manager jobs," "careers in logistics," or "how to become a data analyst." These are common culprits, especially for B2B advertisers.

DIY and tutorial searches: "How to build your own CRM," "free tutorial," "step-by-step guide" — people who want to do it themselves, not hire someone or buy a tool.

Competitor names you're not targeting: If your ads are showing for a competitor's brand name and you haven't made a deliberate choice to target that traffic, it's usually worth excluding.

Geographic or industry mismatches: Similar terminology used in a completely different vertical, or location names that don't apply to your business.

One important caveat: not every low-performing search term is junk. A term with two clicks and no conversion isn't necessarily a problem—it may just need more data. Check volume and intent before excluding anything. The goal is to remove terms that clearly don't fit, not to prune everything that hasn't converted yet. For more context on how search term optimization fits into your broader account health, this overview of search term optimization is a useful reference.

Step 2: Open Your Search Terms Report and Filter for Waste

Now that you know what you're looking for, it's time to pull the data. In Google Ads, navigate to a campaign, then click Keywords in the left navigation panel, then select the Search terms tab at the top. Alternatively, go to Campaigns, select a campaign, then Keywords, then Search terms. Note that Google occasionally updates its interface, so if these paths differ, check Google's Help Center for the current navigation.

The first thing to do is set your date range. A single week of data is rarely enough to draw reliable conclusions. Set it to at least 30 days, and ideally 60 to 90 days if the campaign has been running long enough. More data means clearer patterns and fewer false positives.

Once you have a meaningful date range, apply filters to surface the biggest problems first. Here are the most useful ones:

Zero conversions with significant spend: Set a cost threshold that's meaningful for your account (often 1.5 to 2 times your target cost per acquisition) and filter for search terms that have spent above that threshold with zero conversions. These are your clearest candidates for review.

High impressions with very low click-through rate: A very low CTR alongside high impressions often signals that your ad is showing for queries where users aren't interested—they see the ad and scroll past. This is worth investigating, though it's not always a reason to exclude.

High clicks with zero conversions above a cost threshold: Similar to the first filter, but focused on terms that are generating clicks without any downstream action. These are costing you money without contributing to results.

After applying filters, sort by cost descending. This puts the biggest budget drains at the top, so you're working on the highest-impact items first rather than spending time on terms that have barely spent anything.

A common mistake here is filtering too aggressively and flagging terms that simply haven't had enough time or volume to convert. Before excluding anything, ask yourself: does this term have enough data to draw a conclusion? One click is not a pattern. Ten clicks above your target CPA with zero conversions is worth taking seriously.

Another pitfall is the opposite: not filtering at all and trying to review every single search term manually. For active campaigns, that list can be hundreds or thousands of rows long. Use filters to focus your attention where it matters most.

Step 3: Identify and Flag Terms to Exclude

With your filtered list in front of you, go through each search term and ask one question: does this person want what I sell? That's the core test. Everything else is secondary.

As you review, sort terms into three buckets:

Exclude immediately: Clearly irrelevant queries with no plausible path to conversion. "Free project management software download" when you sell a paid tool. "Project manager jobs" when you're a software vendor. These go straight to your negative keyword list.

Monitor longer: Borderline intent that could go either way. "Project management tips" might be someone researching before a purchase, or it might be someone who just wants blog content. If the term has low spend and low volume, leave it for now and revisit with more data.

Promote to keyword: High-intent queries that are clearly relevant but aren't yet in your keyword list as a positive keyword. Capture these separately—this step is about exclusions, not keyword expansion. Don't mix the two tasks or you'll lose track of both.

When reviewing, look for patterns rather than one-off terms. If "free [your service]" appears in ten different variations, the root word "free" is the real problem. Adding a phrase match negative for "free" (or an exact match for the most common variations) will be more efficient than excluding each variation individually.

It's also worth checking whether a term is already covered by an existing negative keyword before adding it again. Duplicate negatives aren't harmful, but they create clutter in your account that's harder to manage over time.

To make the intent question concrete: an ad for a paid project management tool showing up for "free project management software download" is a clear exclude—the intent is explicitly to avoid paying. "Project management tips" is borderline and worth a second look before acting. "Best project management software for small teams" is likely a keeper, or even a candidate to promote to a keyword.

Take notes as you go. If you're managing a large account, it's easy to lose track of your reasoning. A simple running list of what you excluded and why will save you time when you revisit the account next month.

Step 4: Add Negative Keywords at the Right Level

This is where many advertisers make mistakes that undermine their own work. Adding a negative keyword at the wrong level—or with the wrong match type—can either fail to block the junk or accidentally block traffic you actually want.

First, choose the right level. Google Ads lets you add negative keywords at three levels:

Ad group level: Blocks the term only within a specific ad group. Use this sparingly—it's the most granular option, but it's also the most time-consuming to manage and easy to miss across ad groups.

Campaign level: Blocks the term across all ad groups within a single campaign. Use this when the term is irrelevant to this campaign but might be valid in another. For example, if you run separate campaigns for different products, a term that's junk for one product might be relevant for another.

Shared negative list (account level): Applies across multiple campaigns simultaneously. Use this for terms that are irrelevant across your entire account—things like "jobs," "free," or competitor names you never want to target. This is the most efficient option for universal exclusions. For a deeper look at when to use each approach, this guide on where to add negative keywords covers the decision in more detail.

Second, choose the right match type for the negative keyword. This is where a lot of advertisers go wrong. Understanding match types is essential here, because negative keywords behave differently from positive keywords.

Negative exact match [term]: Blocks only that precise query. A negative exact match for [free project management] will block only the query "free project management"—not "free project management software" or "project management free trial."

Negative phrase match "term": Blocks any query containing that phrase in that exact order. "Free project management" as a phrase match negative would block "free project management software," "best free project management tools," and similar queries.

Negative broad match term: Blocks queries containing all the words in the negative in any order. This sounds useful but is often too aggressive—it can accidentally block relevant traffic. Use it rarely and with care.

One important distinction: negative keywords do not use close variant matching the way positive keywords do. A negative exact match for [shoes] will not block "shoe" or "sneakers"—only the exact query "shoes." You may need to add multiple variations explicitly.

To add negatives from the search terms report: check the box next to the search term, click the "Add as negative keyword" button that appears, choose the level (campaign or ad group), select the match type, and save. For shared lists, you'll add them directly from the Shared Library, which we cover in the next step.

Understanding why negative keywords matter to your overall account health is worth reading if you want more context on the impact of getting this right.

Step 5: Build and Maintain a Shared Negative Keyword List

Adding negatives one by one at the campaign level works, but it doesn't scale well—especially if you're managing multiple campaigns or multiple clients. A shared negative keyword list lets you apply a set of exclusions across many campaigns at once, and update them in one place.

To create one, go to the Tools icon (the wrench) in Google Ads, then Shared Library, then Negative keyword lists. Create a new list, give it a descriptive name, and start adding terms. Then apply the list to the relevant campaigns from within the Shared Library interface.

Organize your lists by theme rather than dumping everything into one list. Common categories include:

Job-seeker terms: "jobs," "careers," "salary," "how to become," "internship"

Free-seeking terms: "free," "open source," "no cost," "gratis," "freeware"

Informational and research terms: "what is," "definition," "tutorial," "how to build your own"

Brand exclusions: Competitor names you never want to appear for

Keeping lists organized by theme makes them easier to audit, update, and apply selectively. For example, you might apply your job-seeker list to every campaign, but only apply your competitor exclusion list to campaigns where you're not running a deliberate competitor-targeting strategy. For more on the difference between shared and campaign-specific approaches, this article on shared versus campaign-specific negative lists explains the trade-offs clearly.

Schedule regular search term reviews. For active campaigns with meaningful spend, weekly reviews make sense. For more stable campaigns, bi-weekly or monthly works. The key is consistency—search term hygiene is an ongoing task, not a one-time fix.

If you find the process of flagging terms, switching between tabs, and managing lists tedious, Keywordme's Chrome extension handles this directly inside the Google Ads Search Terms Report. You can flag junk terms, add negatives, apply match types, and build lists without leaving the interface or exporting to a spreadsheet. It's a straightforward way to cut the friction out of a task you'll be doing repeatedly.

Step 6: Verify Your Exclusions Are Working

Adding negative keywords is not the end of the process. You need to confirm that your exclusions are actually doing what you intended—and that they haven't accidentally blocked traffic you want.

After adding negatives, wait at least 7 to 14 days before drawing conclusions. Campaigns need time to accumulate data, and changes don't produce immediate results you can measure reliably in 48 hours.

Once enough time has passed, return to the Search Terms Report and filter for the terms you excluded. If the negatives are working correctly, those queries should no longer appear—or should appear with zero impressions going forward. If they're still showing up with spend, double-check that the negative was saved correctly, applied at the right level, and uses the right match type.

Also check for unintended consequences. If a negative keyword accidentally blocks a query you want to show for, you'll see a drop in impressions for the affected positive keyword. This is more common than people expect, especially with phrase match negatives that are broader than intended.

Google Ads has a built-in tool for this: the Keyword Diagnosis tool. You can access it by selecting a keyword in your keyword list and clicking the status icon to see why it might not be showing. If a negative keyword conflict is the issue, it will flag it there.

Finally, look at your overall campaign metrics. If your exclusions are working well, you'd typically expect to see CTR improve (because your ads are showing for more relevant queries), and cost per conversion stabilize or improve over time. These are directional signals, not guarantees—other factors affect these metrics too—but they're useful indicators that your work is having an effect.

Don't assume your negatives are working without checking. Verification is part of the process, not optional. If you skip it, you won't know whether you've made progress or introduced new problems.

Your Junk-Free Search Terms Checklist

Here's a quick recap of the process so you have a reference you can return to:

1. Understand the difference between search terms and keywords, and define what counts as junk for your specific offer and audience.

2. Open the Search Terms Report with a date range of at least 30 days and apply filters to surface high-spend, zero-conversion terms first.

3. Review flagged terms against your offer and categorize them: exclude immediately, monitor longer, or promote to keyword.

4. Add negative keywords at the correct level (ad group, campaign, or shared list) with the correct match type (usually phrase or exact, rarely broad).

5. Build organized shared negative keyword lists by theme and apply them across relevant campaigns.

6. Wait 7 to 14 days, then verify that excluded terms are no longer appearing and check for unintended blocks on terms you want.

Treat search term reviews as a recurring task. Weekly for active campaigns, bi-weekly or monthly for stable ones. The accounts that stay efficient over time are the ones where this process runs on a schedule, not just when something looks obviously wrong.

If your account has persistent junk problems, it's also worth revisiting your match type strategy at the campaign level—reducing reliance on broad match or tightening phrase match usage can reduce the volume of junk you're filtering in the first place. And if junk is pervasive across many campaigns, your overall campaign structure may need a closer look. For more on reducing wasted spend at the source, this guide on reducing wasted spend in Google Ads covers the broader picture.

Removing junk search terms is not a one-time fix. It's an ongoing part of managing any Google Ads account well. The steps above give you a repeatable process: find the waste, understand the intent, add negatives at the right level, and verify the results. Run it consistently and your targeting gets tighter with every cycle.

If you want to do all of this without leaving Google Ads or opening a spreadsheet, Start your free 7-day trial of Keywordme and remove junk search terms directly inside the Search Terms Report with one click. After the trial, it's $12 per month per user.