What's the Difference Between Campaign-Level and Ad Group-Level Negatives?

TL;DR: Campaign-level negative keywords block search terms across every ad group in that campaign—like a universal filter. Ad group-level negatives only block terms within one specific ad group, giving you surgical control. Use campaign-level for universally irrelevant junk (like "free" or "jobs"), and ad group-level when a term is relevant to some ad groups but not others (like blocking "beginner" from your advanced course ad group). The right choice saves budget and prevents accidentally blocking profitable traffic.

Here's why this matters more than you might think: drop a negative keyword at the wrong level, and you'll either waste money on clicks that'll never convert, or worse, accidentally block high-intent searches that were actually making you money. I've seen advertisers add "cheap" as a campaign-level negative only to realize later they killed traffic to their budget-friendly product line. Ouch.

This guide breaks down exactly when to use each level, with real scenarios you can apply immediately. By the end, you'll have a decision framework that makes managing negatives feel less like guesswork and more like a repeatable system.

The Quick Answer: Scope Is Everything

Think of campaign-level negatives as the bouncer at the front door of a nightclub. Nobody on that list gets in, period. It doesn't matter which room they're trying to access inside—they're blocked at the entrance.

Ad group-level negatives? They're like the VIP room bouncer. Someone might be blocked from the VIP section, but they can still hang out in the main bar, the dance floor, or the rooftop lounge. The restriction only applies to that one specific area.

In Google Ads terms: when you add a negative keyword at the campaign level, it prevents your ads from showing for that search term across all ad groups within that campaign. Every single one. No exceptions.

Add that same negative at the ad group level, and it only blocks your ads from showing in that particular ad group. Your other ad groups? Still fair game. They can still trigger ads for that search term if their keywords match.

This distinction is critical because it determines how much control you have over where your ads show up. Campaign-level gives you broad, sweeping protection against irrelevant traffic. Ad group-level gives you precision—the ability to fine-tune which ad groups respond to which searches, even when those searches are similar.

Here's a concrete example: let's say you run a campaign for project management software with separate ad groups for "small business tools," "enterprise solutions," and "freelancer apps." If you add "free" as a campaign-level negative, none of your ad groups will show ads when someone searches for "free project management software."

But what if you add "enterprise" as a campaign-level negative because you don't want to compete in that space? Now your entire campaign—including your actual enterprise ad group—won't show for searches containing "enterprise." You just blocked yourself from your own target audience.

That's why understanding scope isn't just technical trivia. It's the foundation of smart negative keyword management. Get this right, and you control your traffic. Get it wrong, and you're either bleeding budget or missing opportunities.

When to Use Campaign-Level Negatives

Campaign-level negatives are your first line of defense against universally terrible traffic—the kind of searches that would never, ever convert, no matter which ad group they land in.

Start with the obvious culprits: terms like "free," "jobs," "careers," "salary," "DIY," "how to make," or "download." If you're selling software, someone searching for "free accounting software" isn't your customer. If you're offering professional services, "accounting jobs near me" definitely isn't your customer. These terms have zero intent to buy, so block them at the campaign level and move on.

Industry-specific junk terms are another perfect use case. If you sell premium dog food, you might add negatives like "rescue," "adoption," "shelter," or "foster" at the campaign level—because those searches are about finding dogs, not feeding them. If you're a B2B SaaS company, terms like "tutorial," "course," "certification," or "training" might consistently show up as low-converting traffic across all your ad groups.

Competitor brand names also belong here, assuming you're not intentionally bidding on them. If you don't want to show ads when people search for "Salesforce CRM" or "HubSpot pricing," add those competitor names as campaign-level negatives. This prevents budget waste across your entire campaign without needing to add them individually to every ad group.

Here's a real-world pattern I see constantly: advertisers run search terms reports and notice the same garbage terms appearing across multiple ad groups. "Cheap," "discount," "coupon," "used," "refurbished"—if your brand doesn't play in that space, these are prime candidates for campaign-level blocking. Why add them to five different ad groups when you can block them once at the campaign level?

The key question to ask yourself: "Would this term EVER be relevant to ANY ad group in this campaign, under any circumstances?" If the answer is a clear no, campaign-level is the right move.

But here's the trap: don't get too aggressive too fast. I've seen advertisers add broad campaign-level negatives like "software" because they kept seeing irrelevant searches with that word—only to realize they just blocked themselves from "accounting software for small business," which was exactly what they wanted. Start with the obvious universal junk, then get more granular as you learn which terms actually matter.

One more pro tip: if you're managing multiple campaigns with similar targeting, consider building a master negative keyword list at the account level that you can apply across campaigns. This is especially useful for agency owners managing dozens of clients—you can create a "universal junk" list once and apply it everywhere. But that's a topic for another day.

When Ad Group-Level Negatives Make More Sense

Ad group-level negatives are where the real optimization magic happens. This is where you get surgical about routing traffic to the right ad group—and keeping it away from the wrong ones.

The classic scenario: you have multiple ad groups targeting different audience segments or product tiers, and a search term is relevant to one but not the others. Let's say you're running a campaign for online courses with separate ad groups for "beginner photography course" and "advanced photography masterclass." When someone searches "beginner photography tips," you want that click going to your beginner ad group, not your advanced one.

Solution? Add "beginner" as a negative keyword at the ad group level in your advanced masterclass ad group. Now that term can still trigger your beginner ad group while staying blocked from your advanced one. You're not killing the traffic entirely—you're just directing it to where it belongs.

This becomes critical when you're trying to prevent ad group cannibalization. Here's what that looks like in practice: imagine you sell running shoes with separate ad groups for "trail running shoes" and "road running shoes." Both ad groups might have keywords like "best running shoes," "running shoes for men," or "lightweight running shoes."

Without ad group-level negatives, Google might show ads from both ad groups for the same search, forcing your ad groups to compete against each other. That drives up your CPCs because you're essentially bidding against yourself. Worse, the wrong ad group might win, sending someone interested in trail running to your road running landing page.

Fix it by adding "trail" as a negative in your road running ad group and "road" as a negative in your trail running ad group. Now when someone searches "best trail running shoes," only your trail ad group responds. Clean, efficient, and no internal competition.

E-commerce advertisers deal with this constantly. If you sell furniture with separate ad groups for different materials—wood, metal, glass, fabric—you'll want to cross-negative those terms. Add "wood" as a negative in your metal, glass, and fabric ad groups. Add "metal" as a negative in your wood, glass, and fabric ad groups. You get the idea.

Another smart use case: preventing budget waste on low-intent variations within a specific ad group. Maybe your "enterprise CRM software" ad group keeps showing for searches like "enterprise CRM demo" or "enterprise CRM trial," but those clicks never convert because your enterprise sales process requires a consultation call, not a self-serve demo. Add "demo" and "trial" as negatives at the ad group level, but leave them active in your SMB ad group where self-serve trials actually make sense.

The decision framework here is simple: if a term is relevant somewhere in your campaign but not everywhere, use ad group-level negatives to create boundaries. You're essentially building traffic lanes—making sure each search query flows to the most relevant ad group, not just any ad group that happens to match.

Common Mistakes That Burn Budget (Or Kill Good Traffic)

Let's talk about the ways this goes wrong, because understanding the mistakes is just as important as knowing the best practices.

Mistake number one: over-blocking at the campaign level. This happens when advertisers see a term performing poorly in one ad group and immediately add it as a campaign-level negative without thinking through the implications. I've watched someone add "small" as a campaign-level negative because they were targeting enterprise clients—then wonder why their "small business accounting software" ad group stopped getting traffic. The negative was too broad and killed an entire segment.

The fix? Before adding any campaign-level negative, ask yourself: "Is there ANY scenario where this term could be relevant to a different ad group?" If yes, use ad group-level instead.

Mistake number two: under-utilizing ad group negatives and letting your ad groups fight each other. This is incredibly common with advertisers who set up campaigns quickly and never go back to refine them. They'll have five ad groups all bidding on variations of the same keywords, and Google ends up running an internal auction between their own ads. You're paying higher CPCs, getting lower Quality Scores, and confusing users with mismatched ad copy.

The tell-tale sign? Run a search terms report filtered by ad group, and you'll see the same search queries triggering multiple ad groups. That's your cue to add cross-negatives and create clear boundaries.

Mistake number three: negative keyword conflicts. Here's a weird quirk of Google Ads that trips people up: if you have a negative keyword that matches a keyword you're actively bidding on, the negative wins. Your ad won't show, even though you're paying for that keyword.

Example: you're bidding on "running shoes" in one ad group but you've added "shoes" as a campaign-level negative because you kept getting traffic for "dress shoes" and "basketball shoes." Guess what? Your "running shoes" keyword is now dead because "shoes" is blocked at the campaign level. Google sees the negative and says "nope, not showing this ad."

This is why broad match negatives can be dangerous. If you add "free" as a broad match negative, it might block phrases like "free shipping" or "risk-free trial"—terms you actually want to show for. Use phrase match or exact match negatives when you need precision.

One more mistake I see constantly: forgetting to review negatives over time. Markets change, search behavior evolves, and what was irrelevant six months ago might be profitable today. I've audited accounts where advertisers were blocking terms like "cheap" or "affordable" as universal negatives, even though their business had since launched a budget-friendly product line. Always revisit your negative keyword lists quarterly and ask: "Does this still make sense?"

A Practical Framework for Deciding Where to Add Negatives

Okay, you're reviewing your search terms report and you spot a term that's eating budget without converting. Where do you add it—campaign level or ad group level? Here's the decision tree that'll save you hours of second-guessing.

Step one: Ask yourself, "Would this term EVER be relevant to ANY ad group in this campaign?" Notice the emphasis on "ever" and "any." We're looking for universal irrelevance here. If the answer is a clear no—like "free," "jobs," or a competitor brand you'll never target—add it at the campaign level and move on. You just saved yourself from having to add it to every ad group individually.

Step two: If the term is relevant somewhere but not everywhere, zoom in. Which ad groups should see this traffic, and which ones shouldn't? Let's say you're seeing "beginner" in your search terms report. Is it converting in your intro-level ad groups but wasting money in your advanced ones? Then add "beginner" as a negative only in the ad groups where it doesn't fit. Leave it active everywhere else.

Step three: Batch similar decisions to work faster. If you're seeing multiple terms related to the same theme—like "DIY," "homemade," "how to make"—you can probably add all of them at the campaign level at once. Don't process these one by one. Look for patterns in your search terms report and make bulk decisions. This is where tools that integrate directly into Google Ads can save you hours—being able to select multiple terms and apply negatives without switching to spreadsheets or third-party dashboards.

Here's a bonus question that'll sharpen your instincts: "Does this term represent a different intent or audience segment?" If yes, ad group-level is almost always the right call. Terms like "enterprise," "small business," "freelancer," "agency," "beginner," "advanced," "cheap," "premium"—these are all intent signals that help you route traffic to the right ad group. Use ad group-level negatives to create those traffic lanes.

And remember match types work differently for negative keywords. If you're blocking "shoes" because you sell running gear but kept getting traffic for dress shoes and basketball shoes, use phrase match: "dress shoes" and "basketball shoes." Don't use broad match "shoes" unless you literally never want to show for any search containing that word. Phrase match and exact match give you control without accidentally blocking good traffic.

One final tip: if you're managing multiple campaigns with similar structures, document your negative keyword strategy. Create a simple spreadsheet or doc that lists your campaign-level negatives and the logic behind them. This helps when you're scaling, onboarding team members, or revisiting your account months later. Future you will thank present you.

Putting It All Together

So here's the quick decision tree: if a search term would never convert in any ad group, add it at the campaign level. If it's relevant to some ad groups but not others, use ad group-level negatives to control the flow. And if you're not sure, start with ad group-level—you can always promote it to campaign-level later if you realize it's universal junk.

The real skill here isn't just knowing the technical difference. It's building a habit of reviewing your search terms report consistently—weekly if you're actively optimizing, at least monthly if you're in maintenance mode—and making these calls quickly and confidently. The faster you can spot irrelevant queries and route them away, the more efficient your campaigns become.

But let's be honest: managing negatives manually across multiple ad groups gets tedious fast. You're switching between tabs, copying and pasting terms, double-checking you didn't accidentally block something important. It's the kind of work that feels productive but eats up hours you could spend on higher-level strategy.

That's exactly why tools that work directly inside your Google Ads interface can be game-changers. Instead of exporting search terms to a spreadsheet, analyzing them offline, and then manually adding negatives back in Google Ads, you can make these decisions right where you're already working—with one-click actions that apply negatives at the right level instantly.

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