A comprehensive Google Ads negative keywords list by industry is the single most effective way to stop wasting ad spend on irrelevant clicks. Negative keywords are terms you explicitly exclude from triggering your ads, ensuring your budget goes toward searches with genuine commercial intent. This guide provides 700+ negative keywords organized across e-commerce, B2B/SaaS, local services, finance, and healthcare, along with a practical framework for implementing them at the right level in your account.
Most advertisers know they should use negative keywords. Far fewer maintain them systematically. The result is predictable: budgets bleed out on searches that were never going to convert. Whether you manage Google Ads yourself, rely on an agency, or use an autonomous Google Ads management service like groas, understanding which terms to exclude and where to apply them is foundational knowledge for 2026 and beyond.
Negative keywords are search terms you add to your Google Ads campaigns to prevent your ads from appearing when someone searches for those terms. They function as filters, blocking irrelevant traffic before it costs you money. Google Ads supports three match types for negatives: negative broad match, negative phrase match, and negative exact match. Each controls how strictly the exclusion is applied.
The logic is simple. If you sell premium accounting software, you do not want to pay for clicks from people searching "free accounting software" or "accounting degree programs." Without negative keywords, Google's broad and phrase match targeting will happily serve your ads to those searchers and charge you for the privilege.
The cost of neglecting negative keywords compounds silently. Every irrelevant click drains budget that could have gone toward a converting search. But the damage goes deeper than wasted spend.
Quality Score degradation. When your ads show for irrelevant queries, click-through rates drop. Lower CTR signals to Google that your ads are not relevant, which suppresses Quality Score across your keywords. Lower Quality Score means higher CPCs on the terms you actually want to bid on.
Conversion rate dilution. Irrelevant traffic inflates your click volume without adding conversions. This makes it harder to evaluate what is actually working, and it feeds bad data into Smart Bidding algorithms that rely on conversion signals to optimize.
Compounding waste over time. A single missed negative keyword might cost a few dollars per day. Multiply that across dozens of terms, across months, and you are looking at thousands of dollars that produced nothing. Agencies and freelancers often catch these issues during periodic audits, but between those reviews the waste accumulates unchecked. This is one reason services like groas, where AI agents monitor search term reports around the clock with a dedicated human account manager overseeing strategy, catch and block irrelevant queries faster than any manual process.
Below is a curated negative keyword list spanning 700+ terms across five major industries. These are starting points. Every account needs its own refinements based on actual search term data. But applying these lists on day one will eliminate the most common sources of wasted spend.
E-commerce accounts attract enormous volumes of non-buyer traffic. The biggest offenders are informational, DIY, and freebie-seeking queries.
Freebie and discount-seeking terms: free, free shipping only, coupon code, discount code, promo code, clearance, giveaway, sample, freebie, cheap, cheapest, dirt cheap, bargain basement, dollar store, thrift, secondhand, used, refurbished, pre-owned, surplus, liquidation, wholesale only, bulk only, dumpster
Informational and research terms: how to, tutorial, DIY, recipe, pattern, template, instructions, guide, PDF, Wikipedia, meaning, definition, what is, history of, origin of, comparison chart, vs, review, reddit, forum, blog, article, video, YouTube, Pinterest, TikTok, Instagram
Job and career terms: jobs, careers, hiring, salary, internship, resume, application, work from home, remote work, employment, recruiter, indeed, glassdoor, LinkedIn
Competitor and brand confusion: [competitor name] login, [competitor name] customer service, [competitor name] complaints, [competitor name] return policy, knockoff, fake, imitation, replica, counterfeit, dupe
Non-commercial modifiers: drawing, coloring page, wallpaper, screensaver, clipart, stock photo, meme, tattoo, costume, fancy dress, toy version, miniature, model kit, 3D print file, STL file
Returns and complaints: return policy, refund, complaint, lawsuit, scam, recall, class action, BBB, Better Business Bureau, rip off, fraud
Academic and educational: research paper, thesis, dissertation, case study, textbook, course, class, certification, degree, syllabus, curriculum, assignment, homework, essay
Unrelated product modifiers: rental, rent, lease, borrow, loan, subscription box (if not your model), trial, demo
This list alone covers 100+ terms. For a complete e-commerce negative keyword list, consider also adding terms specific to product categories you do not carry. If you sell women's shoes, adding "men's," "kids," and "toddler" prevents mismatched traffic. If you are running Performance Max campaigns alongside Search, negative keywords at the account level become even more critical since PMax gives you limited query-level control.
B2B and SaaS advertisers face a unique challenge: their keywords frequently overlap with consumer, student, and job-seeker intent.
Consumer and personal use: personal, home use, individual, family, free version, basic plan, free tier, open source, freeware, consumer, residential
Job seekers and career: jobs, careers, salary, hiring, interview questions, resume, job description, internship, certification, training, course, bootcamp, apprenticeship, recruiter, LinkedIn, Glassdoor, Indeed
Students and academic: student, university, college, school, homework, assignment, research paper, thesis, academic, professor, lecture, textbook, coursework, study guide, exam, quiz
Informational and top-of-funnel: what is, definition, meaning, Wikipedia, history, example, case study (if not targeting), white paper (if not gated content strategy), infographic, blog, podcast, webinar recording, conference, summit
Competitor noise: [competitor] login, [competitor] support, [competitor] pricing (add selectively), [competitor] alternatives, [competitor] review, [competitor] vs
Non-buyer modifiers: free, open source, trial, demo request (if you do not offer demos), templates, spreadsheet, Excel, Google Sheets, manual, handbook, checklist, PDF
Integration and technical: API documentation, GitHub, Stack Overflow, developer forum, code snippet, SDK, plugin, WordPress plugin, extension, add-on (if irrelevant)
Wrong business size: enterprise (if targeting SMB), startup (if targeting enterprise), small business (if targeting mid-market), freelancer, solopreneur, solo
Local service businesses, from HVAC contractors to law firms, waste enormous budgets on DIY searchers and job seekers. If you run Google Ads for home services or Google Ads for lawyers, these exclusions are essential.
DIY and self-service: DIY, how to, tutorial, fix it yourself, repair myself, tools needed, parts list, YouTube, video, instructions, manual, guide, step by step, home remedy, natural remedy
Job and career: jobs, hiring, careers, salary, apprenticeship, license requirements, certification, exam, training program, trade school, technician salary, contractor license
Non-service-area locations: Add all cities, states, and regions you do not serve as negative keywords. This is one of the most overlooked categories for local businesses.
Non-commercial: free, pro bono, volunteer, charity, donation, nonprofit, government program, assistance program, financial aid, low income, subsidized
Complaints and legal: lawsuit, class action, complaint, BBB, scam, fraud, report, investigation, violation, fine, penalty, warning
Wrong service type: If you are an electrician, add plumber, HVAC, roofer, painter, landscaper, and every other trade you do not perform. Cross-trade confusion is a major source of wasted spend for local services.
Educational and informational: school, degree, program, class, course, workshop, seminar, conference, code requirements, building code, regulation, permit process
Finance and insurance verticals have some of the highest CPCs in Google Ads, making negative keyword management even more critical. Every wasted click costs significantly more than in other industries.
Job and career: jobs, careers, salary, analyst, underwriter, adjuster, actuary, broker license, Series 7, CFA, financial advisor salary, insurance agent hiring
Academic and educational: course, degree, MBA, finance major, textbook, lecture, curriculum, study guide, exam prep, certification, CPA exam, CFP exam
Regulatory and compliance: regulation, compliance, SEC filing, audit, investigation, lawsuit, class action, penalty, fine, violation, fraud, scam, Ponzi, complaint
Calculator and tool seekers (if not your offering): calculator, spreadsheet, Excel template, formula, equation, amortization table, interest rate formula, compound interest calculator
Government and non-commercial: government program, federal, state program, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, VA loan (if not offered), FHA (if not offered), USDA loan, assistance, subsidy, grant, welfare
Non-target products: If you sell business insurance, add auto insurance, pet insurance, travel insurance, life insurance, health insurance (and vice versa for each). Finance is broad. Be ruthlessly specific about what you do not offer.
Comparison and review: Reddit, forum, review, complaint, worst, best (use selectively), ranking, top 10, comparison, vs, alternative
Healthcare advertisers must filter out symptom-checkers, students, job seekers, and searchers looking for information rather than appointments or services.
Self-diagnosis and informational: symptoms, causes, signs of, what is, definition, WebMD, Mayo Clinic, NHS, Wikipedia, home remedy, natural cure, alternative medicine, holistic, herbal, essential oil, folk remedy
Job and career: jobs, hiring, careers, salary, nursing school, medical school, residency, fellowship, clinical rotation, CNA certification, RN salary, physician assistant program
Academic and research: research, study, clinical trial, journal, publication, PubMed, peer review, abstract, thesis, dissertation, medical textbook, anatomy, physiology
Non-target specialties: Add every medical specialty you do not offer. If you are a dermatology clinic, exclude cardiology, oncology, orthopedic, neurology, psychiatry, and so on.
Insurance and billing questions: insurance accepted, does insurance cover, billing code, CPT code, ICD code, prior authorization, claim denied, appeal, out of pocket, deductible, co-pay amount
Legal and malpractice: malpractice, lawsuit, negligence, wrongful death, injury lawyer, personal injury, settlement, compensation, attorney
Animal and veterinary: veterinary, vet, animal, pet, dog, cat, horse, equine (unless you are a veterinary practice)
Where you apply your negative keywords matters as much as which keywords you choose. Google Ads offers three levels of negative keyword application, and each serves a different purpose.
Account-level negatives are the broadest filter. They apply across every campaign in your account. Use them for universally irrelevant terms: job seekers, students, free-seekers, and brand names you never want to bid against. Every advertiser should have an account-level negative list from day one. These are your baseline exclusions.
Campaign-level negatives apply only to a specific campaign. Use them for terms that are irrelevant to one campaign but relevant to another. For example, if you run separate campaigns for different product lines, campaign-level negatives prevent overlap and cannibalization.
Negative keyword lists are shared lists you create in your account's Shared Library and then apply to multiple campaigns simultaneously. They are the most efficient way to manage negatives at scale because you update the list once and the changes propagate everywhere the list is applied. Lists work well for industry-specific exclusions, branded competitor terms, and seasonal negatives.
The practical recommendation: Start with a robust account-level list for universal exclusions. Build shared lists for category-specific exclusions. Reserve campaign-level negatives for surgical, campaign-specific blocking.
Google introduced updates in 2025 that affected how negative keywords interact with broad match and Smart Bidding. Specifically, Google's AI-driven query matching became more aggressive, meaning your negative keyword lists need to be more comprehensive than ever. Broad match can now trigger ads for semantically related searches that are further removed from your actual keywords. Without strong negative keyword coverage, this expanded matching leads to significant irrelevant spend.
Additionally, Google expanded account-level negatives from the previous limit of 1,000 terms, giving advertisers more room to build comprehensive exclusion lists. If your account was constrained by the old limits, now is the time to revisit and expand your lists. For a broader set of best practices to follow in the current environment, see our Google Ads best practices guide for 2026.
Building a negative keyword list is not a one-time task. It requires ongoing review of search term reports, regular additions, and periodic pruning to ensure you are not accidentally blocking valuable queries.
Step 1: Start with the industry lists above. Apply the relevant terms from this article as your baseline.
Step 2: Mine your search term reports weekly. Google Ads shows you the actual queries that triggered your ads. Sort by cost (highest first) and look for irrelevant terms consuming budget. Add them as negatives immediately.
Step 3: Use Google's search terms with hidden queries. Google increasingly hides specific search terms under "Other search terms." When you cannot see exact queries, look for patterns in the data you do have, such as ad groups with high impressions but low CTR, which often indicate irrelevant query matching.
Step 4: Review and prune quarterly. Negative keywords you added months ago might now be blocking legitimate traffic. Businesses evolve. Product lines expand. Check that your negatives still make sense.
Step 5: Cross-reference with your converting queries. Never add a negative keyword without checking whether it appears in any of your converting search terms. Blocking a term that drives even occasional conversions is a costly mistake.
Several tools and services can help automate parts of this process. Self-serve options like Optmyzr and WordStream offer rule-based negative keyword suggestions. They scan your search term reports and flag potential negatives for you to review and apply. The catch: you still have to review every suggestion, decide whether to apply it, and do the actual implementation. That manual step is where most advertisers fall behind.
Google's own recommendations tab sometimes suggests negative keywords, though these suggestions tend to be generic and infrequent.
This is where the gap between self-serve tools and a full-service approach becomes clear. With groas, AI agents monitor search term reports continuously, around the clock, not just when someone remembers to check. When irrelevant queries appear, they are flagged and blocked before they accumulate meaningful waste. But the system does not operate in a vacuum. Your dedicated human account manager reviews these exclusions, ensures no valuable traffic is being blocked, and applies strategic judgment that pure automation cannot replicate.
The difference is meaningful. A tool gives you a list of suggestions and waits for you to act. A freelancer checks your account a few times per week. An agency reviews search terms during their periodic optimization cycles. groas operates continuously with AI execution and human oversight, catching wasted spend in hours rather than days or weeks. This is especially important in high-CPC verticals like finance, healthcare, and legal, where a single day of irrelevant traffic can cost hundreds or thousands of dollars.
Even experienced advertisers make errors with negative keywords. Here are the most damaging ones.
Using broad match negatives when you need phrase or exact match. A broad match negative for "free" will block any search containing the word "free," including queries like "gluten free meal delivery" or "free standing desk." If you sell gluten-free products or freestanding desks, this is a disaster. Use negative phrase match ["free"] or negative exact match [free] to control the scope precisely.
Adding negatives reactively instead of proactively. Waiting until you see irrelevant queries in your search term report means you have already paid for those clicks. Build a strong baseline list before launching campaigns, then refine from there.
Never reviewing or pruning negatives. Businesses change. A term you excluded a year ago might now represent a product you sell. If your negative keyword lists grow unchecked without review, you risk silently blocking profitable traffic.
Applying the wrong level. Adding a campaign-level negative that should be account-level (or vice versa) creates inconsistencies that are hard to troubleshoot. Map your negatives to the right level from the start.
Ignoring negative keywords in Performance Max. PMax campaigns have limited negative keyword support, but Google has expanded the options over the past year. If you run PMax, work with your account representative (or your groas account manager) to implement account-level negatives that cover PMax traffic.
Conflicting negatives and positives. If a keyword you are actively bidding on also appears on your negative list (or a close variant does), the negative typically wins, meaning your ad will not show. This conflict is more common than most advertisers realize, especially in accounts with large, complex negative lists.
The 700+ negative keywords listed throughout this article are organized by industry and category. To implement them efficiently, structure your Google Ads Shared Library with separate negative keyword lists for each category.
Recommended list structure:
Universal exclusions (apply at account level): jobs, careers, salary, hiring, free, torrent, download, pirated, crack, hack, YouTube, Reddit, Wikipedia, meme, tattoo, coloring page, wallpaper, DIY, how to make, tutorial, internship, volunteer, charity, scam, fraud, class action, lawsuit, complaint
Industry-specific lists (apply via Shared Library to relevant campaigns): Use the industry sections above to build lists for your vertical. Apply them to campaigns where they are relevant.
Campaign-specific exclusions (apply at campaign level): Cross-campaign cannibalization blockers, competitor brand terms you want to exclude from certain campaigns only, and product-line-specific negatives.
For accounts of any meaningful size, maintaining these lists manually is a time sink that most teams underestimate. This is precisely why many performance marketers and growth teams are shifting to autonomous Google Ads management where the entire process, from search term monitoring to negative keyword implementation to strategic review, happens without requiring your team's time. groas handles all of this as part of its core service, with AI agents doing the continuous monitoring and a dedicated account manager ensuring the strategy behind your exclusions is sound.
The bottom line: a comprehensive negative keyword list is one of the highest-ROI optimizations in Google Ads. But the list itself is only half the equation. The other half is consistent, disciplined maintenance. If you have the time and expertise to do that yourself, the lists in this article will serve you well. If you would rather have it handled entirely, with 24/7 AI execution and a human strategist who knows your business, groas exists for exactly that purpose.
There is no single magic number, but most well-managed accounts maintain between 100 and 500 negative keywords at the account level, with additional campaign-specific and list-level exclusions on top of that. The right number depends on your industry, the breadth of your keyword targeting, and how aggressively Google's broad match expands your queries. Start with the industry-specific lists in this guide, then refine based on your actual search term reports. If you use groas, AI agents continuously monitor and expand your negative keyword lists around the clock, with a dedicated human account manager ensuring nothing valuable gets blocked.
Negative broad match blocks your ad whenever all the words in your negative keyword appear in a search, in any order. Negative phrase match blocks your ad only when the exact phrase appears in that specific order within the search. Negative exact match blocks only the precise query. For example, a negative broad match on "free trial" would block "trial free software," while negative phrase match would not. Choosing the wrong match type is one of the most common and costly negative keyword mistakes.
Google has expanded negative keyword support for Performance Max over the past year. You can apply account-level negatives that affect PMax campaigns, and in some cases request campaign-level exclusions through your Google representative. However, PMax still gives you far less query-level control than standard Search campaigns. This makes account-level negative keyword lists even more important when running PMax.
At a minimum, review your search term reports weekly and your full negative keyword lists quarterly. Weekly reviews catch new irrelevant queries before they accumulate significant waste. Quarterly reviews ensure you are not accidentally blocking terms that have become relevant as your business evolves. With groas, this process happens automatically. AI agents scan search term reports continuously, and your dedicated account manager reviews exclusions during bi-weekly strategy calls, so your lists stay accurate without requiring any work from your team.
Yes, if applied incorrectly. Overly broad negative keywords can block searches that would have converted. Conflicting negatives, where a negative keyword matches or overlaps with an active keyword you are bidding on, can suppress your ads on profitable queries. This is why periodic pruning and cross-referencing negatives against your converting search terms is essential. It is also one of the reasons having human strategic oversight alongside automated exclusion is so important.
Use a three-tier structure. First, apply universal exclusions at the account level for terms that are always irrelevant, such as job seekers, students, and freebie searches. Second, build shared negative keyword lists in your Shared Library for industry and category-specific exclusions, and apply them to relevant campaigns. Third, use campaign-level negatives for surgical, campaign-specific blocking like preventing product-line overlap. This structure keeps your account clean and makes ongoing management far easier.
Yes. groas is a full-service Google Ads management service, not a tool you log into. AI agents monitor search term reports 24/7 and flag or block irrelevant queries as they appear. Your dedicated human account manager reviews every exclusion to ensure strategic accuracy, preventing both wasted spend and accidental blocking of valuable traffic. Negative keyword management is built into the core service alongside all other aspects of campaign optimization.
