---
title: "Negative keywords"
url: https://marketingsignals.com/glossary/negative-keywords
type: Page
---

# Negative keywords

Negative keywords explained: how negative broad, phrase and exact match work, where to add them in Google Ads, the limits and how to build a list.

PPC glossary

## Negative keywords

Negative keywords are words or phrases an advertiser adds in Google Ads to stop ads appearing on searches that contain them. They filter out irrelevant or low-value searches, such as ones containing 'free', 'jobs' or a product the business does not sell, so budget goes on searches more likely to produce customers.

## How do negative match types work?

Negative keywords have their own match types, and Google says they behave differently from positive keywords. The biggest difference is that negatives do not match close variants. A negative for 'flowers' does not block 'flower', so plurals, singulars and synonyms have to be added separately. Google does account for casing and misspellings.

- Negative broad match, the default: blocks searches containing all the negative words, in any order
- Negative phrase match: blocks searches containing the words in the same order
- Negative exact match: blocks only a search that is exactly those words, with nothing added

## Where can negative keywords be added?

They can be added to an ad group, a campaign, a shared list or the whole account. An account-level negative applies to all eligible Search and Shopping inventory in relevant campaign types. Performance Max campaigns accept up to 10,000 negative keywords each, a limit Google raised from 100 in March 2025.

There are limits. Ads may still show when a search is longer than 16 words and the negative term comes after the 16th, and Google warns that too many negatives can stop ads reaching customers.

## How to build a negative list

The best source is the search terms report, which shows the searches that actually triggered ads. Reviewing it weekly, and adding a negative for every irrelevant pattern rather than every individual search, keeps the list short and effective.

## Example

An independent optician advertising eye tests sees spend on searches for 'wine glasses', 'magnifying glasses' and 'optician jobs near me'. Adding 'wine', 'magnifying' and 'jobs' as negative broad match keywords at campaign level blocks all three patterns, along with future searches that contain those words.

## Related terms

- [Broad match](https://marketingsignals.com/glossary/broad-match)
- [Performance Max](https://marketingsignals.com/glossary/performance-max)
- [Search intent](https://marketingsignals.com/glossary/search-intent)
- [Quality Score (QS)](https://marketingsignals.com/glossary/quality-score)

## Further reading

Our [Pay Per Click](https://marketingsignals.com/service/pay-per-click) service puts this into practice for brands in the UK and US.

## Sources

- [About negative keywords, Google Ads Help](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/2453972?hl=en)
- [Google Ads increases negative keywords for PMax campaigns to 10,000, Search Engine Roundtable (12 March 2025)](https://seroundtable.com/google-ads-negative-keywords-10000-39044.html)

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