Free Negative Keyword List
Stop Paying For Searches That Never Buy

A negative keyword is a word or phrase you tell Google Ads or Microsoft Ads not to show your ads for. With “jobs” as a negative keyword, a search for “plumber jobs” does not trigger your ad, so you do not pay for a click from someone who is looking for work rather than for a plumber.

There is no right number. Add the searches you are sure will never buy from you, and nothing you are unsure about. The default list here has 215 keywords, and choosing a business adds up to 30 more. A negative keyword list in Google Ads holds up to 5,000 keywords, so the limit is rarely the problem: a wrong negative is.

Phrase match for most lists. It blocks any search that contains the words together in that order, which is what you want for words like “jobs” or “how to”. Broad match blocks searches that contain all the words in any order, which matters only for negatives of two words or more. Exact match blocks one search and nothing else, so use it when a single search wastes money but longer versions of it are worth showing for.

In Google Ads, open Tools, then Shared library, then Exclusion lists. Under Negative keyword lists, click the + button, name the list, paste the keywords one per line and save. Then tick the list, choose Apply to campaigns and pick the campaigns it should cover. A list changed later updates every campaign it is applied to.

Yes. A negative keyword wins over a keyword, so the negative “free” stops your ads for the keyword “free estimate plumber”. That is the most common way a negative list costs sales. In the builder, type the searches you want under “Keywords you want to keep”: any negative that would block one is left out, and the list says which and why.

Microsoft Ads has shared negative keyword lists that work like the ones in Google Ads, with one difference: it takes phrase and exact match negatives only. In Google Ads, negative keywords can be added to a Performance Max campaign, and negative keywords set for the whole account apply to it as well. They affect where the campaign shows on Search and Shopping, not its other placements.

No. Nothing is uploaded or connected, and the builder never sees your account. The lists are written guidance from common PPC practice: the searches that advertisers of each kind usually exclude. Your account will have wasted searches that no general list can know, which is why the search terms report is the second half of the job.

Check the search terms report at least once a month, and every week for a new campaign or one that uses broad match keywords. Each time, add the searches that spent without converting and look for negatives that block searches you now want. A list that is never looked at again slowly stops matching what people type.