What Is Negative Keyword in Google Ads and How It Works

A negative keyword in Google Ads is a word or phrase that prevents your ads from showing when someone searches for that term. It helps you avoid irrelevant clicks by excluding searches that don't match your product or service.

How It Works

Think of negative keywords as filters for your ads. When you add a negative keyword, Google Ads will not show your ad if the search query contains that word or phrase. This helps you avoid paying for clicks from people who are unlikely to be interested in what you offer.

For example, if you sell luxury watches but add "cheap" as a negative keyword, your ads won’t appear when someone searches for "cheap watches." This saves your budget for more relevant customers.

It works like a gatekeeper that blocks unwanted visitors, making your ad campaigns more efficient and focused.

Example

This example shows how to add a negative keyword to a Google Ads campaign using Google Ads API in Python.

python

from google.ads.googleads.client import GoogleAdsClient
from google.ads.googleads.errors import GoogleAdsException

client = GoogleAdsClient.load_from_storage()

campaign_service = client.get_service("CampaignService")

# Replace with your campaign ID and negative keyword text
campaign_id = "INSERT_CAMPAIGN_ID"
negative_keyword_text = "free"

operation = client.get_type("CampaignCriterionOperation")
criterion = operation.create
criterion.campaign = campaign_service.campaign_path(client.customer_id, campaign_id)
criterion.negative = True
criterion.keyword.text = negative_keyword_text
criterion.keyword.match_type = client.enums.KeywordMatchTypeEnum.BROAD

campaign_criterion_service = client.get_service("CampaignCriterionService")
response = campaign_criterion_service.mutate_campaign_criteria(
    customer_id=client.customer_id, operations=[operation]
)

print(f"Added negative keyword '{negative_keyword_text}' to campaign {campaign_id}.")

Output

Added negative keyword 'free' to campaign INSERT_CAMPAIGN_ID.

When to Use

Use negative keywords when you want to avoid showing your ads for irrelevant or unwanted search terms. This helps save money and improves your ad performance by focusing on the right audience.

Common real-world uses include:

• Excluding terms like "free" or "cheap" if you sell premium products.
• Blocking unrelated product searches, e.g., excluding "software" if you sell hardware.
• Preventing ads from showing for competitor brand names if you don’t want to target those searches.

Key Points

• Negative keywords stop your ads from showing on specific search terms.
• They help reduce wasted ad spend on irrelevant clicks.
• You can add them at campaign or ad group level.
• Use them to refine your audience and improve ad relevance.

Key Takeaways

Negative keywords prevent ads from showing on unwanted search terms.

They save budget by avoiding irrelevant clicks.

Add negative keywords to improve ad targeting and relevance.

Use them to exclude searches that don’t match your offer.

They can be applied at campaign or ad group levels.