Negative Keywords
Last updated September 2026
Negative keywords are terms an advertiser excludes from triggering their paid search ads, preventing wasted spend on searches that will not convert. Adding "free" as a negative keyword, for instance, stops ads from showing to people searching for something the business does not offer at no cost.
A negative keyword list is a paid search account's filter for irrelevant traffic. Every keyword an advertiser bids on can match a wide range of related searches; negative keywords carve out the ones that look related but will not convert, so budget stops flowing to clicks that were never going to become customers.
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How negatives get built
A negative list starts before launch, built from obvious mismatches: job seekers searching a service term plus "careers," researchers searching plus "definition" or "how to," bargain hunters searching plus "free" or "DIY." It keeps growing after launch, pulled from the search terms report, where every query that actually triggered an ad is visible and any irrelevant one becomes a candidate to exclude.
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Why this is ongoing work, not a one-time setup
Search behavior shifts, competitors' names start showing up in queries, seasonal terms appear and disappear. A negative keyword list built once at launch and never revisited slowly leaks budget to the same categories of bad traffic month after month. Reviewing the search terms report on a regular cadence is one of the least glamorous, most consistently profitable habits in paid search management.
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Broad match keywords need the heaviest negative keyword support, since they match the widest range of queries.
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Negatives can be applied at the ad group, campaign, or account level, depending on how widely a term needs excluding.
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Common negative categories
job-seeker terms, informational research terms, free/DIY terms, and irrelevant geography.
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A well-maintained negative list is often the fastest way to improve conversion rate without touching bids or creative.
Takeaway
A negative keyword list built once at launch and never revisited slowly leaks budget to the same categories of bad traffic month after month.
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Where this shows up in Conduit's reporting
Search terms review and negative keyword maintenance happen on a recurring schedule inside every paid search engagement Conduit runs, reported to the agency as part of routine optimization, not as a separate line item. It is unglamorous work, but it is where a meaningful share of wasted spend actually gets recovered, often lifting Quality Score along with it.
