Negative keywords in Google Ads: how to find them, where to add them, and why ads still show

Negative keywords in Google Ads are words or phrases that stop your ads from showing on searches that contain them. Find them in the search terms report with the Keyword column switched on, so you see which of your keywords let each search in. Then pick a level and a match type for each exclusion.

The whole-account review, search terms included, sits in the Google Ads audit checklist. This page is what you do with each search term once you have it: which to exclude, where the exclusion goes, and why some searches still get through.

Checked 7 November 2026 against Google Ads Help and the Google Ads API v26 reference¹.

I build AdCtrl, which connects Google Ads to Claude or ChatGPT, so most steps of the routine below have the exact words to type in AdCtrl next to the manual route.

How do you find negative keywords in the search terms report?

Negative keywords come from the search terms report, which lists the actual searches that triggered your ads, with cost and conversions next to each. The "Keyword" column shows which of your keywords matched each search, and it "doesn't show by default"².

Turn on the Keyword column before you judge a single term. With it on, every costly search gets one of three calls:

I'd fix the keyword before writing the tenth negative against it.

Which terms need a call? My rule of thumb, not Google's advice: a term whose cost has passed your target cost per conversion, with zero conversions, gets a decision this week. That's your cut-off, set by your own target.

To add negatives from the report, check the boxes next to the search terms you want to exclude and add them as negative keywords. Google then lets you put them on an ad group or campaign, an existing negative keyword list, or a new list, and in a Search campaign they come in as negative exact match by default³. Change the match type there if you want a theme blocked.

Google omits search terms that "don't have enough query activity" for privacy reasons, so some spend never shows up as a term you can exclude. And when you view the report through Report editor, you can't add negative keywords from it.

Which match type should a negative keyword use?

Negative keywords use the same three match types as normal keywords, but Google says they "work differently than their positive counterparts".

Negative broad match is the default, and it blocks a search that "contains all your negative keyword terms, even if the terms are in a different order". Negative phrase blocks searches with the exact terms in the same order. Negative exact blocks only the exact terms, in the same order, "without extra words"⁴.

The same rules as a table, with the searches from the illustration:

The singular is the trap. Negative keywords won't match close variants, so excluding "running shoes" does nothing to "running shoe". Add singular and plural forms and synonyms yourself. Casing and misspellings are handled for you.

For match types, my rule of thumb is phrase for a theme you never want, like "jobs" or "repair", and exact for one search you want gone while its neighbours keep showing, like "free running shoes". Broad only when the words could come in any order.

Should a negative keyword go on the ad group, campaign, a list or the account?

A negative keyword can sit at four levels, and the right one depends on how far the exclusion should reach. Ad group negatives steer searches between your own ad groups. Campaign negatives stop waste in one campaign. A negative keyword list shares one set of exclusions across many campaigns. Account-level negatives apply to "all search and shopping inventory" in Search, Performance Max, App, Shopping, Smart and Local campaigns.

Each level has a hard limit:

• 10,000 negative keywords per campaign⁵
• 5,000 keywords per negative keyword list
• 20 negative keyword lists per account
• 1,000 account-level negative keywords

The campaign and list limits are on Google's account limits page, and the 1,000 account-level cap is on its account-level negatives page⁶. Keep account-level negatives for terms you never want, since 1,000 fills up fast if every bad search goes there. Display Network and Video campaigns consider at most 1,000 negative keywords.

You add account-level negatives under Admin, then Account settings, then the "Negative keywords" section. Shared lists live under Tools, then Shared library, then Exclusion lists, on the "Negative keyword lists" tab, and each list has to be applied to the campaigns it should cover⁷.

When you add negatives to a campaign, Google also lets you save them to a new or existing list and apply that list to the campaign in the same step.

Do negative keywords work with AI Max and Performance Max?

Negative keywords work with AI Max and Performance Max, but they reach different inventory. AI Max respects your negatives, and Performance Max applies them to Search and Shopping only:

Performance Max has one tool Search doesn't. Preview impact predicts what a negative will cost you in conversions or conversion value, shown as a percentage, but it's "only available for Performance Max campaigns" and handles up to 10 keywords at a time¹¹. For Search and AI Max campaigns you judge the risk from the search terms report yourself.

If you're not sure whether AI Max is on in your campaigns, the audit checklist has the check.

The weekly search-term routine

A weekly search-term routine takes five steps, from the report to a change you can check. The cut-off is my rule of thumb from above, your own target cost per conversion; the matching and level rules in the steps are Google's.

1. Turn on the Keyword column and pull the search terms.

   Manual: open the search terms report, add the Keyword and Match type columns, set the date range and sort by cost.

   With AdCtrl: paste the read prompt from the "Run it with AdCtrl" section below.

2. Sort each term past your cut-off into exclude, fix the keyword, or keep.

   Manual: read the matched keyword and match type next to each term; read AI Max terms with their source column.

   With AdCtrl: write "Group the search terms that cost money without converting by the keyword they matched, and mark which keywords keep matching unrelated searches."

3. Choose the level and match type for each exclusion.

   Manual: first look at the negatives you already have on the ad group, campaign, shared lists and account, so you don't add a duplicate or block a keyword you bid on. Then use the decision above, and add the other forms of each word, singular or plural, as separate entries.

   With AdCtrl: write "Make them campaign-level negatives on Search – Running shoes: phrase match for jobs and repair, exact match for free running shoes." Negatives on ad groups, lists or the account stay manual.

4. Preview the change before it goes live.

   Manual: in Performance Max, use Preview impact; elsewhere, compare the batch against your own keywords.

   With AdCtrl: send the preview request from the "Run it with AdCtrl" section; you get the list back, unapplied until you say "apply".

5. Apply, then check it's there.

   Manual: add the negatives, open the campaign's negative keywords to confirm them, and look for the same searches in next week's report.

   With AdCtrl: write "Show the campaign-level negative keywords on Search – Running shoes now."

A short version to run each week:

• The Keyword column was on before any term was judged.
• Every term past your target cost per conversion with zero conversions has a decision.
• AI Max terms were read with their source column.
• No new negative overlaps one of your own keywords.
• Plural and singular forms went in as separate negatives.
• Last week's excluded searches are gone from this week's report.

Why does my ad still show for a search I excluded?

Google's own matching rules give five reasons an ad can still show for a search you excluded. Find the campaign and match type that served it in the search terms report, then match it to one of these causes:

How many negative keywords is too many?

There's no fixed "too many" for negative keywords below Google's hard limits; the cost shows up as lost reach. Google's own wording is that "if you use too many negative keywords, your ads might reach fewer customers"⁴, and its Performance Max forecast page warns that negatives can "unexpectedly limit your reach".

A negative that overlaps your own keyword blocks it. Google's help says outright that overlap "will cause your ad not to show"⁷. A broad negative "cheap" stops every search containing "cheap", including the ones your keyword "cheap running shoes" was bought for. If a campaign slowed down after a round of exclusions, Google Ads not spending walks through the status and impression share checks.

Competitor names follow the same logic. Exclude them in campaigns where they waste money, but if you run a campaign that bids on competitors on purpose, keep them off the account, and off any shared list applied to that campaign, because those would block it too.

Run it with AdCtrl: read, preview, apply

With AdCtrl you do the read and the campaign-level negatives from Claude or ChatGPT. Adding negative keywords counts as an edit, so you see the list first and nothing changes in Google Ads until you approve it¹². Start with the read:

Show search terms for the last 30 days with the keyword and match type each one matched on, plus cost and conversions. Sort by cost.

Then ask for the negatives:

For the campaign Search – Running shoes, prepare campaign-level negative keywords for the search terms we marked as exclude: phrase match for themes like "repair", "jobs" and "used", exact match for single searches like "free running shoes". Add singular and plural forms. Show me the list before anything changes.

After you approve, ask for the campaign's negative keywords again and check what Google now holds instead of trusting the confirmation.

The routine here stays at campaign level. Account-level negatives, ad group negatives and shared negative keyword lists are manual steps in Google Ads, as are Performance Max search terms. For how hosts handle approvals and permissions, see Claude for Google Ads.

What other tools find negative keywords?

Other tools find negative keywords too, and some go further on bulk analysis. Optmyzr's Negative Keyword Finder breaks the search terms report into single words and adds up their data, so a word that wastes money across many searches stands out¹³. Adspirer and GoMarble run the review through an AI connection.

• Google Ads: Search terms report, negatives at four levels; Preview impact for Performance Max

  (Built in)

• OP

  Optmyzr: "identifies individual words that are part of the search queries and are not performing well", then uploads negatives in bulk

  (Tool)

• 

  Adspirer: A "Negative Keyword Miner" skill that recommends exact, phrase or broad; "applied on approval"

  (Connector)

• GO

  GoMarble: A Python script that flags wasted-spend terms, checks them against your negative list and clusters the rest

  (Workflow)

• AdCtrl: Search terms with the matched keyword in Claude or ChatGPT; campaign-level negatives as a preview you approve

  (Connector)

For thousands of terms, word-level analysis and clustering save time, which is what Optmyzr and GoMarble are built for. A preview-and-approve step isn't unique either, since Adspirer also asks for approval. Pick the one that fits how many terms you review and where you already work.

Pull search terms with the matched keyword (GAQL)

GAQL, the Google Ads Query Language, pulls the same report from a script or the API. The search_term_view resource holds the search term, and the segments.keyword.info fields add the keyword it matched:

SELECT search_term_view.search_term, search_term_view.status, segments.keyword.info.text, segments.keyword.info.match_type, metrics.cost_micros, metrics.conversions FROM search_term_view WHERE segments.date DURING LAST_30_DAYS

search_term_view.status tells you whether a term is already one of your targeted or excluded keywords, and metrics.cost_micros is in micros, where one million is one unit of currency. Performance Max terms aren't in this view: Google says to use campaign_search_term_view for them¹.

Frequently asked questions

What to do next

Turn on the Keyword column, pull last month's search terms, and make a call on every term whose cost has passed your target cost per conversion without a conversion. Put each exclusion at the narrowest level that covers it, add the plural and synonyms, and check the batch against your own keywords before it goes live.

Learn more: the Google Ads audit checklist runs the search-term checks across a whole account, and Google Ads MCP compares the ways to connect the API to Claude or ChatGPT.

Try it: connect AdCtrl with the getting started steps, paste the read prompt above, and prepare your first campaign-level batch as a preview. Try any plan free for 3 days, no card needed¹².