Negative Keywords

Negatives are how a Search campaign stops paying for the wrong clicks. They matter as much as the keywords themselves. Reads do not require approval; adding negatives is a change, so confirm before shipping.

Confirm the account: list_connected_accounts.

1. Read the search-term report

Use research_campaign_opportunity and available pull_google_ads_performance or pull_microsoft_ads_performance history. Request a platform search-term export if query-level detail is missing. Separate observed converting queries from proposed keywords; do not invent query performance.

2. Categorize

• Wasteful: spend, no conversions, clearly off-topic. Add as negatives now.
• Ambiguous: some signal, unclear intent. Watch before cutting.
• Bleed: broad or phrase keywords matching queries they should not. Tighten match types or add negatives to contain them.
• Cross-campaign conflict: the same query served by two campaigns competing against each other. Resolve with campaign-level negatives so each campaign owns its intent.

3. Choose the level

Add negatives at ad-group level for surgical fixes, campaign level for account-wide junk, and use shared negative lists for terms every campaign should exclude.

4. Add on approval

Apply negatives through the plan tools and confirm. Re-pull the search-term report after a few days to verify the waste stopped.

Rules

• Pair every keyword expansion (see keyword-research) with negatives; expansion without negatives leaks budget.
• Do not negate a term that has converted, even once, without checking the numbers.
• Report the negatives added, the level, and the spend they were burning.