Google Ads: Essential Negative Keywords for your PPC Campaign

Negative keywords are essential for the success of a Pay Per Click campaign. But what should you do when you need to create a list from scratch, risking the omission of vital keywords? At Antartika, we’ve developed a “base list” that we use as a starting point for defining our clients’ lists. We present it in this article, hoping it can aid you in your campaign.

What are Negative Keywords?

Negative keywords are terms or phrases we don’t want to associate with our product or service. By adding them to our PPC campaign, Google Ads won’t display ads when users use these words in their searches.

For example, if we offer interpretation services, we might inadvertently show our ad to those seeking jobs in the field or looking for related university courses. Therefore, it’s important to add negative keywords like “job opening” or “university” to our list.

What are the Benefits of Negative Keywords for a PPC Campaign?

Regularly monitoring search terms that trigger our ads and creating a list of negative keywords allows us to save money by avoiding clicks that are not relevant. This also enhances the Click-Through Rate (CTR) of our ads or keywords, leading to benefits like improving the keyword’s Quality Score and reducing the Cost Per Click (CPC) compared to competitors.

Thanks to our experience with clients’ PPC campaigns, we’ve compiled a list of common negative keywords, which we present below. However, this list shouldn’t be used indiscriminately, as every company has its unique characteristics and specifications. Before excluding keywords from a campaign, it’s important to ensure that they won’t contribute to achieving your goals.

Job Searches

Use these negative keywords to exclude those searching for jobs in your field:

• hiring
• career
• careers
• collaboration
• resume
• CV
• employer
• full time
• full-time
• employment
• work with us
• working
• jobs
• job
• occupation
• occupations
• part time
• part-time
• open positions
• salary
• internship

Educational/Research Field

Use these negative keywords to exclude those seeking courses/schools or conducting research on a specific topic and are less likely to make a purchase:

• admission
• admissions
• articles
• article
• association
• associations
• case study
• certification
• certifications
• class
• classes
• college
• conference
• conferences
• courses
• course
• data
• definition
• diagram
• diploma
• diplomas
• exam
• exams
• examples
• example
• faculty
• guide
• guides
• learning
• entry
• institutes
• institute
• instructor
• instructors
• degree
• degrees
• books
• book
• magazine
• manual
• manuals
• map
• maps
• master
• report
• magazine
• magazines
• school
• schools
• seminar
• meaning
• specialization
• statistics
• theory
• theories
• test
• training
• bachelor
• tutor
• tutorial
• university
• white paper
• wiki
• wikipedia
• workshop

DIY

Use these negative keywords to exclude those seeking guidance on performing an activity independently:

• handmade
• how can I
• make
• modify
• how to
• create
• diy
• do it yourself
• at home
• homemade

Technology and Media

Use these negative keywords to exclude those searching for images, videos, documents, or free programs/tools to download:

• android
• app
• apple
• apps
• cd
• crack
• desktop
• download
• downloads
• dvd
• file
• movie
• freeware
• image
• images
• jpeg
• jpg
• mac
• microsoft
• online
• open source
• pdf
• TV series
• software
• torrent
• torrents
• video
• windows
• wordpress

Legal Field

Use these negative keywords to exclude those seeking legal information or regulations, as their intent might be to handle the work themselves:

• law
• laws
• legislation
• norm
• regulation
• regulations
• legal framework
• rule
• rules
• statute

Information and Window Shoppers

Use these negative keywords if you want to exclude those seeking information, prices, or reviews (users not yet ready to make a purchase). Remember to use this list only if you believe that these types of searches won’t be useful for your campaign.

• blog
• what is
• what are
• costs
• cost
• FAQ
• forum
• info
• information
• news
• opinions
• photo
• photos
• quotes
• quote
• prices
• price
• ratings
• review
• reviews

Offers/Deals

Use these negative keywords to exclude those seeking sales and deals. Use this list only if you don’t offer discounts to your customers.

• affordable
• cheap
• sale
• discounted
• discount
• clearance
• deals

Various

Other common negative keywords for most Google Ads campaigns:

• amazon
• amazon.com
• craigslist (only for campaigns in the USA)
• ebay
• ebay.com
• facebook
• free
• hot
• instagram
• kijiji
• nude
• pinterest
• porn
• sex
• snapchat
• tiktok
• twitter
• youtube