The guide to B2B negative keywords
Why B2B accounts leak money on junk searches
Google doesn't know you're a B2B business. It sees the words people type and matches them to your keywords. Loosely.
Bid on freight forwarding and you'll pay for "freight forwarding jobs". Bid on IT support and you'll pay for "IT support apprenticeship". Bid on CNC machining and you'll meet every hobbyist with a garage.
Every one of those clicks costs the same as a real buyer's. On a niche B2B budget, that's the difference between a campaign that works and one you switch off in month two.
Negative keywords are how you tell Google who you're not for. Plenty of accounts I audit have none at all, or a list of twelve words someone found on a blog in 2019.
How negative match types actually work
This is where most lists go wrong. Negative keywords don't behave like normal keywords. Google spells it out in its own help pages. Almost nobody reads them.
| Negative | Blocks | Doesn't block |
|---|---|---|
hgv driverbroad | hgv driver wanted driver hgv class 1 | hgv drivers wanted hgv licence |
"hgv driver"phrase | hgv driver wanted local hgv driver | driver hgv class 1 hgv drivers wanted |
[hgv driver]exact | hgv driver | hgv driver wanted hgv drivers |
Broad blocks any search containing all the words, in any order. Phrase needs those words in that order, with anything either side. Exact blocks that one search and nothing else.
Three rules people miss:
- No plurals.
jobsdoesn't block "job", andjobdoesn't block "jobs". You need both, or you need to choose on purpose. - No synonyms. Block "vacancies" and you'll still pay for "openings".
- Typos and capitals are handled for you. Google does that bit. You don't need to add misspellings.
Try it: will your ad show?
Type a negative the way you'd paste it. Quotes for phrase, brackets for exact, nothing for broad.
How we built these lists
Every keyword has a match type chosen on purpose. Here's the logic, so you can extend the lists yourself without breaking anything.
One junk word? Broad.
If a word only ever means junk, like salary or glassdoor, broad catches it wherever it shows up.
Two meanings? Phrase.
"revision notes", not revision, because document revision control is a real product. "acca exam", not acca, because people search "ACCA accountant near me" when they want to hire one.
We block "jobs", not "job".
Broad job would block "job management software" and "job costing". So the list blocks jobs, plus phrases like "job vacancy" and "job description".
"Free" is never broad.
Broad free blocks "free trial", "free demo" and "free quote", some of your best searches. The list uses phrases like "free download" and "free template" instead.
Bare words get exact.
Someone typing just "outlook" wants Outlook. Someone typing "outlook support for small business" might want you. [outlook] blocks the first and leaves the second alone.
Risky ones are flagged.
Some terms are junk for most firms and gold for a few. They carry an amber note telling you when to remove them, and a handful start switched off.
Before publishing, we ran every pack against real B2B buyer searches for each sector. Nothing blocks a buyer unless it carries a note telling you when to remove it.
How to add your pack to Google Ads
Copy and paste. No spreadsheets, no Google Ads Editor. About ten minutes.
1. Create the list
- Click Copy all in your pack above.
- In Google Ads, open the Campaigns menu, go to Keywords, then the Negative keywords tab.
- Click the blue plus button.
- Click Select a campaign and pick one of your non-brand Search campaigns.
- Paste your list into the box. One negative per line, with the quotes and brackets exactly as copied. That's what sets the match type.
- Tick Save to new or existing list and give it a name. Use the name we suggest above, or something that tells future you what's in it and when you added it.
- Click Save.
2. Apply it to your other campaigns
- Open the Tools menu and go to Exclusion lists.
- Select the Negative keywords lists tab.
- Tick your new list.
- Click Apply to campaigns.
- Select every non-brand Search campaign.
- Click Apply to campaigns.
Leave your brand campaign out
The Core pack blocks searches like "phone number" and "login". On your brand campaign, someone searching your name plus "phone number" wants to call you. Don't stop them.
Run the clash check first
Paste your own keywords into the clash checker in the pack. It takes ten seconds, and it's the difference between this list saving money and quietly switching off your best keyword.
Google calls these negative keyword lists. Each one holds up to 5,000 negatives and you can have 20 in an account. These packs come nowhere near that.
List, campaign or account level?
Google gives you three places to put negatives. Here's where each one belongs.
| Negative keyword list | Account level | Campaign | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Applies to | Every campaign you apply it to | All eligible search and shopping inventory in the account, brand included | That campaign only |
| Limit | 5,000 per list, 20 lists | 1,000 | Fine for a handful |
| Use it for | These packs | A short list that's junk everywhere: piracy, job hunters | One-off fixes from that campaign's search terms |
Put the pack in a negative keyword list. Keep account level for the handful of things that are junk on every campaign you'll ever run. Anything that touches your brand stays off account level, because account level hits your brand campaign too.
Performance Max: Google rolled out negative keyword lists for Performance Max through 2025, and account-level negatives already apply to its eligible search inventory. If you can't see the list option in your account, account level is the fallback.
The negative that switches off your best campaign
The most expensive negative keyword I see is the one that blocks your own ads.
An IT company adds "1st line support" to stop job hunters. Sensible. Except their best keyword is "outsourced 1st line support". That's now blocked. Nobody notices for months, because a blocked keyword doesn't throw an error. It just goes quiet.
That exact term is in our IT pack, flagged with a note, because it's junk for most MSPs and gold for the ones selling service desk. The clash checker catches it in seconds. It runs every negative in your list against every one of your keywords, using Google's rules, and tells you what would be blocked.
Never add these
Some words look like junk and are actually your buyers. Add these as negatives and you're switching off your own pipeline.
"Best" and "reviews" look like research. In B2B they're often the last search before someone gets in touch. If you type one of these into the tool's own-negatives box, it'll warn you.
After you've added it
A list is a starting point. Your search terms report is the truth.
- Weekly for the first month. Open the Search terms report (Insights and reports, then Search terms) and add anything that's obviously junk to the same list.
- Monthly after that. Less new junk turns up once the obvious stuff is gone.
- Add to the list, not the campaign. Every campaign using the list picks it up straight away.
- Don't block a search because it hasn't converted yet. Block it because it can't. "Freight forwarder for ecommerce" with no sale yet is a buyer. "Track my parcel" never will be.
If you only do one thing after reading this, check your search terms every week for a month. Real data beats any list, including mine.
James GreenMicrosoft Ads
Microsoft Ads doesn't do broad match negatives. A negative with no symbols is treated as phrase match there. Switch your pack to Microsoft Ads format and we convert it for you.
Single-word broad negatives behave the same either way. Multi-word broad ones become phrase, so they'll only block that word order.
Questions
What are negative keywords in Google Ads?
Words or phrases that stop your ads showing. Add jobs as a negative and your ads won't show for any search containing "jobs".
How many negative keywords can I add?
Up to 5,000 per negative keyword list, and up to 20 lists per account. Account-level negatives are capped at 1,000.
Do negative keywords block plurals and misspellings?
Plurals and close variants, no. You need to add "job" and "jobs" separately if you want both blocked. Misspellings and capitals, yes. Google handles those for you.
Should I use broad, phrase or exact for negatives?
Broad for single words that only ever mean junk, like salary. Phrase for words with two meanings, like "revision notes". Exact for bare words where longer searches are buyers, like [outlook].
Will these lists work with Performance Max?
Google rolled out negative keyword lists for Performance Max through 2025. If you can't see the option in your account, account-level negatives apply to Performance Max's eligible search inventory instead.
Are these lists for UK or US accounts?
They're built for UK B2B. Most terms work anywhere, but some are UK-specific, like HMRC, Evri and GCSE. US accounts should drop those and add US equivalents.
How often should I update my negatives?
Weekly for the first month of a new campaign, monthly after that. Use your search terms report and add anything junk to the same list.
Is it actually free?
Yes. You give us an email, you get the packs. If you want help running the account, that's what we do for a living, but you don't need us to use these.