What the Heck are Negative Keywords?

Considering Negative Keywords for your WordPress Website

Negative keywords are a crucial aspect of pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, especially in platforms like Google Ads and Microsoft Ads. They help refine your ad targeting by preventing ads from appearing for irrelevant or low-converting search terms.

While negative keyword strategies primarily apply to PPC advertising, you can also apply this concept to your overall SEO efforts. We will cover that, too.

Here’s everything you need to know!

What Are Negative Keywords?

Negative keywords are words or phrases you add to your PPC campaigns to prevent your ads from triggering specific search queries. This ensures your budget is spent only on relevant clicks, improving ROI.

For example, if you’re selling luxury watches, you might add “cheap” as a negative keyword to avoid showing ads to people looking for low-cost options.

Benefits of Using Negative Keywords

Increased Relevance: Prevents ads from appearing for unrelated searches, ensuring they reach the right audience.
Better ROI: Eliminates wasted ad spend on unqualified clicks.
Higher Click-Through Rate (CTR): Your ads are shown to people who are more likely to be interested.
Improved Quality Score: Since Google Ads considers ad relevance, using negative keywords can help boost ad rankings while lowering costs.
Lower Cost Per Click (CPC): Reducing wasted clicks helps stretch your budget further.

Types of Negative Keywords

There are three main match types for negative keywords, similar to regular keywords:

Match Type	Example	How It Works
Broad Match (Default)	running shoes	Blocks any search that includes both “running” and “shoes” in any order.
Phrase Match	“running shoes”	Blocks searches containing the exact phrase, like “cheap running shoes,” but not “shoes for running.”
Exact Match	[running shoes]	Blocks searches for only “running shoes” and nothing else.

Note: Negative keywords do not support close variants, misspellings, or plurals in Google Ads.

How to Find Negative Keywords

Google Ads Search Term Report: Analyze what people are actually searching when they click your ads.
Google Keyword Planner: Check for irrelevant searches related to your industry.
Google Search Console: Identify search queries leading to your website that might not be relevant.
Competitor Analysis: Look at competitors’ ads and their targeted keywords. Check out SEMRush.*
Manual Brainstorming: Think about terms that don’t align with your business (e.g., “free,” “jobs,” “DIY,” etc.).

How to Add Negative Keywords in Google Ads

Go to Your Google Ads Account.
Click on “Keywords” in the left-hand menu.
Select “Negative Keywords.”
Click the “+” button to add negative keywords.
Enter the terms you want to exclude.
Choose the right level (Campaign or Ad Group) and save.

Common Negative Keywords to Consider

Industry-Specific Exclusions

If you sell high-end products: cheap, budget, free
If you sell services, not DIY: how to, tutorial, learn
If you offer paid products: free, giveaway
If you target businesses only: jobs, careers, hiring

Competitor Names

Unless you’re intentionally running a competitor campaign, you may want to exclude competitor brand names to avoid irrelevant clicks.

Geographic Exclusions

If you don’t serve a particular region, exclude searches related to those locations.

Best Practices for Using Negative Keywords

Regularly update your negative keyword list. Run search term reports weekly to refine exclusions.
Use shared negative keyword lists. If you run multiple campaigns, create shared lists to save time.
Be careful with broad match negatives. Overuse can unintentionally block valuable searches.
Exclude irrelevant but not similar searches. Avoid blocking terms that might still be relevant to your business.
Test and refine. Track performance to see if adjustments are needed.

Negative Keywords vs. Traditional Keyword Targeting

Feature	Negative Keywords	Regular Keywords
Purpose	Exclude searches	Target searches
Match Types	Broad, Phrase, Exact	Broad, Phrase, Exact
Affects CPC?	Lowers CPC	Can increase CPC
Improves Quality Score?	Yes	Yes

Advanced Strategies

Use dynamic negative keyword lists: Integrate with scripts or automation tools to update exclusions dynamically.
Separate branded vs. non-branded terms: Avoid wasting budget on people looking for your own brand when they could find it organically.
Monitor mobile vs. desktop performance: Some negative keywords may be more relevant to mobile searches.

Negative keywords are primarily a PPC (pay-per-click) advertising feature used in platforms like Google Ads and Microsoft Ads. They help prevent ads from appearing for irrelevant or unqualified searches. However, the concept of negative keywords can also be helpful in SEO (Search Engine Optimization)—just in a different way.

How Negative Keywords Relate to SEO

While search engines do not allow you to “block” organic search traffic the way you do with PPC, you can still use negative keyword principles in SEO by:

Optimizing Content to Avoid Irrelevant Traffic
If you don’t want to rank for certain terms, avoid including them in your content.
Example: If you sell premium watches, but you rank for “cheap watches,” you might need to refine your content to emphasize “luxury” and avoid “cheap.”
Using Robots.txt and Noindex Tags
If specific pages attract irrelevant search traffic, you can block search engines from indexing them with a robots.txt file or meta noindex tag.
Disavowing Unwanted Backlinks
If your website gets backlinks from spammy or irrelevant sources (which could drive unqualified traffic), you can disavow those links in Google Search Console.
Negative Keyword Research for SEO Content Strategy
By analyzing PPC negative keywords, you can refine your SEO content strategy to avoid ranking for searches that don’t align with your business goals.
Internal Linking & Anchor Text Strategy
If your site is unintentionally ranking for the wrong terms, adjust internal linking and anchor text to reinforce the right keywords.

Main Difference Between Negative Keywords in PPC vs. SEO

Feature	PPC (Google Ads)	SEO (Organic Search)
Purpose	Prevent ads from showing for unwanted searches	Prevent ranking for irrelevant search terms
Control	Direct (add negative keywords)	Indirect (adjust content, meta tags, linking)
Effect	Saves money, improves ad targeting	Improves content relevance, reduces bounce rate

So, while you can’t directly “block” organic searches in SEO, applying negative keyword strategies helps refine your content and attract more qualified organic traffic.

Final Thoughts

Negative keywords are essential for refining your ad strategy, minimizing wasted spending, and improving overall campaign performance. You can drive higher-quality traffic and better conversions by actively managing and optimizing your negative keyword list.

Isn’t that what we all want?

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