Paid media
Negative keyword
A negative keyword prevents ads from showing for searches containing that term.
What is negative keyword?
A negative keyword prevents ads from showing for searches containing that term. Negatives are applied at account, campaign or ad group level, and they have their own match types.
What it affects
They are the main instrument for stopping spend on queries that will never convert, which on a neglected account is a large share of the total.
How it gets implemented
Built from search term review as a standing routine, with lists maintained for recurring categories such as job seekers, free seekers, competitors and adjacent trades.
The common misunderstanding
Negative phrase and exact match do not include close variants in the same way positive keywords do, so misspellings and plurals often need adding explicitly.
Worth knowing because it comes up in almost every conversation about this.
Where this comes up in the work
It is part of Answer Engine Optimization, and more specifically of Zero-click visibility. Across the rest of the work it shows up in:
- Analytics and Measurement, where it decides separating what is measured from what is modelled, in the report itself
- Brand and Creative, since working out what the competitor’s brand is actually promising is only as good as this is
- Generative Engine Optimization, in which it is the first thing checked before giving each product a page a model can distinguish from the one beside it
- Answer Engine Optimization, which cannot be done properly without it
What to check
Two questions that establish whether this is actually in order on a given site:
- Whether it survives a logged-out visit from a cold cache
- Whether the exception somebody added two years ago is still needed
Common questions
How do you prove negative keyword is worth fixing?
By measuring it rather than by argument. Built from search term review as a standing routine, with lists maintained for recurring categories such as job seekers, free seekers, competitors and adjacent trades.
Is negative keyword the same as anything else?
Negative phrase and exact match do not include close variants in the same way positive keywords do, so misspellings and plurals often need adding explicitly. The distinction matters because the two are fixed differently.
Will fixing negative keyword move rankings?
They are the main instrument for stopping spend on queries that will never convert, which on a neglected account is a large share of the total. Whether that becomes a ranking change depends on what else is true about the site, which is why it is worth measuring rather than assuming. Generative Engine Optimization in Bengaluru covers the setup, Google Ads Management in Bengaluru the maintenance nobody budgets for.
How do you check negative keyword on a site?
Built from search term review as a standing routine, with lists maintained for recurring categories such as job seekers, free seekers, competitors and adjacent trades. Anybody with access can establish it in an afternoon. Digital PR campaigns is what gets agreed in the room. Link gap analysis is what happens afterwards.
Whose job is negative keyword?
Usually whoever owns content and editorial, because working out which old articles deserve a rewrite and which deserve deleting depends on it. In practice it falls between teams often enough that naming an owner is half the fix. New York is the counterweight to Mumbai, and both are worth half an hour.
Is negative keyword expensive to get right?
It depends entirely on where the problem originates. Establishing that is the first piece of work.
Find the constraint before funding the plan
Send us your site and your goals. You will get an honest read on the gaps worth fixing first, whether or not you work with us.