Term
Negative Keyword
An exclusion keyword in Google Ads. Prevents an ad from serving when the user query contains the excluded term. Negative keywords also support match types.
Negative Keyword — in more detail
A negative keyword blocks an ad from serving on certain queries. It’s added at the ad-group or campaign level, or via account-wide negative keyword lists. Negatives carry their own match types: Negative Broad excludes when all negative tokens appear in any order; Negative Phrase excludes when the phrase appears in the query; Negative Exact excludes only the exact query. Important: negatives do not match close variants — typos and plurals must be added separately.
Example / In practice
A premium shoe shop books women's running shoes (Phrase) and adds negatives:
free(Negative Broad) — blocks queries that include “free”"women's running shoes used"(Negative Phrase) — no second-hand traffic[women's running shoes review](Negative Exact) — excludes pure research intent
Commercial intent traffic stays in; irrelevant queries are filtered out.
Distinction from similar terms
Negative keyword lists are account-wide collections that can be applied to multiple campaigns. Negative sites (Display) exclude placements rather than queries. Search term reports are the primary source for new negatives.
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Keyword (SEA)
A search term an advertiser targets to trigger ads. In Google Ads a keyword is not a literal user query but a trigger rule paired with a Match Type — Phrase, Exact, or Broad.
LexikonGoogle Ads account structure — from campaign down to ad group, set up right
Account segmentation, campaign types, ad groups, SKAG/STAG, match types, negatives and brand/generic/competitor — woven together.
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