Negative keyword

Keywords say where an ad should appear. Negative keywords say where it should not. Google's own example is an optician selling eyeglasses who adds "wine glasses" and "drinking glasses" as negatives. They can be applied to a campaign, an ad group or, through lists, a whole account, and have their own broad, phrase and exact forms.

Advertisers find candidates in the search terms report: queries that triggered the ad, cost money and brought nobody useful. Words like "free", "jobs" or "DIY" are common negatives.

For search arbitrage, negatives are one of the quiet forces behind revenue. If a related-search term on a lander repeatedly sends advertisers poor clicks, some of them will add it as a negative. Fewer advertisers then compete for that query, and its coverage and RPC fall. A keyword that paid well last quarter can fade for this reason.

Arbitrageurs running Search-to-search use negatives themselves to avoid paying for irrelevant searches. Google also warns that too many negatives can shrink reach, so advertisers balance protection against volume. Negatives filter queries, while a placement exclusion filters sites.

An example

A law firm bidding on "injury lawyer" adds the negative "salary" so it does not pay for people researching what lawyers earn.