A comprehensive negative keyword list by industry is the single most effective way to stop wasting Google Ads budget on clicks that will never convert. Negative keywords are terms you explicitly exclude from triggering your ads, and the right list can cut wasted spend by a significant percentage overnight. This resource contains 700+ Google Ads negative keywords by industry, organized across ten verticals, along with strategic guidance on how to deploy them without accidentally blocking profitable traffic.
Most "701 negative keywords Google Ads" lists floating around the internet are generic, outdated, and dangerous when applied blindly. This is the comprehensive negative keyword list for 2026: industry-specific, strategically organized, and built to be used alongside proper Google Ads best practices.
The Problem With Generic Negative Keyword Lists
Generic negative keyword lists treat every Google Ads account like the same business. They tell you to block "free," "cheap," and "jobs" without considering that "free consultation" might be your highest-converting query if you run a law firm, or that "cheap flights" is exactly what a budget airline should bid on.
The deeper problem is that a static list published in 2023 cannot account for how search behavior has shifted. New slang, trending topics, AI-generated content queries, and changes to Google's matching algorithms all introduce irrelevant traffic that yesterday's list never anticipated. The result: advertisers either apply generic lists and accidentally block revenue, or they avoid negative keywords entirely and hemorrhage budget on junk clicks.
Both outcomes hurt. The fix is not a bigger generic list. It is an industry-segmented list paired with a process for ongoing maintenance, which we cover in full below.
Why Industry-Specific Negative Keywords Outperform Generic Lists
Campaign-level negative keywords tied to your specific vertical outperform generic lists for three reasons.
Relevance filtering is context-dependent. The word "attorney" is a negative keyword in e-commerce but a primary keyword for legal services. The word "recipe" is irrelevant for a kitchen appliance retailer running Shopping campaigns but essential for a food blog monetizing through ads. Industry context determines whether a term is waste or gold.
Match type behavior has changed. Google's broad match has become significantly more aggressive. Broad match now interprets intent, not just keywords, which means your ads show for tangentially related queries more often than ever. Industry-specific negatives counterbalance this by excluding the specific tangential topics that broad match pulls in for your vertical.
Budget impact compounds. A single irrelevant keyword cluster can consume a meaningful portion of daily budget before you notice. In high-CPC industries like legal and financial services, even a handful of wasted clicks per day can represent hundreds of dollars in lost spend weekly. Industry-specific negatives address the exact waste patterns unique to your cost structure.
This is also why services like groas, where AI agents monitor search term reports continuously and a dedicated human account manager reviews negative keyword strategy on an ongoing basis, dramatically outperform static list management. But more on that later.
700+ Negative Keywords By Industry
Below is the most comprehensive negative keyword list for 2026, segmented by vertical. Apply these thoughtfully. Read the deployment guidance in the next section before adding anything to your account.
E-Commerce And Retail
Informational and non-commercial intent: how to, what is, definition, meaning, wiki, wikipedia, tutorial, guide, DIY, homemade, handmade, recipe, craft, history of, origin of, compare, comparison, review, reviews, reddit, quora, forum, blog, article, news, YouTube, video, TikTok, Pinterest, Instagram
Job and career seekers: jobs, careers, hiring, employment, salary, intern, internship, volunteer, work from home, resume, glassdoor, indeed, LinkedIn
Free and bargain seekers (when margin matters): free, freebie, giveaway, sample, coupon code, promo code, clearance, liquidation, garage sale, yard sale, thrift, secondhand, used, refurbished, craigslist, Facebook marketplace, eBay, wish
Competitor and brand confusion: amazon, walmart, target, alibaba, aliexpress, shein, temu
Unrelated modifiers: wholesale (if B2C only), bulk (if not applicable), blueprint, schematic, patent, specification, manual, instructions, repair, fix, broken
Returns and complaints: return policy, refund, complaint, scam, lawsuit, class action, recall
Home Services (HVAC, Plumbing, Roofing)
For those running Google Ads for home services, these negatives are critical.
DIY and education: how to, DIY, do it yourself, tutorial, step by step, instructions, guide, YouTube, video, course, class, training, certification, apprentice, apprenticeship, school, college, degree
Job seekers: jobs, careers, hiring, salary, wage, technician jobs, helper wanted, apprentice, resume, indeed, glassdoor
Non-service queries: parts, parts list, diagram, schematic, manual, specification, wholesale, supplier, distributor, manufacturer, OEM
Unrelated locations (customize to your service area): [cities and states outside your service area]
Irrelevant service types: commercial (if residential only), industrial, marine, aircraft, RV, mobile home (if not served)
Complaints and legal: complaint, scam, lawsuit, BBB, ripoff, rip off, fraud, recall, danger, hazard, code violation
Low-intent modifiers: free, cheap, cheapest, lowest price, bargain, estimate only, ballpark, average cost, how much does
Legal Services
Google Ads for lawyers is one of the highest-CPC verticals, making negative keyword management essential.
Education and career: law school, LSAT, bar exam, paralegal, legal assistant, law degree, JD, LLM, law review, moot court, internship, clerkship, how to become, salary, careers, jobs, hiring
Free and pro bono (if not offered): free legal advice, free consultation, pro bono, legal aid, public defender, court appointed
Informational queries: what is, definition, define, meaning, example, sample, template, form, PDF, download, fillable
Entertainment: movie, TV show, series, book, novel, podcast, documentary, true crime, Netflix, Hulu
Irrelevant practice areas (customize): [practice areas you do not handle, e.g., immigration, patent, maritime, military, entertainment law]
Competitor and directory: avvo, findlaw, justia, nolo, legalzoom, rocket lawyer
Non-client intent: how to sue, file a complaint, report, statute of limitations, can I, should I, is it legal
Healthcare And Medical
Education and career: nursing school, medical school, CNA, RN, LPN, residency, fellowship, MCAT, USMLE, NCLEX, certification, degree, salary, jobs, careers, hiring, indeed, glassdoor
Self-diagnosis and informational: symptoms, causes, signs, what is, definition, wiki, WebMD, Mayo Clinic, NIH, CDC, home remedy, natural cure, holistic, alternative medicine, essential oil
Pharmaceutical queries (if not relevant): side effects, drug interactions, dosage, generic, prescription, over the counter, pharmacy, CVS, Walgreens
Insurance and billing: Medicare, Medicaid, insurance, covered, copay, deductible, out of pocket, billing code, CPT, ICD
Animals (unless veterinary): dog, cat, pet, animal, veterinary, vet
Unrelated specialties: [medical specialties you do not practice]
Legal and complaints: malpractice, lawsuit, sue, complaint, negligence, wrongful death
Financial Services
Education and career: finance degree, MBA, CPA exam, CFP exam, series 7, certification, course, tutorial, jobs, salary, hiring, internship
Free and DIY: free, calculator, spreadsheet, template, Excel, Google Sheets, DIY, how to, guide, tutorial, Reddit, forum
Crypto and speculative (if traditional finance): crypto, cryptocurrency, bitcoin, ethereum, NFT, DeFi, forex, day trading, penny stocks, meme stocks, Robinhood, Coinbase
Government and regulation: IRS, SEC, CFPB, regulation, compliance, audit, tax return, filing, 1040, W2, W9
Competitor brands: turbotax, mint, credit karma, NerdWallet, Bankrate, investopedia
Non-client intent: scam, fraud, complaint, BBB, review, ripoff, class action, lawsuit
Low-intent: average, typical, comparison, compare, best, top 10, list, ranking
SaaS And B2B Technology
Job seekers and education: jobs, careers, hiring, salary, intern, internship, certification, course, training, tutorial, bootcamp, degree, LinkedIn
Free and open source: free, open source, GitHub, freemium, trial, crack, pirated, torrent
Irrelevant platforms and ecosystems: [competitor product names used for navigation, not comparison]
Consumer-level queries: personal, home, family, student, beginner, basic, free plan
Technical support for other products: error, bug, fix, troubleshoot, not working, crash, support ticket (when these relate to competitor products)
Content marketing queries: blog, article, white paper, ebook, webinar, podcast, infographic (unless content marketing is the goal)
Education And Online Courses
Free content seekers: free, free course, YouTube, Khan Academy, Coursera free, audit, MOOC, open courseware
Job seekers: teaching jobs, professor salary, adjunct, hiring, careers, indeed
K-12 (if higher ed or professional): elementary, middle school, high school, K-12, kindergarten, preschool, daycare, homeschool
Unrelated subjects: [subjects not offered by your institution]
Accreditation and complaints: scam, fraud, not accredited, diploma mill, complaint, lawsuit, refund policy
General information: requirements, prerequisites, how long, credits, transfer, transcript (can be negative or positive depending on funnel stage; use with caution)
Automotive
DIY and parts: DIY, how to, repair manual, parts, OEM, aftermarket, junkyard, pull-a-part, salvage, wrecker, diagram, schematic, recall, TSB
Non-purchase intent: specs, specifications, review, comparison, top 10, best, worst, ranking, 0-60, horsepower, MPG
Job seekers: mechanic jobs, technician jobs, dealership careers, salary, hiring, indeed
Entertainment and culture: Fast and Furious, movie, video game, Hot Wheels, toy, model, diecast, poster, wallpaper
Irrelevant vehicle types (customize): [vehicle types you do not sell or service, e.g., boat, motorcycle, ATV, RV, semi truck, commercial fleet]
Financial (if not offering financing): loan calculator, interest rate, credit score, lease calculator, payment estimator
Real Estate
Rental (if sales only): rent, rental, lease, apartment, for rent, tenant, landlord, month to month, sublet, Airbnb, VRBO
Non-buyer intent: Zillow, Redfin, Trulia, Realtor.com, free home value, estimate, Zestimate, tax assessment, property tax, school district, crime rate, walk score
Career and education: real estate license, exam, course, school, agent salary, broker, how to become, continuing education, CE credits
Investment (if not relevant): wholesale, flip, flipping, BRRRR, REI, cap rate, cash on cash, 1031 exchange, hard money, private lender
Legal and complaints: lawsuit, scam, fraud, foreclosure, short sale, tax lien, condemn, condemned
Restaurants And Food Delivery
Recipe and cooking: recipe, how to make, homemade, copycat, ingredients, cooking, bake, baking
Employment: jobs, hiring, application, salary, wage, manager, shift, indeed, glassdoor
Franchise (if not franchising): franchise, franchise cost, franchise opportunity, start a restaurant
Competitor brands (customize): [competitor restaurant names, delivery platforms if not partnered]
Complaints and reviews: food poisoning, health inspection, violation, complaint, roach, rat, dirty, worst
Non-local intent: [cities and regions outside your delivery or service area]
How To Use This List Without Breaking Your Campaigns
A comprehensive negative keyword list is only as good as its implementation. Applying 700+ negatives without a process is how you accidentally block your best-converting queries.
Shared Library Vs. Campaign-Level Negatives
Google Ads allows you to create negative keyword lists in the Shared Library and apply them across multiple campaigns, or add negatives directly at the campaign level.
Use the Shared Library for universal negatives that apply to your entire account: job seekers, education queries, and brand exclusions that are never relevant. This saves time and ensures consistency.
Use campaign-level negatives for precision exclusions that only apply to specific campaigns. For example, an e-commerce brand running both a Search campaign and a Performance Max campaign might need different negative keyword sets for each.
How To Audit Before You Apply
Before adding any negative from this list, cross-reference it against your actual search term report. Run a search term report for the last 90 days, sort by impressions, and check whether any of the terms on this list are currently driving conversions. If "free consultation" appears in your search terms and converts at a profitable rate, do not add "free" as a negative.
Steps to audit safely:
1. Export your search term report for the past 60 to 90 days.
2. Filter for conversions. Any search term that has converted should be reviewed carefully before negation.
3. Check match types. Adding "cheap" as a broad match negative will block "cheap flights" but also "cheap alternative to expensive brand" which might convert. Consider exact match or phrase match negatives for ambiguous terms.
4. Stage your rollout. Add negatives in batches over a few days. Monitor impression and click volume after each batch to catch accidental over-blocking early.
This is exactly the kind of careful, ongoing work that groas handles automatically. The AI agents review search term reports continuously, flagging wasteful queries and recommending negatives. Your dedicated human account manager then validates strategic decisions, ensuring nothing profitable gets blocked. You never touch a spreadsheet.
The Negative Keyword Limit Changes In 2025 And What They Mean
Google increased the negative keyword limit per list from 5,000 to 10,000 terms in recent updates. At the account level, you can now manage significantly more exclusions than before. This is good news for advertisers with complex catalogs, but it also means negative keyword management requires more systematic oversight, not less. Larger lists mean more opportunities for conflicts between negatives and active keywords.
The 50 Universal Negative Keywords Every Account Needs
Regardless of industry, these 50 negative keywords belong in nearly every Google Ads account. Add them to a Shared Library list and apply across all campaigns.
Job and career: jobs, careers, hiring, salary, wage, resume, internship, volunteering, glassdoor, indeed, LinkedIn careers
Education and training (unless you sell education): course, class, certification, training, tutorial, how to become, degree, university, college
Free and unqualified: free, torrent, download, crack, pirated, sample, giveaway
Informational only: what is, definition, meaning, wiki, Wikipedia, history of, who invented
Content platforms: YouTube, Reddit, Quora, TikTok, Pinterest, forum, blog
Complaints and legal: scam, fraud, lawsuit, class action, complaint, BBB, ripoff
Unrelated intent: meme, joke, funny, game, wallpaper, coloring page
Always review this universal list against your own conversion data before applying. Context matters. A Google Ads strategy built from zero should incorporate negative keywords from day one, not as an afterthought.
Automating Negative Keyword Management Beyond A Static List
Why Static Lists Decay Over Time
The list above is comprehensive for 2026. By mid-year, it will be incomplete. New search trends emerge constantly. Product launches create new irrelevant queries. Seasonal events introduce temporary traffic spikes from non-buyers. Google's matching algorithms evolve, changing which queries trigger your ads.
A static negative keyword list is a snapshot. It addresses the waste patterns of today, not tomorrow. This is why accounts managed by a spreadsheet and a quarterly review always have waste. The gap between reviews is where budget leaks.
How groas Continuously Manages Negatives Without Manual Reviews
This is where the difference between a static resource and an active Google Ads management service becomes clear.
groas combines AI agents that monitor search term reports around the clock with a dedicated human account manager who owns your strategy. The AI identifies emerging waste patterns in real time, clusters irrelevant queries, and recommends negative keyword additions at both the campaign and account level. Your human account manager reviews the strategic implications, ensures no profitable terms get blocked, and adjusts your negative keyword architecture as your business evolves.
This is not a dashboard that shows you recommendations and waits for you to act. This is a service that does the work. You get bi-weekly strategy calls, always-on support through a private Slack channel or email, and performance updates, but you never have to manually manage a negative keyword list again.
Compare that to agencies, where a junior account manager might review your search terms once a month. Or freelancers, who check your account a few times a week at best. Or self-serve tools like Optmyzr or WordStream, which surface recommendations but still require you to do all the implementation work yourself.
groas delivers better results at a fraction of the cost of an agency, operates 24/7 unlike any freelancer, and goes far beyond what any tool can offer because it is not a tool. It is an autonomous Google Ads management service with human strategic oversight built in.
The 700+ negative keywords in this article will make a real impact on your campaigns today. But if you want negative keyword management that never falls behind, that adapts to every new query Google sends your way, and that requires zero work on your end, groas is the clear next step.
Stop managing spreadsheets. Let groas run your Google Ads.
Frequently Asked Questions About Negative Keywords
What Are Negative Keywords In Google Ads?
Negative keywords are terms you add to your Google Ads campaigns to prevent your ads from showing when someone searches for those terms. They act as exclusion filters, ensuring your budget goes toward clicks from people who are actually likely to convert rather than informational searchers, job seekers, or people looking for something unrelated to what you sell.
How Many Negative Keywords Should I Have Per Campaign?
There is no universal number. A well-managed campaign typically has dozens to hundreds of campaign-level negatives, plus shared library lists that apply across the account. The key is quality over quantity. Every negative should be validated against your actual search term data. Over-negating is just as dangerous as under-negating because you risk blocking profitable queries.
What Is The Difference Between Campaign-Level And Account-Level Negative Keywords?
Campaign-level negatives only apply to a single campaign. Account-level negatives, managed through Shared Library lists, apply across every campaign the list is attached to. Use shared lists for universal exclusions like job seekers and educational queries. Use campaign-level negatives for context-specific exclusions that only matter for certain ad groups or campaign types.
Should I Use Broad Match, Phrase Match, Or Exact Match For Negative Keywords?
It depends on how precise you need the exclusion to be. Broad match negatives block any query that contains all the negative keyword terms in any order. Phrase match negatives block queries containing the exact phrase. Exact match negatives only block the exact query. For ambiguous terms where part of the keyword might appear in profitable queries, use phrase or exact match to avoid over-blocking.
How Often Should I Update My Negative Keyword List?
At minimum, review your search term report and update negatives monthly. In practice, weekly reviews produce significantly better results because waste compounds quickly, especially in high-CPC verticals like legal and financial services. This is one of the biggest advantages of using groas for Google Ads management. The AI agents review search term reports continuously, 24/7, and your dedicated human account manager validates every strategic negative keyword decision. You never fall behind.
Can Negative Keywords Hurt My Campaign Performance?
Yes, if applied incorrectly. Adding a broad match negative for a term that appears in your converting queries will block profitable traffic. This is why you should always cross-reference negatives against your search term report before adding them. It is also why automated management through a service like groas outperforms manual list management. The AI catches conflicts between negatives and active keywords before they impact performance, and your human account manager provides strategic oversight to ensure nothing profitable gets excluded.
Do Negative Keywords Work With Performance Max Campaigns?
Google has gradually expanded negative keyword support for Performance Max campaigns, though the functionality remains more limited than in standard Search campaigns. You can add account-level negatives that apply to Performance Max, but campaign-level negative keyword lists work differently. This is an evolving area, and staying current with how Google handles negatives across campaign types is essential for avoiding wasted spend.
What Is The Maximum Number Of Negative Keywords Allowed In Google Ads?
Google allows up to 10,000 negative keywords per negative keyword list in the Shared Library, and you can create multiple lists. At the campaign level, limits vary but are generous enough for most advertisers. The real constraint is not the limit itself but the management overhead of maintaining large negative keyword sets without introducing conflicts or gaps.
