Wasted spend is the silent killer of Google Ads performance. You think you’re driving traffic, but 20–40% of your budget often goes to irrelevant search terms. The result? You’re paying for clicks that will never turn into leads or customers.
The fix: negative keywords. They’re simple to use, but most advertisers either don’t know they exist or don’t manage them properly. Let’s break down exactly why negative keywords matter, how they work differently from targeting match types, and what happens if you ignore them.
What Are Negative Keywords in Google Ads?
Negative keywords tell Google not to show your ads when certain search queries are entered.
Example:
- You sell project management software.
- Someone searches project management jobs.
- Without negative keywords, your ad shows, you pay $10 for a click, and you gain nothing.
- With “jobs” added as a negative, your ad never shows. That’s $10 saved for a click that would have gone nowhere.
Same story for B2C:
- You’re an emergency locksmith.
- A user searches “locksmith training.”
- That person isn’t looking for your service, but without a negative keyword, you’ll still pay for the click.
Negative keywords keep your budget focused only on searches with real buying intent.
Negative Keywords vs. Targeting Match Types
The tricky part? Match types behave differently for targeting vs. negatives. Here’s how:
| Match Type | Targeting Example | Negative Example |
|---|---|---|
| Broad Match | Keyword: crm software → Shows for “best crm tools,” “customer management platforms,” “crm apps.” | Negative: cheap software → Blocks “buy cheap software,” but not “affordable software.” |
| Phrase Match | Keyword: "project management software" → Matches “best project management software for startups.” | Negative: "project management jobs" → Blocks “remote project management jobs” but not “project manager careers.” |
| Exact Match | Keyword: [workflow automation] → Matches “workflow automations,” “automation workflow.” | Negative: [crm software] → Blocks only “crm software,” not “best crm software for small business.” |
Key takeaway:
- Targeting broad = expansive. Negative broad = narrow.
- Targeting exact = flexible (close variants). Negative exact = strict (exact only).
B2B Example: Project Management Software
| Search Query | Broad Match | Phrase Match | Exact Match |
|---|---|---|---|
| free project management tools | ✅ Yes | ❌ No | ❌ No |
| best software for project management | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| project management software for small business | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| software project management | ✅ Yes | ❌ No | ❌ No |
| project management software | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
Notice how easily you can end up paying for “free” searches if you don’t add negatives.
B2C Example: Emergency Locksmith
| Search Query | Broad Match | Phrase Match | Exact Match |
|---|---|---|---|
| 24 hour locksmith near me | ✅ Yes | ❌ No | ❌ No |
| best emergency locksmith service | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| emergency locksmith open now | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| locksmith for emergencies | ✅ Yes | ❌ No | ❌ No |
| emergency locksmith | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
Adding negatives like “training,” “jobs,” and “courses” filters out irrelevant clicks.
Why Ad Waste Costs You Double
Here’s where most advertisers underestimate the problem. Wasted spend isn’t just a $300 mistake on your invoice — it’s also a missed opportunity to generate leads and customers.
Example Calculation
- Budget: $1,000
- CPC: $10
- Conversion rate: 10%
- Customer acquisition rate: 20%
- Customer value: $1,000
Case 1: With Ad Waste (30% irrelevant clicks)
- $300 wasted → 30 useless clicks.
- $700 drives 70 qualified clicks → 7 leads → 1 customer.
- Revenue: $1,000. You break even.
Case 2: Without Ad Waste
- Full $1,000 drives 100 qualified clicks → 10 leads → 2 customers.
- Revenue: $2,000. Profit: $1,000.
Hidden cost of waste = $1,300.
- $300 wasted directly.
- $1,000 missed in revenue.
Real-Life Example: How 5 Minutes Saved $8,681 and Generated $30,000 in Profit
Here’s a real case from one of my accounts.
I excluded a set of irrelevant search terms that, up to that point, had cost $8,681 in wasted spend. On the surface, that looks like a solid win — saving nearly nine thousand dollars.
(Image: Search terms report filtered to only show excluded search terms and the total cost of these search terms prior to being added as negative keywords.)
But the real story is in what that spend could have produced if it had gone to qualified traffic instead.
- Average cost per lead in this account: $108
- Leads preserved by removing waste: $8,681 ÷ $108 = ≈80 leads
- Lead-to-close ratio: 4.4%
- Closed deals preserved: 80 × 4.4% = ≈3–4 deals
- Average profit per deal: $8,485
(Image: Note the same Google Ads account ID. The conversion data in there, as well as the revenue number to follow the calculation.)
Total profit impact:
- At 3 deals: ≈ $25,457
- At 4 deals: ≈ $33,942
- Expected value: ≈ $30,011
So those 5 minutes in Google Ads didn’t just save me $8,681. They effectively generated about $30,000 in profit that would otherwise have been lost to wasted clicks.
That’s the power of managing negative keywords properly. The cost isn’t just in wasted spend — it’s in the missed customers and missed profit that wasted spend represents.
Need help managing your Google Ads?
Why Negative Keywords Are a Repetitive Task
Here’s the catch: negative keywords aren’t a one-time setup. Search campaigns evolve, and new irrelevant queries show up in your search terms report every week.
That’s why you need a system. A process to:
- Review search terms regularly.
- Add negative keywords across account level, campaign level, and ad group level.
- Maintain negative keyword lists so you’re not repeating work.
Without a system, wasted spend creeps back in — and suddenly you’re losing thousands in both spend and missed opportunities.
How to Build That System
This is where most guides fall short. They’ll tell you “check your search terms report” and “add negative keywords,” but they won’t give you a repeatable SOP to manage it efficiently.
That’s exactly why I created a full SOP library, including:
- How to structure negative keyword lists
- When to use account level vs. campaign level exclusions
- The exact ChatGPT prompt I use to generate custom lists that save hours of manual work
👉 Get my entire SOP library, including how to manage negative keywords with a ChatGPT prompt that will make your life 10x easier.
Final Thoughts
Knowing how to use negative keywords in Google Ads is non-negotiable if you want profitable campaigns. They stop wasted spend, focus your budget on high-quality traffic, and unlock leads and customers you’d otherwise miss.
Most advertisers don’t fail because of bad targeting — they fail because they never block the irrelevant traffic that eats their budget alive.
👉 Need help managing your Google Ads? Contact me.
