I’ve spent more than 15 years in marketing, including agency-side SEO, GEO and paid advertising for local businesses. One question I want answered before increasing an advertising budget is straightforward: are we paying for searches the business can actually serve?
Google Ads negative keywords exclude unwanted searches. My approach is to review actual search terms, separate clearly irrelevant demand from uncertain demand, choose the narrowest useful exclusion, and apply it at the right level. Then I check whether qualified inquiries remain healthy. A longer negative keyword list is not the goal. Better control over who can find the offer is.
This guide focuses on Search campaigns for Ontario local businesses. I also explain the important limits for Performance Max. The examples are illustrative, not client campaigns or claimed results.
Research note: A recent r/PPC discussion about irrelevant traffic and exclusions applied to the wrong campaigns helped shape the questions here. Reddit informed the questions, not the technical answers. I checked Google’s documentation and Canadian keyword demand in Ahrefs on October 19, 2026.
What should I check before adding negative keywords?
I write down the offer first: services sold, customers served, locations covered, opening hours and any genuine restrictions. If a Hamilton business handles residential plumbing but not commercial contracts, that distinction matters more than a generic list downloaded from another advertiser.
Then I ask whoever answers the phone what makes an inquiry unsuitable. Wrong service? Outside the service area? Someone looking for employment? A customer asking about an offer the business no longer provides? Those are different problems, and they don’t all need the same fix.
I also check that the account measures meaningful leads. If page views are labelled as conversions, search-term decisions can reward the wrong traffic. My conversion-tracking checklist covers that separate setup. Here, I’m assuming the measurement is credible enough to help judge relevance.
Before editing anything, I keep a copy of the existing exclusions and record where they apply. That gives me a way to explain or reverse a change if useful traffic disappears.
Where do I find the searches that triggered my ads?
A keyword is an advertiser’s targeting input. A search term is what the person actually searched. I start in Campaigns, then Insights and reports, then Search terms, following Google’s search terms report guidance.
I include the campaign, ad group, matched keyword, cost, clicks and relevant conversion columns. The Keyword column may need to be added. I review a period long enough to represent the business’s lead cycle, then check the most recent days for obvious new mismatches.
The report isn’t a complete list of every search. Google omits some low-activity queries for privacy. Search terms insights can group some of that activity into broader themes without exposing individual queries. I don’t describe the visible report as a full audit of every dollar spent.
My first pass starts with the highest-cost searches, but I also look for repeated intent across many small rows. Ten variations of a service the business doesn’t offer can be more useful to investigate than one expensive, relevant inquiry that hasn’t converted yet.
How do I decide what to exclude?
I sort searches into three groups. This keeps a disappointing result from becoming an automatic exclusion.
Clearly wrong for the offer
If a business sells services rather than training, a search specifically seeking a training course may be unsuitable. If an advertiser doesn’t recruit through its customer campaigns, a clear job-application query may belong on an exclusion list. I still read the whole query before deciding what words to block.
Relevant, but not ready to judge
A relevant search with a few clicks and no lead isn’t automatically waste. The person might need more time, the landing page may be weak, or the form may have failed. I would investigate those possibilities before declaring that nobody using the term is worth reaching.
Useful demand reaching the wrong offer
A search for a service the business does provide might be landing on the wrong page or matching the wrong campaign. That may call for a better ad, a dedicated page or a narrower exclusion in one ad group. Blocking the term across the whole account would hide the symptom by removing potential customers.
My decision note is short: the query, why it is unsuitable, the proposed negative, its match type, where it applies and what useful searches it might also affect. If I can’t explain the business reason, I’m not ready to exclude it.
How do negative broad, phrase and exact match differ?
Negative matching does not work like positive keyword matching. Google’s negative keyword documentation distinguishes the three options below. These examples assume the two words are plumbing courses; they illustrate that exclusion only, not overall ad eligibility.
| Negative entered | What it excludes | Illustrative blocked search |
|---|---|---|
| plumbing courses | Both words anywhere in the search, in either order. | courses for plumbing in Hamilton |
| "plumbing courses" | The words together in that order, with other words allowed. | evening plumbing courses Hamilton |
| [plumbing courses] | That search without extra words. | plumbing courses |
I often start with a specific phrase or exact query when the wider intent is ambiguous. A broad negative can be appropriate when every search containing the term is genuinely unsuitable, but that needs a business-specific judgement.
Google currently handles casing and misspellings automatically for negatives. Synonyms and singular or plural forms still need attention. Its troubleshooting guidance explains that a negative for one word form does not automatically exclude another. I check the variations people actually use instead of assuming one entry covers an entire idea.
Which tempting negatives can block good local leads?
I don’t apply an industry template without checking the business model. A word that is irrelevant for one advertiser can describe a valuable offer for another.
- Free: A gym offering a free trial or a business offering a free estimate may want those searches.
- Jobs: A recruiting campaign needs job seekers. A legal-service query about losing a job also deserves a closer look before a broad employment-related exclusion.
- Cheap or affordable: Price-conscious does not automatically mean unsuitable. I check the positioning and actual inquiry quality.
- How to: Some searches are purely instructional. Others describe an urgent problem that a local professional can solve.
- Competitor names: I decide whether competitor demand belongs in the strategy before blocking it everywhere. A separate campaign may have a different purpose.
These are review prompts, not a paste-ready list. For a physiotherapy clinic, a search about exercises may be informational, or it may lead someone to seek an assessment. I wouldn’t turn that uncertainty into an account-wide rule based on one row.
Should I add city names as negative keywords?
Not as a substitute for geographic targeting. A word in a query tells me something about the search, not necessarily where the person is standing or where they need service.
For an illustrative Hamilton contractor, a person in Burlington could be arranging work at a Hamilton property. A query mentioning another city could also be genuinely outside the service area. I would ask what location the job concerns before treating every neighbouring municipality as unwanted demand.
Google’s advanced location options distinguish people in or regularly in a target area from people showing interest in it. The default includes presence or interest. Presence-only targeting can be appropriate when the business only wants people in its chosen area, but Google says location matching is not perfectly accurate.
I review geographic settings and the actual service boundary first. Then I use a location-related negative only when the query itself describes work the business will not accept. I also check French and English searches where the business serves both, without assuming an English exclusion covers a translated phrase.
Should a negative apply to an ad group, campaign or the account?
I use the smallest scope that solves the problem.
- Ad group: The term is unsuitable for this offer but could be useful elsewhere in the same Search campaign.
- Campaign: The term is unsuitable for everything that campaign promotes.
- Shared list: Several campaigns need the same exclusions, and someone owns the list and its attachments.
- Account level: The intent is unsuitable across all relevant campaigns, including future ones.
Google explains that shared negative keyword lists can be attached to multiple campaigns. A later edit affects the campaigns using that list. I therefore check its attachments before adding a seemingly harmless term.
An account-level negative list automatically applies to eligible Search and Shopping inventory across relevant campaign types. That convenience creates a wider consequence if the exclusion is wrong. I wouldn’t put a customer-campaign recruitment exclusion there if the business also runs hiring ads in the account.
To review account-wide exclusions, Google’s current route is Admin, Account settings, then Negative keywords. I check that list separately from the shared lists attached to individual campaigns.
How do I add the exclusions and check my work?
Google lets you select terms in the report and choose Add as negative keyword. For Search campaigns, additions from that report default to negative exact match. I check the match type rather than assuming the saved exclusion will cover every related query.
- Choose the relevant campaign and date range.
- Review the entire query and the business reason for excluding it.
- Select the negative text and match type deliberately.
- Choose the ad group, campaign or appropriate list.
- Save, then inspect the saved entry and its scope.
- Check it against important service searches and existing positive keywords.
- Record the change date and what you will review next.
I prefer a small, explainable batch to hundreds of unreviewed exclusions. An automated suggestion can help sort a report, but it shouldn’t decide whether an Ontario business wants a particular kind of customer. I would keep final judgement with someone who understands the offer and check campaign mapping before any bulk upload.
Do negative keywords work in Performance Max?
Yes, with an important boundary. Google supports negative keywords in Performance Max at campaign level, and relevant account-level negatives also apply. They affect Search and Shopping inventory, not every place Performance Max can advertise.
I wouldn’t promise that a search-term exclusion fixes unwanted YouTube or Display placements. That needs a review of the controls for that inventory. I also keep this distinction in the change log so the owner knows what the exclusion can and cannot accomplish.
How do I know whether the cleanup helped?
I compare periods with similar operating conditions and enough time for leads to be assessed. If the budget, offer, landing page and bidding strategy all changed together, I can’t honestly credit the negative list alone.
I look at relevant inquiry volume, qualified lead rate, cost per qualified lead and whether important services still receive inquiries. I also check whether the excluded themes have stopped appearing in the visible search terms. When I see an old unwanted query, I check the reporting date before assuming the new exclusion failed.
A lower cost per click isn’t my definition of success. Neither is a quieter phone. If unsuitable inquiries fall but good inquiries disappear too, I review recent exclusions before celebrating. The aim is useful demand within a budget the business can sustain, not the smallest possible audience.
Questions I would clarify before editing
Can I use a universal negative keyword list?
I would use one only as a review aid. Check each term against services, offers, hiring activity and campaign scope. A template doesn’t know whether your free consultation or training program is a valuable part of the business.
Should I exclude every search with no conversions?
No. I separate clear irrelevance from limited evidence. For a relevant term, I would check measurement, lead quality, the landing page and the decision timeline before excluding it simply because the conversion column is empty.
How often should I review search terms?
I’d look more frequently after launch or a targeting change, then set a regular review based on spend and query volume. A small local account needs a manageable routine, not constant edits made before there is enough evidence.
My next step for an Ontario business
Take the highest-cost searches from one campaign. Label them relevant, clearly irrelevant or uncertain. For each proposed exclusion, write down the match type, scope and reason. Make a small batch of changes, then return to qualified inquiries rather than judging success by the length of the list.
If you want a second set of eyes on search terms, shared lists or service-area targeting, my Google Ads service can help. Contact SEO iT for a focused review. I’ll explain which exclusions I would keep, which I would question and where the real problem may be the offer or landing page.