Marketing Strategy #17: Use Negative Keyword Lists to Exclude Irrelevant Brands and Save Thousands in Wasted Spend

Austin Stanfel
2 days ago
3 min read

This action plan will help you systematically build, implement, and maintain negative keyword lists to prevent your ads from showing for irrelevant brands and searches—maximizing your ad budget and boosting campaign performance.

Action Plan:

1. Understand the Power of Negative Keywords

· Negative keywords prevent your ads from appearing in searches that include specific words or phrases you don’t want to target.

· This ensures your ads only show to users likely to convert, improving click-through rates (CTR), conversion rates, and overall ad relevance.

2. Identify Irrelevant Brands and Terms

· List brands, competitors, generic terms, and unrelated products/services you do NOT want your ads to appear for.

· Use your own knowledge, competitor research, and keyword research tools to spot irrelevant or low-intent brands.

· Analyze your search terms report in Google Ads to find queries that triggered your ads but didn’t convert or were unrelated to your offering.

3. Build and Organize Negative Keyword Lists

Create segmented negative keyword lists for:

o Irrelevant brands (e.g., “Nike,” “Amazon,” “Adidas” if you don’t sell or compete with them)

o Generic terms (e.g., “free,” “cheap,” “jobs,” “reviews”)

o Irrelevant product categories or services

Use broad, phrase, and exact match types wisely:

o Broad match for wide exclusions

o Phrase match for specific phrases

o Exact match for precise terms

4. Implement Negative Keyword Lists in Google Ads

· In your Google Ads account, navigate to the “Negative Keywords” section under “Keywords.”

· Add your negative keywords at the account, campaign, or ad group level, depending on your targeting needs.

· Attach relevant negative keyword lists to new and existing campaigns to ensure consistent exclusions across your account.

· Double-check that your negative keywords don’t conflict with your targeted keywords.

5. Monitor, Audit, and Update Regularly

· Review your search terms report weekly to identify new irrelevant brands or terms.

· Update your negative keyword lists as new brands emerge or as your campaigns evolve.

· Remove any negative keywords that may be blocking relevant traffic by mistake.

6. Measure and Optimize

· Track improvements in CTR, conversion rate, and cost per conversion after implementing negative keyword lists.

· Use performance data to refine your lists and further reduce wasted spend.

· Share your most effective negative keyword lists across multiple campaigns or accounts for efficiency.

Quick Reference Table

Step	Action	Outcome
Identify irrelevant brands	List brands/terms not relevant to your offer	Prevent wasted clicks and spend
Build negative keyword lists	Segment by brands, categories, and intent	Organized, reusable exclusion lists
Implement in Google Ads	Add lists at account, campaign, or ad group level	Consistent exclusions across campaigns
Monitor and update	Audit search terms and refine lists regularly	Ongoing optimization and savings
Measure and optimize	Track performance and adjust as needed	Higher ROI and more qualified traffic

Tips for Success

· Be proactive: Add common irrelevant brands before launching campaigns.

· Use shared negative keyword lists for efficiency across multiple campaigns.

· Regularly review and refine your lists to adapt to market changes and new competitors.

· Avoid over-filtering—ensure you’re not blocking valuable search traffic by mistake.

By following this plan, you’ll keep your ad spend focused on high-intent, relevant searches—saving thousands and maximizing your campaign’s impact.

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