AdWords Negative Keyword List: 400+ Keywords You Need To Add

Negative keywords are one of the most important, yet underlooked, settings in AdWords. They allow you to exclude your ads from showing up for similar, but unrelated, searches.

They are considered one of the keyword match types, but they match differently than their regular counterparts.

I’ve used this example before but I think it illustrates the point nicely:

You are phrase targeting the keyword “door repair” and want to target homeowners. But how many people are searching for “pontiac door repair” or thousands of other car makes and models and years?

This is where negative keywords will help.. in more ways than one:

Because you stop showing ads to the wrong target audience, your click-through-rate (CTR) will go up. Side note: this does not increase your quality score (see the comments)
Uninterested and unqualified searchers won’t be able to click your ads, saving you thousands in wasted clicks.
You will show your ads to the correct (qualified) target market more often because you are not wasting impressions and clicks on the wrong searches throughout the day. This applies more to budget limited campaigns.

I’ve compiled several negative keyword lists from around the internet and from my own accounts. They are organized by category so you can decide for yourself if they are a good fit to exclude from your AdWords campaigns.

I recommend using Campaign Negative Keywords in the Shared Library so you can easily update and apply them to as many campaigns as needed (see below):

Here is a video that shows you how to add negative keywords to multiple campaigns at once using the shared library, along with a few tips & tricks (like needing to add plurals):

If I missed any popular negative keywords or if this has helped you, let me know in the comments.

If you still need a little more help, check out this article on How to Create an Effective Negative Keyword List for AdWords.

I’ve provided a table of contents so you can easily jump to the different categories:

Negative Keyword Categories

Job Related

career
careers
curriculum vitae
CV
employer
employers
employment
full time
hire
hiring
intern
interns
internship
internships
job
job opening
job openings
jobs
looking for work
new hires
occupation
occupations
opening
openings
opportunities
opportunity
part time
recruiter
recruiters
recruiting
recruitment
resume
resumes
salaries
salary
salary
work

Research & Stats

about
article
articles
book
books
calculator
case studies
case study
data
define
definition
diagram
example
examples
forum
forums
guide
guides
history
journal
journals
learn about
magazine
magazines
map
map
maps
maps
metrics
news
report
reports
research
resource
resources
review
reviews
sample
samples
statistics
stats
success stories
success story
tutorial
tutorials
what are
what i
white paper
white papers

Education/Groups

association
associations
certification
certifications
class
classes
club
clubs
college
colleges
conference
conferences
council
councils
course
courses
education
exam
exams
institute
institutes
instructor
instructors
program
programs
school
schools
seminar
seminars
teacher
teachers
textbook
textbooks
training
tutor
tutorial
tutorials
tutors
universities
university
workshop
workshops

Deals

bargain
cheap
cheapest
clearance
close out
close outs
closeout
closeouts
discount
discounted
free
hack
hacks
inexpensive
liquidation
low cost
odd lots
overstock
remainder
remainders
short cut
short cuts
shortcut
shortcuts

Price, Quote & DIY

craft
crafts
create
creating
diy
do it yourself
hand made
handmade
home
homemade
how can
how can I
how do I
how does
how to
make
making
price
prices
pricing
quote
quotes
sample
samples

Computer

app
apps
burn
burner
cd
code
community
desktop
developer
developers
disk
download
downloads
dvd
error
file
files
forum
free
freeware
game
games
gnu
hack
hacks
libraries
library
microsoft
open source
public domain
retail
retail
retailer
retailers
shareware
shortcut
shortcuts
soft ware
software
template
templates
tip
tips
torrent
torrents
video
windows
windows 10
windows 2000
windows 7
windows 8
windows 8.1
windows xp
wordpress

Manufacturers & Industrial

antique
consumer
export
exporter
exporters
hobby
import
importer
importers
measurement
metrics
model
models
regulations
rent
rental
repair
repairs
retail
retailer
retailers
rules
safety
specifications
specs
standards
store
toy
toys
used
vintage

Materials

aluminum
ceramic
cotton
fabric
glass
gold
iron
leather
metal
paper
plastic
rubber
silver
stainless steel
steel
stone
vinyl
wood

Legal

act
act of
compliance
law
laws
legal
legislation
regulation
regulations
tax
taxes

Transportation & Travel

about
advisory
apartment
architecture
arena
bank
blog
blogs
book
books
bulletin
bulletins
channel
condo
county court
festival
home
homes
real estate
trail

Informational

book
books
diagram
FAQ
info
information
library
meaning of
news
newsletter
newsletters
newspaper
newspapers
police
theories
theory
weather
what are
what is
when can
when i
where can
wiki
wikipedia

Media

film
films
graphic
graphics
icon
icons
image
images
j-peg
j-pegs
jpeg
jpegs
jpg
jpg’s
logo
logos
lyric
lyrics
music
music video
pdf
pdfs
photo
photograph
photographs
photos
pics
picture
pictures
pix
ringtones

Adult

anime
casual encounters
chicks
dating
kinky
naked
nude
personals
porn
porno
sex
x-rated
xxx