Negative keywords that stop wasted ad spend
Paste your search terms report and see which queries burned budget, with the exact negatives to add.
flagged in the sample reportUSD flagged
We analyzed search terms in the last 30 days.
| Negative | Intent | Wasted spend | Match type | Add |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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more negatives worth USD
- Google Ads
- Microsoft Advertising
- Amazon Ads
24 h between sweeps
New search terms reviewed every day
20 negatives from 34 search terms
Suggested by the demo above in the dental clinic sample
49 USD a month for Starter
24 USD a month when billed yearly
4 negative keyword list levels
Ad group, campaign, account and shared list, where the platform allows
Stop paying for searches that never convert
Four controls keep irrelevant queries out of your campaigns and protect the ones that sell.
New junk queries caught every day
New queries arrive between manual reviews. NegativeKeywords sweeps your search-term reports every day and collects irrelevant spend in one queue. Agency and Enterprise sweep more often.
- Flags jobs, free offers, DIY searches and other intent outside what you sell.
- Shows flagged spend and its trend in the waste dashboard.
- Sends email and Slack alerts for new expensive junk queries.
Every negative comes with its reason
Each flagged query comes with a reason, a suggested negative, a match type and a level. You see the intent before you decide what to block.
- Groups related searches so recurring patterns are easier to review.
- Recommends only match types and levels supported by the selected network.
- Exports Google Ads Editor CSV, Microsoft Advertising Editor CSV or an Amazon bulk sheet.
Export
- Google Ads Editor CSV
- Microsoft Advertising Editor CSV
- Amazon bulk sheet
Export to Google Ads Editor
Converting queries stay protected
A word can look irrelevant in isolation and still belong to a valuable query. The conflict check rejects proposed negatives that block an active keyword, a product or a converting query.
- Checks exclusions against the keywords and products you advertise.
- Protects queries with conversions in the reviewed data.
- Keeps uncertain changes in the approval queue for your decision.
| Proposed negative | Match type | Conflicts with | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| cost | Phrase | dental implants cost | Rejected |
| free | Phrase | dental implants free consultation austin | Rejected |
| free dental implants | Exact | None | Safe to add |
| course | Phrase | None | Safe to add |
| jobs | Phrase | None | Safe to add |
Shared lists keep client accounts consistent
Keep common exclusions aligned across accounts without copying one account's exceptions into another. Growth and above share lists across accounts, applied per network and checked for conflicts.
- Start with industry libraries and adapt each list to the account.
- Apply approved exclusions where the network supports them.
- Give clients white-label waste reports on Agency and Enterprise.
See every control in the negative keyword feature map and the agency workflow.
How NegativeKeywords cleans up your search terms
Four steps take you from connected ad accounts to blocked spend you can see in one dashboard.
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Connect your ad accounts with OAuth
Connect your ad platform and choose the accounts to review. You can revoke access at any time.
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Every search term is checked for intent
NegativeKeywords reads available search terms, groups recurring phrases and checks intent against what you sell. Starter and Growth sweep daily, Agency every 6 hours and Enterprise hourly.
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Approve each negative or let rules apply it
Review proposed negatives in the approval queue. On Growth and above, autopilot rules apply them for you, with conflict checks first and an audit log with one-click undo.
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See blocked spend in one dashboard
Track flagged spend, blocked spend and trends in one place. Flagged spend is historical cost on irrelevant queries, not a promise of the same saving.
See the search-term review process and Google Ads waste reporting.
Negative keyword examples by intent
Intent depends on your offer. These Google Ads Search suggestions apply when the intent is outside what you sell. Every recommendation still passes a conflict check.
| Intent group | Example queries | Suggested match type | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jobs and careers | dental implant technician jobs | Phrase for technician jobs | Account |
| Free and cheap | free running shoes | Exact for the full query | Campaign |
| DIY and how-to | how to install a furnace yourself | Phrase for install a furnace yourself | Shared list |
| Education and downloads | dental implant course pdf | Phrase for course pdf | Campaign |
| Competitor support | other software password reset | Exact for the full query | Ad group |
| Wrong location | emergency plumber outside service area | Exact for the full query | Campaign |
| Wrong product | running shoe replacement laces | Phrase for replacement laces | Ad group |
| Used and secondhand | used running shoes | Phrase for used running shoes | Campaign |
| Research and reviews | running shoe reviews reddit | Exact for the full query | Ad group |
Google Ads supports negative broad, phrase and exact match. Microsoft Advertising supports negative phrase and exact only. Amazon Sponsored Products supports negative phrase and exact keywords, plus negative product targeting for ASINs.
Negative keywords do not automatically cover close variants, so check plurals and misspellings separately. Compare negative keyword match types before applying a wider exclusion.
Start with the intent your industry sees
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Ecommerce negative keywords help separate product buyers from parts, used goods and unrelated product searches.
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Dental negative keywords help separate patient inquiries from jobs, training and DIY treatment searches.
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Real estate negative keywords help separate property inquiries from careers and unrelated rental intent.
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Law firm negative keywords help separate potential matters from courses, jobs and document research.
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SaaS negative keywords help separate software buyers from unrelated support and educational searches.
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Home services negative keywords help separate service bookings from DIY instructions and out-of-area queries.
Set a break-even target before you sign the budget
Simple arithmetic is enough. An account spending 20 000 USD a month with 6 percent going to irrelevant queries has 20 000 × 0.06 = 1 200 USD in flagged spend. If all of it is preventable, the 149 USD monthly Growth subscription leaves 1 051 USD before other costs. This is conditional arithmetic, not a customer result or a forecast.
Keep changes in approval mode when sign-off matters. Every added negative has an audit log entry and one-click undo. Enterprise adds SSO through SAML and SCIM for workspace access.
Review the budget controls for marketing leaders and account access and security.
Choose coverage for your ad accounts
Yearly billing is selected by default. Monthly billing is also available.
Starter
24 USD per month
24 USD per month, billed yearly at 288 USD.
49 USD per month with monthly billing.
- 1 Google Ads account and up to 10 000 USD in monthly ad spend.
- Daily sweep with reasons, match type and level recommendations, and conflict checks.
- Approval-only changes, industry starter libraries and Google Ads Editor CSV export.
- Waste dashboard, email and Slack alerts, and Google Ads negatives coverage audit.
- 1 team seat and 30 days of audit log history with one-click undo.
- Email support, without cross-account shared lists or white-label reports.
Agency
249 USD per month
249 USD per month, billed yearly at 2 988 USD.
499 USD per month with monthly billing.
- 50 ad accounts and up to 500 000 USD in monthly ad spend.
- Google Ads, Microsoft Advertising and Amazon Ads, swept every 6 hours.
- Approval queue or autopilot rules, with reasons and conflict checks.
- Shared lists across accounts, industry libraries and network-specific exports.
- White-label client reports, waste dashboard, alerts and Google Ads negatives coverage audit.
- 15 team seats with roles and 2 years of audit log history with one-click undo.
- Priority support.
Enterprise
499 USD per month billed yearly at 5 988 USD. Unlimited ad accounts, covered ad spend and team seats across all supported networks, hourly sweeps, approval or autopilot rules, shared lists, industry libraries, white-label reports, dashboards, alerts, audits and exports. Includes SSO through SAML, SCIM, an unlimited audit log with export and undo, a 99.9 percent uptime SLA, invoicing, DPA and a security review pack.
Compare every limit on the PPC software pricing page.
Negative keyword questions answered
Straight answers about access, approvals, ad networks and billing.
The conflict check rejects negatives that block active keywords, products or converting queries in the reviewed data. Keep changes in approval mode when you want to inspect every recommendation before it reaches an account.
Starter uses an approval queue. On Growth and above, autopilot applies only the rules you set, and every negative added has an audit log entry with one-click undo.
You connect through your ad platform's OAuth flow and can revoke access at any time. Review the requested scopes and workspace controls on the security page.
Yes, where the platform allows. Google Ads Performance Max uses account-level negatives and campaign-level negative keyword lists where supported; Shopping accepts negatives at campaign and ad group level and through shared lists.
NegativeKeywords focuses on search-term review, exclusions, conflict checks and waste reporting. You pay for that workflow without buying a broader set of PPC tools; compare coverage on the PPC management software page.
Agency covers 50 ad accounts and up to 500 000 USD in monthly ad spend, with sweeps every 6 hours. It includes shared lists, white-label reports, 15 team seats with roles and 2 years of audit log history.
Yes, Growth and above include Microsoft Advertising and Amazon Ads alongside Google Ads. Recommendations respect each network's supported match types and levels, with Editor CSV exports or Amazon bulk sheets.
Starter costs 49 USD monthly, Growth 149 USD and Agency 499 USD. Yearly rates are 24, 74 and 249 USD per month, billed at 288, 888 and 2 988 USD per year with the Save 50 percent option; cancel any time and keep access until the paid period ends.
Yes, the one-off browser demo analyzes your own report without a card. Ongoing account monitoring requires a paid subscription, and the demo shows the first 8 negatives before account creation unlocks the rest.
Access to connected account data is limited to your workspace. We never sell or share search terms, and the browser demo never stores your report; read the data handling policy.
See your wasted spend in two minutes
Paste your search terms or choose a dataset. Review the first negatives before creating an account.