Negative Keywords: How to Stop Wasting Google Ads Spend
Negative keywords are words and phrases you tell Google Ads NOT to show your ads for, so you stop paying for irrelevant clicks. For example, a premium plumber might add 'free', 'cheap', 'jobs' and 'DIY' as negatives to avoid clicks from people who will never become customers. Building and regularly updating a negative keyword list from your actual search terms report is one of the fastest ways to cut wasted spend and improve return on ad spend.
What negative keywords are, why they save money, and how to build and maintain a negative keyword list that stops your Google Ads budget leaking on irrelevant clicks.
TL;DR: Quick Answer
Basic South African brochure sites: R8,000-R20,000. Custom business websites with SEO and copywriting: R20,000-R50,000. E-commerce: R40,000-R150,000+. The five cost drivers that create the biggest price variation are: scope and number of pages, custom vs template design, professional copywriting, integrations (payment gateways, booking systems, CRM), and on-page SEO included at build stage. Always add 15-25% for hosting, maintenance and content updates in year one.
Key takeaways
- Very cheap quotes (under R5,000) almost always exclude copywriting, SEO, custom design and post-launch support
- Professional copywriting can represent 20-35% of a total website project cost, and is worth it for search visibility
- On-page SEO built into the website at launch costs a fraction of what it costs to retrofit after the site is live
- Hosting, SSL, domain and maintenance add R3,000-R10,000 per year on top of build cost
- E-commerce adds significant cost due to payment gateway integrations, product data, security requirements and checkout UX
- Timeline and client responsiveness directly affect cost: slow feedback rounds extend agency hours
Summary
Most Google Ads accounts leak money on clicks that were never going to convert: people searching for free versions, jobs, DIY guides or unrelated meanings of your keywords. Negative keywords are the fix. This guide explains what they are, how they work with match types, how to find the ones costing you money, and how to maintain your list over time. It is one of the highest-return optimisations available, and one of the most neglected.
What negative keywords are
When you run Google Search Ads, you bid on keywords you want to appear for. But Google can show your ads for many related searches, some of which are irrelevant to your business. Negative keywords are the inverse: a list of terms you explicitly do not want to trigger your ads. Add 'free' as a negative and your ad stops showing for searches containing 'free', sparing you clicks from people looking for something you do not offer.
Every irrelevant click you prevent is budget saved for clicks that can actually convert.
Why they matter so much
Without negatives, a meaningful slice of your budget can disappear on searches that were never going to become customers. Common money-wasters include:
- 'Free' and 'cheap': people unwilling to pay your prices
- 'Jobs', 'salary', 'vacancy': job seekers, not customers
- 'DIY', 'how to', 'tutorial': people wanting to do it themselves
- Competitor or unrelated meanings: searches that share a word but not your intent
- Wrong location or product variants you do not serve or sell
The payoff: Cutting irrelevant clicks does two things at once: it stops wasting spend, and it improves your click-through and conversion rates, which can lift your Quality Score and lower your cost per click.
Negative keywords and match types
Negatives use match types too, and they behave slightly differently from positive keywords:
- Negative broad match: blocks searches containing all your negative's words, in any order.
- Negative phrase match: blocks searches containing your exact phrase.
- Negative exact match: blocks only the exact term.
- Note that negative keywords do not block close variants the way positive keywords match them, so you may need to add plurals and misspellings explicitly.
How to find your negative keywords
The goldmine is your search terms report, which shows the actual searches that triggered your ads:
- Open the search terms report in Google Ads.
- Review the real queries that triggered your ads and spent budget.
- Flag any that are irrelevant or unlikely to convert.
- Add those as negative keywords at the right level (campaign or ad group).
- Repeat regularly, because new irrelevant searches always appear.
You can also build a starter list from obvious negatives before launch, then refine continuously from real data.
Organise and maintain your list
Use negative keyword lists to apply common negatives across multiple campaigns at once, and add campaign- or ad-group-specific negatives where intent differs. Crucially, this is not a once-off job. Review your search terms report regularly, weekly when a campaign is new, then at least monthly, and keep pruning. A well-maintained negative keyword list is the difference between a Google Ads account that leaks and one that compounds.
Related Juicy Designs resources
- Google Ads and PPC management
- Is Google Ads worth it in South Africa?
- What is Quality Score? (glossary)
- What is a good ROAS for Google Ads?
Frequently asked questions
What are negative keywords in Google Ads?
Negative keywords are words and phrases you tell Google Ads not to show your ads for, so you avoid paying for irrelevant clicks. For example, adding 'free' as a negative stops your ad appearing for searches containing 'free'.
Why are negative keywords important?
They stop your budget leaking on clicks that will never convert, such as job seekers, DIY searchers or bargain hunters. Cutting irrelevant clicks also improves click-through and conversion rates, which can raise Quality Score and lower your cost per click.
How do I find negative keywords to add?
Use the search terms report in Google Ads, which shows the actual searches that triggered your ads. Review them, flag anything irrelevant or unlikely to convert, and add those as negative keywords. Repeat regularly as new searches appear.
Do negative keywords block close variants?
No. Unlike positive keywords, negative keywords do not automatically block close variants like plurals or misspellings. You may need to add those variations explicitly to your negative list.
How often should I update my negative keyword list?
Review your search terms report weekly when a campaign is new, then at least monthly. Wasted-spend searches keep appearing, so maintaining the list is an ongoing task, not a once-off setup.
Can I apply the same negative keywords across campaigns?
Yes. Negative keyword lists let you apply a common set of negatives across multiple campaigns at once, while you can still add campaign- or ad-group-specific negatives where the intent differs.