Negative keywords: the fastest way to cut wasted ad spend

Open the search terms report in almost any unmanaged Google Ads account and you will find money leaking. A cleaning company pays for "cleaning jobs in Dubai with visa". A private clinic pays for "free dental check up Sharjah". A software firm pays for "CRM course certification". Each click might only cost a few dirhams, but over months it adds up to a serious share of the budget.

Negative keywords are the fix. They take minutes to add, cost nothing and often improve results faster than any bid or budget change.

What are negative keywords?

Negative keywords are words or phrases you tell Google Ads to exclude, so your ads do not show when a search contains them. If you add "jobs" as a negative, a search for "accounting jobs Dubai" will not trigger your accounting firm's ads.

They matter more now than they used to. Google's keyword matching has become looser, particularly with broad match, which can show ads for searches that are only loosely related to your keywords. Negatives are your main way of drawing the boundary.

How do negative keyword match types work?

Negative keywords use broad, phrase and exact match, but they behave differently from normal keywords. The key difference: negatives do not expand to close variants, synonyms or misspellings. If you exclude "job", you have not excluded "jobs" or "vacancy".

For single words like "jobs" or "salary", negative broad is usually right. Use phrase and exact when a word is only a problem in a specific combination.

Which negative keywords should UAE businesses start with?

Every business is different, but a few themes waste budget in almost every UAE account. Build these into shared lists before launch, then adjust for your sector.

• Employment: jobs, job, vacancy, vacancies, hiring, career, careers, salary, recruitment, internship, CV.
• Education and training: course, courses, training, certification, diploma, tutorial, syllabus, PDF.
• Free and DIY: free, DIY, "how to", template, sample (review carefully if you sell templates or samples).
• Wrong location: countries or cities you do not serve, and emirates outside your service area if you cover only one.
• Wrong intent: second hand, used, rent (if you only sell), wholesale (if you are retail only), or the reverse.
• Informational: meaning, definition, history, Wikipedia, for most lead generation campaigns.

Remember Arabic and transliterated searches. If you run Arabic campaigns, add Arabic equivalents of the same terms, such as the words for jobs and free, rather than assuming English negatives cover them.

A worked example: an AC maintenance company

Take a hypothetical AC maintenance company serving Dubai and Sharjah, bidding on phrase match terms such as "ac service dubai". Within the first fortnight, its search terms report might show queries like "ac technician jobs dubai", "ac service course", "ac repair abu dhabi", "how to clean ac filter" and "split ac price dubai".

• "jobs" and "course" go into the shared employment and education lists.
• "abu dhabi" and "al ain" become campaign-level negatives, because the company does not serve them.
• "how to" and "clean filter" are added as phrase negatives to block DIY searches.
• "price" is left alone for now. People comparing service prices may still book, so the term is monitored rather than blocked.

That last decision matters as much as the others. Good negative keyword work is about judgement, not just blocking every unfamiliar word.

How do you find new negative keywords?

The search terms report is the main source. It shows the actual searches that triggered your ads, which are often quite different from the keywords you chose.

1. In Google Ads, open Insights and reports, then Search terms, for the last 7 to 30 days.
2. Sort by cost, then by clicks with no conversions.
3. For each irrelevant search, identify the specific word that makes it irrelevant. Exclude that word, not the whole query, where it is safe to do so.
4. Decide the level: campaign, ad group or a shared list.
5. Check the new negative will not block your own keywords. Google warns about some conflicts, but not all.
6. Record what you added and why, so the next person understands the account.

Keyword Planner and a quick manual Google search for your main terms also reveal neighbouring topics you should exclude before they cost anything.

Where should negative keywords be added?

Add them at the level where the problem sits. This keeps the account tidy and prevents accidental blocking.

• Shared negative lists: for themes that apply across many campaigns, such as jobs, education and free. Update the list once and every linked campaign benefits.
• Account-level negatives: for terms you never want to appear for in any eligible campaign, such as inappropriate or off-brand terms.
• Campaign level: for terms irrelevant to one service but relevant to another.
• Ad group level: to steer traffic between ad groups, for example adding "emergency" as a negative in a general ad group so those searches go to your emergency ad group with its own ads.
• Performance Max: campaign-level negatives and brand exclusions are now available too. See our guide to Performance Max campaigns.

Can you add too many negative keywords?

Yes. Over-blocking is the opposite mistake and it quietly cuts good traffic. Typical examples include adding "cheap" when price-sensitive buyers still convert well, or excluding a competitor's name without checking whether those searches bring profitable leads.

Before adding a broad negative, ask whether any profitable search could contain that word. If a term is borderline, watch it for a few weeks rather than blocking immediately, and review your negative lists every quarter to remove any that are no longer needed.

A weekly negative keyword routine

• Week 1 to 4 of a new campaign: review search terms every two or three days.
• After the first month: weekly for active campaigns, monthly for stable ones.
• Before Ramadan, summer and major sale periods, check for seasonal irrelevant queries.
• After switching to broad match or smart bidding: increase review frequency for a few weeks.
• Every quarter: audit shared lists for conflicts and outdated terms.

Negative keywords are one item on a longer list. Our Google Ads audit checklist covers the rest.

Want someone watching your search terms?

Search term reviews are one of the least glamorous and most valuable parts of account management. Our PPC management includes them as standard, alongside broader Google Ads management. Send us a message and we can look at where your budget is going.