Negative Keyword Hygiene

What AdGradr checks

Negative keyword coverage is the most common finding in real audits and one of the most important checks. AdGradr evaluates campaign-level negative keywords across three conditions:

• Zero negative keywords in the account. The most significant finding. Without any negatives, broad and phrase match campaigns have no guardrails against irrelevant queries.
• Negative-to-keyword ratio below 10%. A moderate finding indicating the negative keyword list is too thin relative to the keyword portfolio.
• Broad or phrase match campaigns with zero negatives. A significant finding because these match types are most vulnerable to irrelevant query expansion.

Caution

AdGradr v1 only checks campaign-level negatives. Shared negative keyword lists are not included in this version. Every finding notes this limitation so you know to check your shared lists manually.

Why this matters

Without negative keywords, broad and phrase match campaigns serve impressions on irrelevant queries. You pay for clicks that will never convert. In most accounts we audit, 15% to 30% of search spend goes to queries that should have been excluded. Negatives are the single cheapest way to improve account efficiency.

What good looks like

• A negative-to-keyword ratio of at least 20% (e.g., 100 keywords and 20+ negatives).
• Every broad and phrase match campaign has negatives tailored to its theme.
• Negatives are reviewed and updated at least monthly using the Search Terms report.
• Shared negative keyword lists cover account-wide exclusions (competitors, jobs, free, DIY, etc.).

Common mistakes

1. Setting up campaigns and never adding negatives. This is the default state of most accounts. Broad match without negatives is essentially a blank check to Google.
2. Adding negatives only at setup and never revisiting. Search behavior changes. New irrelevant queries appear constantly.
3. Using only exact match negatives. This misses variations. A phrase match negative for “free consultation” blocks “free consultation near me” and “get free consultation online.” An exact match negative only blocks the exact phrase.
4. Neglecting shared lists. Campaign-level negatives do not scale. If you have 10 campaigns, you need the same core exclusions in all of them. Shared lists solve this.

How to fix it

1. Pull the Search Terms report for the last 90 days. Sort by cost descending.
2. Identify queries with spend but zero conversions. Look for patterns: informational intent (“how to,” “what is”), competitor names, job seekers (“careers,” “salary”), and geographic mismatches.
3. Add phrase match negatives for recurring patterns. Use exact match only when you need to block a specific query without affecting close variants.
4. Create a shared negative keyword list for universal exclusions (competitors, jobs, free, DIY) and apply it to all search campaigns.
5. Set a calendar reminder to review search terms every two weeks for the first 90 days, then monthly.

When to ignore this check

• Exact match only campaigns have minimal exposure to irrelevant queries. A low negative count is acceptable if every keyword is exact match.
• Very small accounts with fewer than 10 keywords may not need a large negative list yet. Focus on building the keyword set first, then layer in negatives as search term data accumulates.

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Want someone to handle this? The Click Makers team manages Google Ads accounts for companies spending $10K+/month. Get in touch to see if we are a fit.