top of page

How to Use Negative Keywords to Stop Wasting Money on Google Ads

If there's one thing I could get every home service business owner to do today — just one thing — it would be this: look at your negative keyword list.


Is it robust? Is it updated regularly? Does it go beyond the obvious?


If the answer to any of those is 'I'm not sure' or 'what's a negative keyword list?' — this post is for you.


What Are Negative Keywords?

A negative keyword is a word or phrase you add to your Google Ads campaign to tell Google: do NOT show my ad when someone's search includes this term.


They're the opposite of your regular keywords. Instead of telling Google what to target, you're telling it what to explicitly exclude.


Example: You're a plumber running ads. You're bidding on keywords like 'plumber near me' and 'emergency plumbing service.' But without negative keywords, Google might also show your ad for:

  • Plumber salary (job seekers)

  • Plumbing supply store (parts buyers)

  • How to fix a leaky faucet (DIYers)

  • Plumbing school near me (students)

  • Plumber meme (why not, apparently)


None of those people are going to hire you. But without negatives, you pay for those clicks anyway.


Why Negative Keywords Matter More Than Most People Think

Here's the real talk: in poorly managed home service Google Ads campaigns, 30–50% of budget regularly goes to irrelevant searches. That's not an exaggeration. I've audited accounts and seen it.


A plumbing company spending $2,500/month with no negative keyword list might be spending $750–$1,250/month on people who were never going to call. That money is just gone.


Negative keywords are the single fastest way to improve the efficiency of an existing Google Ads campaign. You're not spending more — you're making what you spend work better.


I've seen campaigns where adding a solid negative keyword list reduced cost per lead by 40% within 30 days. Not by spending more. Not by changing the ad copy. Just by stopping the bleeding.


The Essential Negative Keyword List for Home Service Companies

Here's a starter list that applies to nearly every plumbing, HVAC, and electrical company running Google Ads. Add these to your campaign-level negative keyword list today:

Job seekers / employment

  • salary, salaries, wages, pay

  • job, jobs, career, careers, employment

  • hiring, apprenticeship, apprentice

  • how to become, training program, certification program


DIYers

  • DIY, do it yourself, how to, how do I

  • myself, yourself, tutorial

  • step by step, instructions, guide


Supply and parts

  • supply, supplies, parts, wholesale

  • store, shop, buy, purchase, price list

  • Home Depot, Lowes, Amazon (yes, add these)


Education and information

  • school, course, class, degree

  • what is, meaning of, definition

  • history of


Unrelated services or products

  • Any service you don't offer — if you only do residential, add 'commercial'

  • Any product you don't sell

  • Competitor names you don't want associated with your ads


How to Add Negative Keywords to Your Google Ads Campaign

There are two places to add negative keywords in Google Ads: campaign level and ad group level.


Campaign-level negatives

These apply to your entire campaign. Use this for terms that are universally irrelevant — job-related searches, DIY terms, supply store terms. These should never trigger any ad in your campaign.


Ad group-level negatives

These apply only to specific ad groups. Use these when a term is relevant for one service but not another — for example, if 'water heater' belongs in your plumbing ad group but should be excluded from your HVAC ad group.


Negative keyword lists (shared)

Google allows you to create shared negative keyword lists that you can apply across multiple campaigns. If you run multiple campaigns for different services, build a master negative keyword list and apply it to all of them. One update affects everything.


The Search Terms Report: Your Most Valuable Tool

Adding a starter negative keyword list is step one. Maintaining it is step two — and it never ends.


Every week, look at your Search Terms report. This shows you the actual searches that triggered your ads. It's different from your keyword list — it shows real user searches, not what you targeted.


Here's the workflow:

  • Go to Keywords → Search Terms in Google Ads

  • Filter for the last 7 days

  • Look for any search that you would NOT want to pay for

  • Click the checkbox next to it and add it as a negative keyword

  • Do this every week, not once a month


Over time, your negative keyword list grows into a highly specific filter that keeps your budget focused on your actual potential customers. It compounds. A campaign managed for 12 months with weekly negative keyword reviews is dramatically more efficient than one left alone.


Negative Keyword Match Types

Yes, negative keywords have match types too. Here's a quick breakdown:

Negative broad match (default)

Prevents your ad from showing if the search includes all the words in your negative keyword in any order. Most commonly used.


Negative phrase match

Prevents your ad from showing if the search includes the exact phrase in that order. Use this for more specific exclusions.


Negative exact match

Prevents your ad from showing only when the search exactly matches your negative keyword. Rarely needed but useful for very specific cases.


For most home service negative keywords, broad match or phrase match negatives are sufficient.


Common Negative Keyword Mistakes

Being too aggressive with negatives

Yes, this is a thing. Some advertisers add so many negatives that they accidentally block their own valid searches. Review your impression data after adding large batches of negatives to make sure you didn't cut off valuable traffic.


Setting it and forgetting it

Your negative keyword list should grow continuously. New irrelevant search patterns emerge as language changes, competitor names change, and Google's matching behavior evolves. Weekly reviews are non-negotiable.


Only applying negatives at the campaign level when you need ad group level too

If you have one campaign with multiple service ad groups, some negatives should be applied at the ad group level to avoid cross-contamination between services.


FAQ: Negative Keywords for Home Service Google Ads

How many negative keywords should a plumbing or HVAC Google Ads campaign have?

A well-maintained campaign typically builds to 100–300+ negative keywords over time. Starting list of 30–50 is fine — it grows with weekly search term reviews.


Will negative keywords hurt my reach?

They'll reduce your impressions — but only for searches that weren't going to convert anyway. Your impression share for relevant searches should stay the same or improve. Less noise, more signal.


How do I know if I've added too many negative keywords?

If your impressions drop significantly after adding negatives AND your conversion rate doesn't improve — you may have accidentally blocked relevant searches. Review recently added negatives and check your search terms report for missed valuable searches.


Can negative keywords improve my Quality Score?

Indirectly, yes. By filtering out irrelevant traffic, your overall CTR improves (more of the people who see your ad are actually interested). Higher CTR feeds back into Quality Score positively over time.


Want a Negative Keyword Cleanup Done Right?

KaeRae Marketing builds and maintains robust negative keyword lists for every home service campaign we manage. Book a free consultation — we'll show you what's leaking in your current campaigns.


Want to manage your own negative keywords? KaeRae Education has step-by-step resources that make this less mysterious than it sounds. Visit KaeRaeEducation.com.

Comments

bottom of page