A free negative keyword list for UK Google Ads
A negative keyword stops your advert showing for searches containing that word, so you stop paying for clicks that were never going to buy. Below are 250 negative keywords that apply to almost any UK advertiser, sorted into 11 categories: job seekers, do-it-yourselfers, students, researchers, second-hand buyers, marketplaces, complaints, adult and gambling terms, American searches, navigational searches and price research. Every row says why it is there. Add them at campaign level in Google Ads under Keywords, then Negative keywords.
28 of the 250 carry a warning rather than a recommendation, because they are commonly over-blocked. The clearest example is free: a blanket negative on it also blocks “free quote”, which is one of the best searches a trade can get. Most published lists include it with no comment. Read the flagged rows before you paste the lot in.
No sign-up, no email, free to use in client accounts. The CSV is the same 250 rows with their reasons and warnings.
Jobs and careers 33
People looking for work use exactly the same words as people looking to hire your trade. This is the single largest source of wasted clicks for small advertisers, and it is the easiest to stop.
Free, DIY and self-serve 28
Searches from people who intend to do the job themselves or pay nothing for it. This group needs the most judgement of any on the list, because two of its most obvious words are also two of the best searches a service business can get.
Courses, training and qualifications 26
Students and career changers researching how to do the work. They share every word with your customers and buy nothing from you.
Research, definitions and reference 28
Someone establishing what a thing is. Useful traffic for a publisher and expensive traffic for anyone selling a service, because the search ends when the question is answered.
Second-hand, hire and trade supply 26
The right product or trade, but the wrong transaction. Somebody who wants to hire a tool, buy one used, or source at trade price is not going to book a job at retail.
Marketplaces, retailers and directories 24
The searcher has already decided where to go and it is not you. These cost the most per click in retail-adjacent trades because the words overlap so heavily.
Complaints, scams and legal 20
Searches that are already going badly. Paying for a click from somebody typing the word scam is paying to join an argument, and the traffic never converts.
Adult, gambling and illegal 18
Rarely relevant to the trade, occasionally catastrophic for the brand, and cheap insurance either way. Add the whole group at campaign level and forget about it.
American searches and wrong-country terms 22
A UK advertiser with location targeting still picks up American searches, because location targeting decides where the searcher is and these words decide what they mean. A search containing zip code or realtor is not a UK customer whatever the targeting says.
Price research, and why most of it should stay 9
This group exists to argue against itself. Almost every published negative keyword list blocks cost and price wholesale, and for a business that publishes its prices that is the most expensive mistake on the list, because a searcher asking what something costs has already decided to buy something.
How to use it
- Read the flagged rows first. The 28 marked check need a decision about your business. Use the filter above to see only those.
- Add them at campaign level. In Google Ads, open the campaign, choose Keywords, then Negative keywords. Campaign level covers every ad group.
- Or build a shared list. Tools and Settings, then Negative keyword lists. Worth doing if you run more than one campaign, because you then edit it in one place.
- Keep the quotes and brackets. Quotes mean phrase match, square brackets mean exact. Pasting the bare words changes what they block.
- Then work your own report. This is a starting list. The real waste is in your Search Terms report, and twenty minutes a week there beats any list anyone publishes, including this one.
- Do it in bulk. Export the search terms, process the whole set at once, and stop hand-picking one word at a time.
What this list cannot do
It cannot tell you what your adverts actually wasted money on. That exists only inside your Google Ads account, in the Search Terms report, and even there Google hides a large share of low-volume terms. Anyone selling you a figure for your wasted spend, or for a competitor’s, is estimating from outside and calling it a fact. We would rather say so than sell you the number.
It is also not trade-specific. A plumber and a solicitor waste money on different searches, and only the words in your own trade tell you which. If you want the trade-specific half, the generator reads your site and proposes the negatives for what your pages say you sell.
Questions
What is a negative keyword?
A negative keyword stops your Google Ads advert appearing for searches that contain that word or phrase. It does not change what you bid on; it removes searches you never wanted to pay for. Adding negatives is the only lever in a search campaign that lowers spend and raises quality at the same time.
How many negative keywords should I have?
There is no correct number, and a list of 1,500 is not five times better than a list of 300. What matters is whether the words match how your customers actually search. Start with the universal groups here, then add from your own Search Terms report every week or two, which is the only place real waste shows up.
Where do I add them in Google Ads?
Open the campaign, choose Keywords, then Negative keywords. Add them at campaign level so they cover every ad group, or build a negative keyword list under Tools and Settings and apply it to several campaigns at once. The list view is worth the extra minute if you run more than one campaign.
Phrase match or exact match for negatives?
Phrase for almost everything. A phrase-match negative blocks any search containing that phrase in that order, which is what you want for words like jobs or free. Use exact only where the word can be legitimate in a wider search, so it blocks that one query and nothing else. In this list only one row needs exact match and it says so.
Will negative keywords reduce my traffic?
Yes, and that is the point. They reduce the traffic that was never going to buy. If your clicks fall and your enquiries do not, the negatives worked. If enquiries fall too, you blocked something real, and the usual culprit is a blanket negative on free or cost.
Can I use this list for any business?
The eleven groups here are the ones that apply to most UK advertisers regardless of trade. They are not a substitute for the trade-specific negatives only you can judge, and 28 rows carry a note explaining when to leave them out. Read those before pasting the lot in.
Is this list free to use commercially?
Yes. Use it in client accounts, copy it into your own documentation, do what you like with it. No sign-up, no email, no attribution required.