Negative Keywords: Stop Paying for Google Ads Clicks That Never Convert
Every week your Google Ads account is showing your ads to people who will never call you. People researching how to fix their own AC. People looking for a plumbing job. People searching for parts and supplies. Students watching HVAC tutorials. Every time one of those people clicks your ad, you pay. A click from a job seeker costs the same as a click from a homeowner with a burst pipe and no idea what to do. The only difference is the job seeker never books.
Negative keywords are how you stop paying for those clicks. They tell Google: do not show my ad when the search contains these words. They’re not complicated, but most home service businesses either haven’t set them up at all or set up a handful and never touched them again. The typical result: 20-30% of ad spend going to searches that never convert.
Check Your Search Terms Report First
Before adding any negative keywords, look at what you’re already paying for. Inside your Google Ads account, go to Campaigns, then Keywords, then Search Terms. This report shows every actual search query that triggered your ad and how much it cost.
Sort by spend, descending. Scroll through the first 50 to 100 rows. You will almost certainly find searches like “HVAC technician salary,” “how to clean AC coils,” “plumbing parts near me,” or “free AC inspection.” These are real queries you’ve been paying for. This report is where you build your negative keyword list, and you should review it every two to four weeks.
Match Types for Negative Keywords
Negative keywords use the same match type system as regular keywords, but in reverse:
- Broad negative: Blocks any search containing that word in any order. Adding “salary” as a broad negative blocks “HVAC technician salary,” “plumber salary near me,” and “electrician salary Texas.”
- Phrase negative: Blocks searches containing that exact phrase. Adding “how to” as a phrase negative blocks “how to fix my AC” but not a search like “I need to find a plumber.”
- Exact negative: Blocks only that precise search. Used when you want to exclude a specific query without affecting related ones.
For most of the categories below, broad or phrase negatives are the right choice. They cast a wider net without requiring you to anticipate every variation.
5 Categories to Block Immediately
1. DIY and Informational Intent
These are searches from people who want to learn, not hire. A homeowner who types “how to unclog a drain” is not calling you. Neither is the person searching “DIY furnace filter replacement” or “how to bleed a radiator.” One plumbing company reduced cost per lead by 45% after blocking the full category of informational terms. The budget those clicks consumed was redirected to searches that convert.
Add these as broad or phrase negatives:
- how to
- DIY
- tutorial
- guide
- instructions
- video
- tips
- yourself
- training course
2. Job Seeker Intent
People searching for HVAC jobs, plumbing apprenticeships, or electrician openings are not your customers. Google matches them to your ads constantly because the keyword overlap is high. “HVAC technician near me” triggers ads for both job seekers and homeowners. You can’t tell them apart until you look at the full search term. Block the pattern at the root.
- jobs
- job openings
- hiring
- salary
- careers
- apprenticeship
- apply
- resume
- employment
- work for
3. Parts and Supply Buyers
Homeowners and property managers searching for parts want to buy components, not hire a contractor. “AC condenser unit for sale,” “plumbing fittings near me,” and “water heater replacement parts” are dead ends for a service business. These searches produce clicks, never calls.
- parts
- supplies
- wholesale
- supply house
- for sale
- buy
- unit price
- where to buy
- distributor
4. Price Shoppers with Low Conversion Intent
Searchers looking for free services or the cheapest option convert at significantly lower rates than searchers with a specific service need. They’re often comparing quotes before deciding, and many never commit to any contractor. Blocking these terms reduces wasted spend without touching high-intent traffic.
- free
- cheap
- cheapest
- low cost
- budget
- used
- refurbished
One exception: “free estimate” and “free quote” signal buying intent. Only block “free” as a standalone term if your Search Terms report shows it triggering irrelevant queries rather than estimate requests.
5. Locations Outside Your Service Area
If you serve a defined radius, add every major city and neighborhood outside it as phrase negatives. A Dallas plumber who doesn’t serve Houston should block “Houston” and related city terms. One Texas plumbing company cut unqualified calls by 70% after excluding cities outside its 30-mile service area. The budget shift to in-area searches dropped their cost per booked job by nearly a third.
Pull up a map of your service area and list every city that borders it but falls outside. Update the list any time you see out-of-area locations appear in your Search Terms report.
Where to Add Negative Keywords
You have two options in Google Ads:
- Campaign-level negatives: Apply to all ad groups within a single campaign. Best for category blocks like DIY terms and job seeker terms that apply to one specific campaign.
- Shared negative lists: Apply across multiple campaigns simultaneously. Go to Tools, then Shared Library, then Negative Keyword Lists. Create a list called “Home Services Master Negatives” and attach it to every campaign. Any update to the list applies everywhere automatically.
Build your shared list first with the universal categories above, then add campaign-specific negatives at the campaign level for anything that only applies to one service type.
Your Two-Week Review Workflow
Your negative keyword list is never finished. Set a calendar reminder every two weeks to open your Search Terms report and expand it:
- Open Search Terms report in Google Ads
- Sort by cost, descending
- Review the top 50 to 100 queries
- Check the box next to any irrelevant search
- Click “Add as negative keyword”
- Choose the correct match type and campaign level
Do this consistently for 60 days and your cost per lead will drop measurably without changing your bids or ad copy. You’re not lowering your visibility to real buyers. You’re eliminating the traffic that was draining budget without producing results.
Starter Negative Keyword List
| Category | Terms to Block |
|---|---|
| DIY / Informational | how to, DIY, tutorial, video, guide, instructions, tips, yourself |
| Job Seekers | jobs, hiring, salary, careers, apply, apprenticeship, employment |
| Parts and Supplies | parts, supplies, wholesale, for sale, buy, distributor, unit price |
| Price Shoppers | cheap, cheapest, free, low cost, budget, used, refurbished |
| Geography | Every city and neighborhood outside your service radius |
Add these to a shared negative keyword list and attach it to every campaign. Then review your Search Terms report every two weeks and expand the list as new waste patterns emerge. The contractors paying the least per lead aren’t necessarily bidding less than their competitors. They’ve stopped paying for clicks that never had a chance of converting.