Negative keywords.In plain English.

They stop money going on clicks that can't become customers. Review your search terms report every week and add new ones.

Match types work differently for negatives. A broad negative blocks a search only if it contains all of its words, in any order. A phrase negative blocks those words in that order, and an exact negative blocks only that exact search. Negatives don't match close variants, so add plurals and common misspellings yourself.

Exclusions you use everywhere belong in a negative keyword list. Each list holds up to 5,000 terms and can apply to many campaigns, with up to 20 lists per account. Performance Max campaigns now take negative keywords too, for their Search and Shopping inventory.

Local Services Ads don't use keywords at all. You control which searches they show for with job types and service areas, and by turning off the broad search setting.

Example: a plumber adds 'plumber salary' and 'plumbing course' as negatives, plus 'plumbers salary', so the ads only reach people who need a plumber.