Add negative keywords

You can add individual negative keywords to your campaign or ad group, or you can add multiple negative keywords at once.

Keep in mind

Negative keywords work differently in Display and Video campaigns than they do in search. For any given ad in a Display or Video campaign, a maximum of 5,000 negative keywords are considered. Depending on the other keywords or targeting methods in your ad group, some pages where your ad appears may occasionally contain excluded terms. 

Add individual negative keywords to ad groups or campaigns

1. Select Keywords and Targeting > Keywords, Negative.
2. Click Add negative keyword and select Ad group negative keyword or Campaign negative keyword.
3. If prompted, select the destination for the new negative keyword and click OK.
4. Enter the negative keyword in the edit panel.

Add multiple negative keywords

It isn't possible to add campaign and ad group negative keywords at the same time with the Make multiple changes tool. Choose to add either negative keywords or campaign negative keywords.

1. Select Keywords and Targeting > Keywords, Negative.
2. Click Make multiple changes.
3. Select My data includes columns for campaigns and/or ad groups or Use selected destinations.
   • If you select Use selected destinations, select Add as campaign-level negative keywords or Add as ad group-level negative keywords.
4. Type or paste your negative keywords in the grid.
5. Click Process.
6. The Make multiple changes tool will display the number of changes made. Click Finish and review changes.
7. Review your pending changes. To add the pending changes to your account, click Keep. To undo your changes, click Reject.

Paste negative keywords from another ad group or campaign

You can copy and paste negative keywords between ad groups or campaigns.

Paste negative keywords into more than one ad group or campaign

1. Copy the negative keywords.
2. Select multiple destination campaigns or ad groups in the data view by pressing Ctrl (Windows) or ⌘ (Mac) when clicking the campaign or ad group name.
3. Paste the keywords into your ad groups or campaigns.

Related links

• Learn how to copy, move, or paste items in an account.
• Find out how to remove negative keywords.