Negative keywords in Google Ads for tradespeople

That is the problem of missing negative keywords. Not his advert. Not his landing page. Simply that Google shows his advert to people who never need a tradesperson, and that Marc pays for it.

And Marc is not the only one. Handymen, gardeners, plumbers, roofers. With almost everyone who starts with Google Ads without guidance, I see the same pattern. A keyword list that looks good on paper, but where nobody has filled in the block list. The result: every day, budget leaks away to people who will never become your customer.

If you build an advert on the keyword "painter", Google shows your advert to everyone who uses that word in a search. Logical at first glance. But in practice it means you also pay for "painter Vincent van Gogh", "become a painter vacancy" and "paint delivery time brown". People who are never going to call you.

Negative keywords are the words and phrases you give Google as a signal: do NOT show my advert when someone searches for this. You deliberately block certain searches before they cost you budget. A block list like this costs nothing extra and only needs setting up properly once. After that, Google filters out the irrelevant searches itself.

The difference in practice is significant. A handyman without a block list pays, on average, 20 to 30% of his monthly budget for clicks from people who never call him. With a well-set-up list, that can drop to five per cent or less. On a budget of €500 a month, that quickly adds up to a saving of €100, without spending a single cent more with Google. You can then put that €100 into better clicks, or simply keep it in your pocket.

Google Ads has a wizard that lets you set up a campaign in twenty minutes. That wizard asks for your keywords, your budget, your location and your ad copy. About negative keywords, the wizard says almost nothing. It is an extra step you have to look up and add yourself. Google does not have much interest in helping you pay less, so it does not actively promote that step either.

As a result, many tradespeople who start with Google Ads on their own do not even know negative keywords exist. Others do know, but think: I will do that later. Later then never comes. And a third group set something up once, but that was three years ago and it has never been touched since, even though their campaigns have grown considerably.

The other problem is that in 2026, Google matches ever more aggressively. Broad match, the default setting for new keywords, now also matches on synonyms, related searches and even topics Google itself links to your keyword. That means your advert on "hire a painter" can also appear against "apply for council painting scheme" or "report painting damage to insurance". Searches that have nothing to do with you at all, but which you still pay for when someone clicks. Without an up-to-date block list, you leak budget away every day.

And it is not getting any better. Google also changed the budget calculation from 1 June, meaning small advertisers can quickly end up spending up to 30% more than they expected. That makes a good block list only more urgent.

Below is a starter list you can use straight away. These are common search terms that cost clicks without generating leads. They are based on search terms reports from tradespeople in the regions TheSEO works with. No theory, just what we genuinely see coming through.

Add these terms as phrase match negative (more on this in the next section). That blocks every search containing this combination, without blocking relevant searches.

This is a starter list. After two weeks, we recommend opening your search terms report and seeing what comes through. You will see searches nobody could have predicted in advance, but which match your campaign. Add those to your block list. That way, the list gets sharper over time.

Broad match negative blocks too aggressively. If you set "painter" as broad match negative, Google also blocks "hire a painter near me", which makes your advert completely invisible to everyone looking for a painter. That is not what you want.

Phrase match negative is the best choice for most terms. You enter "diy painting" as phrase match negative, and Google blocks every search containing that word combination. Searchers with "diy wall painting tips" or "diy exterior painting guide" no longer see your advert. But "hire a local painter" simply stays visible. That way, you keep control without blocking too much.

Exact match negative only blocks the exact search. You use this for specific terms you are very sure will not generate a conversion and which do not fit into a phrase either. Competitor names are a good example, as are product names for materials you do not sell. In most cases, phrase match negative keywords are enough, and you will barely need to use exact match negative.

What also helps: in 2026, Google opened up Performance Max campaigns a little further for negative keywords. You can now set up to 100 negative keywords per Performance Max campaign, something that was previously almost impossible. If you run PMax alongside a Search campaign, put your best phrase match negatives there too. Otherwise, you still pay for the same bad clicks through that route.

Go to your Google Ads account at ads.google.com. In the left-hand menu, click "Keywords" and then "Negative keywords". You will now see your campaign’s existing negative keywords, or an empty list if you have not set anything up yet.

You can set negative keywords at campaign level or at ad group level. Campaign level is the strongest, because it blocks across the whole campaign. Use ad group level only when you want to block a specific keyword for one group but not for the rest of your campaign.

For most tradespeople, we recommend creating a shared negative keyword list. This is a central list you can link to several campaigns. If you later create a second campaign for another service, you link the same list and are protected straight away. That way, you only have to maintain it once. You find this under "Tools" (the wrench icon at the top of your account), then "Shared library", then "Negative keyword lists".

Create a new list, give it a recognisable name such as "General tradesperson block list" and add the keywords. Use quotation marks for phrase match negative, or select "Phrase" from the dropdown menu if that is available. Save the list and then link it to your active campaigns via the "Apply to campaigns" button.

This might cost you half an hour the first time. After that, the maintenance is minimal. Set a monthly alarm on your phone for "check Google Ads search terms report". Fifteen minutes a month is enough to spot new bad search terms and add them to your list. The longer you keep doing this, the sharper your list becomes and the more you save.

Want to know how your Google Ads campaign is doing more broadly? Then also read our article on whether Google Ads really works for tradespeople, or take a look at how Google Local Services Ads can be an alternative where you only pay per lead.

What the new budget calculation from 1 June means for tradespeople with a daily budget

Pay only per lead who calls you, not per click. How LSA works for handymen and painters