Negative Keyword Examples for Online Stores

Negative keyword examples for an online store: "for free", how to, DIY, jobs, used, second hand, repair, wholesale, supplier, near me, PNG, clipart and knockoff. Each one marks a search from someone who will not buy a new product from your website. Block them and that money goes to searches that can buy.

Most negative keyword lists online are written for B2B and service businesses. Stores waste money on different words. So this is a negative keyword list for ecommerce, built from running store accounts at my agency, ZenoX Media. We have run accounts for 400+ stores.

The Ecommerce Negative Keyword List, Sorted by Type

Each row is one type of search that does not buy. The middle column is what to block. The last column is the trap: when that word might be your product.

Nobody in that table typed something weird. They typed a normal search with one word that says "I'm not buying from you". Find that word and block it.

The "Free" Trap

"Free" is the most useful negative on this page and the easiest to get wrong. A broad negative free blocks every search with the word free in it. That includes:

• "running shoes free shipping" - a buyer
• "sugar free gummies" - a buyer, if you sell supplements
• "cruelty free mascara" - a buyer, if you sell beauty

Before you add free, filter your search terms report for "free". If the words after it are always "shipping", "returns", or part of your product, skip the broad negative. Block the useless versions instead, like "for free", "free download" and "free sample".

Words to Test Before You Block

These words look like waste. In store accounts they often sell. Leave them running, then let your search terms report decide.

The rule: block a word on day one only if it can never buy from you. For everything else, wait for your search terms report to show it spending with no sales.

Extra Negative Keywords by Niche

These are starting points, built from how each search reads, not from a study. Check each one against your own products.

One warning for pet stores: "for sale" in "puppies for sale" means a live animal. In "dog bed for sale" it means a buyer. Use it as a phrase negative with the animal, like "puppies for sale", not on its own.

The Copy-Paste Starter List

Here is the safe part of the list in one block. Copy the block straight into Google Ads. Plain words are broad match. Words in quotes are phrase match. That is the same notation Google uses for normal keywords.

Read it once against your product titles. Delete anything you sell. Then paste it into a shared negative keyword list.

Two words to double-check: used also blocks buyer searches like "most used" or "used for", and instructions blocks "kit with instructions". If your products or ads lean on those words, delete them from the block.

freebie
freebies
giveaway
giveaways
"for free"
"free download"
"free sample"
"how to"
diy
tutorial
tutorials
instructions
job
jobs
careers
hiring
salary
internship
used
"second hand"
secondhand
"pre owned"
preowned
thrift
repair
repairs
troubleshooting
wholesale
wholesaler
supplier
suppliers
manufacturer
manufacturers
distributor
alibaba
"near me"
"open now"
"opening hours"
"store hours"
png
svg
clipart
"clip art"
"coloring page"
meme
pdf
knockoff
counterfeit
login
"sign in"
"customer service"
"phone number"
"order tracking"

Plural and singular are both in there on purpose. Google says: "Negative keywords won't match to close variants or other expansions." So job does not block jobs. You add both.

Brands you don't stock are not in the block. Only you know which brands those are. Pull them from your search terms report.

How to Build Your Own List from the Search Terms Report

The starter list stops the obvious waste. Your real list comes from your own searches. Keyword research for your store finds the words to buy. The search terms report finds the words to block. Here is the method we use on store accounts:

1. Open the report. Campaigns, then Insights and reports, then Search terms. Last 30 days. Add the Cost and Conversions columns.
2. Sort by cost. Most expensive at the top.
3. Filter for zero conversions. Mark every term that spent more than you can pay for one sale. If you can pay $25 for a sale and a term spent $25 with no sale, it had its chance.
4. Find the one word. In "trail running shoes repair", the word is repair. Block that, not the whole search. One word stops every future version.
5. Add the plural or singular. Negatives skip close variants.
6. Check for conflicts. Google warns: "Make sure that your negative keywords don't overlap with your regular keywords, because this will cause your ad not to show." If you sell women's shoes, a negative on women switches off your best traffic.
7. Do it again next week. New products bring new junk searches.

Want the full walkthrough with a worked example table? Read how to read the search terms report. New to negatives? Start with what negative keywords are and how to add them.

Which Match Type to Use for Each Negative

Google's rules for negatives:

Why "how to" goes in quotes: as a broad negative it blocks any search with both how and to anywhere in it. As a phrase it only blocks "how to" side by side. Our match types guide shows what each one catches.

Where to Add Store Negatives

Google says account-level negatives apply to "all search and shopping inventory in relevant campaign types". Since August 2025 you can also add a shared negative keyword list to a Performance Max campaign (Google Ads Help). For the PMax steps, see negative keywords in Performance Max.

One more Google warning worth keeping in mind: "If you use too many negative keywords, your ads might reach fewer customers." Add the words your data proves. Don't paste 3,000 words from a random list.

Five Mistakes That Cost Stores Sales

1. Blocking your own product words. A wallpaper store that pastes a list with wallpaper in it turns off its own ads. Check every list against your product titles.
2. Blocking the full search. "trail running shoes repair size 9" stops one search. repair stops thousands.
3. Forgetting plurals. repair does not block repairs.
4. Blocking "free" without looking. It kills "free shipping" and "sugar free" buyers.
5. Setting it once and forgetting it. New searches show up every week. A list from last year misses this month's waste.

For the other places a store account leaks money, see five places Google Ads wastes money. Want a quick check of the whole account? Run the free Google Ads audit.

Or Ask Scaley Which Words to Block

Building the list is easy. The weekly check is the hard part. In store accounts we take over at ZenoX, the search terms report is often the first place we find waste.

That is a real Scaley answer, blurred because it comes from a live store account. The second list is the one you turn into negatives.

Building this list by hand takes an afternoon. Keeping it fresh takes ten minutes a week, forever. That weekly part is where most stores slip.

So hand the digging to Scaley Media Buyer. Hook up your Google Ads (it can read, it can't edit) and type "which words cost me money this month?" You get the list of junk words with the spend next to each one. Then you decide what goes on the block list.

Not ready to connect? Scaley Consultant works from a search terms CSV you upload. Want the blocking done for you? Scaley Suite drafts each negative and waits for your yes on every single one.

Try it on your own account. You need a card to start the trial. All three prices sit on the pricing page.

Disclosure: I run ZenoX Media, a Google Ads agency, and I built Scaley.

Where These Facts Come From

Checked on 2026-11-03:

• About negative keywords, Google Ads Help - negative broad, phrase and exact behavior, no close variants, and the warning about too many negatives.
• Add negative keywords to campaigns, Google Ads Help - the overlap warning, 20 lists with 5,000 negatives each, the 1,000 account-level limit, and account-level negatives for Performance Max.
• Unlock more visibility and control in Performance Max, Google Ads Help - the 7 August 2025 post on campaign-level negative keyword lists for Performance Max.
• About keyword matching options, Google Ads Help - quotes for phrase match and square brackets for exact match.
• About the search terms report, Google Ads Help - where the report lives.