An effective negative keyword list is crucial for ecommerce stores to improve the efficiency of Google Ads campaigns.
Google increasingly guides the advertisers to use automated settings and broad match format. While this can generate results in some cases, it can also drain your budget quickly without producing any conversions. Your ads may be displayed for ineffective or irrelevant search terms.
A strong negative keyword list can help you cope with this challenge and improve your performance.
Ecommerce stores should try to maximize efficiency by excluding the people who do not have a buying intent.
With this aim, I am providing a list below. You can use it as a starting point.
Please note that I group negative keywords under separate topics to provide relevance. Every keyword may not fit every store. For this reason, you should not simple copy – paste and use the entire list blindly. You should review these keywords before adding it to your account.
If your ecommerce store is not in English, you can translate and use relevant keywords in your language.
Now, let’s take a look at these negative keywords.
1. Keywords to Exclude Users Who Have No Intention to Buy
Some searchers may be using your target keywords, but they may have no intention to buy. These terms can consume a significant amount of budget, especially for popular products and brands.
PURPOSE
These keywords usually have high search volume and they can lower your campaign performance significantly. This applies to many categories including white goods, consumer electronics, computers, mobile phones, and clothing.
address
amazon
cancel
cancellation
complaint
complaints
contact
craigslist
customer relations
customer service
customer support
delivery
delivery status
ebay
email
exchange
exchanges
feedback
fix
fixing
guarantee
help
help center
help desk
instruction manual
instructions
location
locations
mail
maintenance
manual
marketplace
order status
order tracking
parts
phone
phone number
reach
refund
refunds
refurbished
rent
rental
repair
repairs
replacement
return
returns
service
service center
services
shipping
shipping status
spare parts
support
support center
telephone
track
tracking
troubleshooting
used
user manual
warranty
when
where
who
DO IT YOURSELF
These keywords can be particularly important for categories such as home, furniture, beauty, and garden products.
build
building
craft
crafting
create
creating
design yourself
DIY
do it yourself
handmade
home made
homemade
how can I
how do I
how does
how to
instructions
make
make at home
making
pattern
patterns
plans
repair yourself
step by step
template
tutorial
RESEARCH
about
article
articles
association
book
books
case
case study
data
definition
definitions
document
documentation
ebook
e book
example
examples
facts
forum
forums
guide
guides
information
learn
learn about
meaning
news
pdf
report
reports
research
resources
review
reviews
statistics
stats
studies
study
survey
surveys
tips
what are
what is
why
wiki
wikipedia
EDUCATION
academy
certificate
certification
class
classes
course
courses
degree
education
educational
institute
lesson
lessons
program
school
seminar
study
training
tutorial
university
webinar
workshop
workshops
JOB
career
careers
CV
employment
hire
hiring
intern
internship
internships
job
jobs
occupation
part time
position
positions
recruiter
recruitment
resume
salaries
salary
vacancies
vacancy
work
MULTIMEDIA
animation
clipart
film
films
gif
graphics
image
images
jpeg
jpg
logo
logos
movie
movies
music
photo
photography
photos
pics
picture
pictures
png
screensaver
video
videos
wallpaper
wallpapers
SOCIAL MEDIA
blog
blogs
facebook
instagram
linkedin
pinterest
reddit
social
social media
telegram
tiktok
twitter
x
youtube
GENERAL
download
downloads
free download
game
games
play
quiz
quiz game
stream
streaming
torrent
watch online
2. Keywords to Exclude Users Who Are Not in Your Target Audience
These terms can help you refine your traffic and prevent campaigns from reaching users who do not fit your target audience.
Important note: Since they may not be applicable to all of your campaigns, you may use them as additional negative keyword lists or add these keywords to selected campaigns or ad groups manually.
GENDER / AGE
This may be applicable to product categories such as suit, shirt, jacket, shoes, watches, etc.
In addition to this, you may target gender-specific keywords like “men’s shirts” directly in your campaign, or use demographic targeting to reach the relevant gender.
babies
baby
boy
boys
child
children
girl
girls
kid
kids
ladies
lady
man
men
men’s
teen
teenager
teenagers
woman
women
women’s
LANGUAGE
This can be useful when you sell products such as books, courses, software, or content in a specific language.
arabic
chinese
dutch
french
german
hindi
italian
japanese
korean
portuguese
russian
spanish
turkish
LOCATION
closest
directions
local
local store
map
near me
nearby
nearest
shop near me
store near me
You may also add irrelevant or ineffective
city names
country names
district names
neighborhood names
region names
state names
street names
You should proceed carefully and only exclude locations where you do not want to generate traffic.
INCOME / PRICE POSITIONING
This can be relevant if you sell premium or luxury products.
bargain
budget
cheap
cheapest
clearance
closeout
discount
discounted
free
freebie
freebies
freeware
giveaway
inexpensive
low cost
lowest price
outlet
overstock
sale
sales
under $10
under $20
under $50
BRAND
If you think that the customers of certain brands do not align with your target audience, you may exclude the names of those brands.
competitor brand 1
competitor brand 2
competitor brand 3
unrelated brand 1
unrelated brand 2
TRADE / B2B
This will help you filter out B2B intent.
bulk
bulk order
dealer
distribution
distributor
export
exporter
factory
import
importer
manufacturer
manufacturing
merchandise
reseller
reselling
supplier
suppliers
supply
trade
wholesale
wholesaler
wholesalers
3. Keywords That Do Not Match Product Specifications
These negative keywords can help you exclude users who are searching for product characteristics you do not offer.
Similar to the previous section, you may use them as additional negative keyword lists or add these keywords to selected campaigns or ad groups manually.
Please review them carefully before implementing.
MATERIAL
This may be applicable to product categories such as glassware, watches, jewelry, furniture, etc.
aluminum
brass
bronze
canvas
carbon
ceramic
cotton
crystal
denim
fabric
glass
gold
iron
leather
linen
metal
nylon
paper
plastic
polyester
rubber
silk
silver
stainless steel
steel
stone
suede
synthetic
titanium
velvet
wood
wooden
wool
COLOR
You do not have to use these terms. You can use them only when a campaign or product group clearly does not offer that color.
beige
black
blue
brown
burgundy
cream
gold
gray
green
grey
ivory
khaki
navy
orange
pink
purple
red
silver
tan
turquoise
white
yellow
PRODUCT SPECIFICATIONS
You should customize this section carefully for each product category. You do not have to use it if it is not relevant.
For example, if you sell only smart watches, you can use analog; if you sell formal trousers, you can use denim or jeans as negative keywords.
analog
automatic
battery
corded
cordless
digital
denim
electric
foldable
manual
mini
portable
rechargeable
smart
solar
wired
wireless
PROVEN TACTIC
You should create multiple negative keyword lists if some of your campaigns or ad groups require specific negative keywords.
For example, when you target men, women and parents (children) separately, you can use relevant lists in each ad group, in addition to your main list.
You can also have an additional list to exclude branded terms in selected campaigns, where you target new audiences.
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The Ultimate Negative Keyword List for Ecommerce is a part of The Ecommerce Growth System, which contains three ecommerce marketing field books, an expert AI advisor, and exclusive resources providing practical real-world guidance about SEO, Google Ads, and Meta Ads, all tailored for ecommerce businesses.
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