Negative Keyword Finder Find the search terms wasting your ad budget

What Negative Keyword Finder does

Negative Keyword Finder reads the search terms report from Google Ads or Microsoft Ads and finds the searches that are wasting money against two limits you set: an unacceptable cost per conversion, and how much a search may spend without converting. It flags search terms that break either limit, plus words shared across many search terms that spent past the spend limit without converting. It formats them as negative keywords you can paste straight into your account.

How to find negative keywords from a search terms report

To find negative keywords, set your two limits in Negative Keyword Finder, export the search terms report for the last 90 days, drop it in, review the flagged search terms and words, and paste the negatives into a negative keyword list.

1. Set your limits. Enter the cost per conversion you won’t pay (usually your break-even CPA) and how much a search may spend without converting (1.5–2× your target CPA is a good start). Both are required: the upload box stays locked until they are filled in, because every result is measured against them.
2. Export the search terms report. In Google Ads, go to Campaigns › Insights and reports › Search terms, set the date range to the last 90 days, and choose Download › .csv or Excel. In Microsoft Ads, open Keywords › Search terms, set the same range, and download it as CSV or Excel.
3. Load the file. Drop it onto the upload box at the top of this page, or click Choose file. Negative Keyword Finder finds the header row, the columns, the currency and the date range automatically.
4. Review the Search terms tab. Every search term that broke a limit is listed and selected, with a label saying which one: “No conversions” or its cost per conversion, such as “$390 per conversion”. Untick anything you want to keep.
5. Review the Words tab. These are single words and two-word phrases, such as “jobs” or “how to”, that appear in many search terms that together spent past your spend limit without converting. One phrase-match negative blocks all of them, plus future searches with the same word.
6. Copy and paste. Click Copy negatives and paste the list into a shared negative keyword list or a campaign’s negative keywords. Search terms that a selected word already blocks are left out of the copy, so the list has no duplicates.

How Negative Keyword Finder decides a search term is bad

Negative Keyword Finder judges every search term against the two limits you enter before uploading. A search term is flagged when it spent at least your spend limit with zero conversions, or when it converted but its cost per conversion is above your unacceptable limit. There are no hidden defaults taken from the report, so every result reads the same way: this search broke this limit. (To judge the keywords you bid on rather than the searches they matched, see Keyword Triage.)

How to choose your unacceptable cost per conversion

Use your break-even CPA: the gross profit from one conversion. If a sale brings in $200 of gross profit, a search term that costs more than $200 per conversion loses money on every sale it brings. A converting search term is flagged only once it has spent at least this limit, so a small fraction of a conversion on a few dollars of spend isn’t judged on too little data.

How to choose your spend limit with no conversions

A good starting point is 1.5 to 2 times your target CPA. A search term that converts at your target rate would be expected to produce two conversions after spending 2× your target CPA, and the chance it still has zero is about 14% (e⁻²). At 1.5× the chance is about 22%, and at 3× about 5%. A higher limit flags fewer search terms with more confidence; a lower limit catches waste sooner.

After uploading, both limits appear inside the sentence above the results and can be changed there. Negative Keyword Finder also shows the report’s own average cost per conversion for reference, and warns you if that average is already above your unacceptable limit.

Why words find more waste than single search terms

Most wasted spend in a search terms report is spread across hundreds of search terms that each spent a few dollars, too little for any one of them to judge. Negative Keyword Finder groups search terms by the words they share, which PPC managers call n-gram analysis. If “jobs” appears in 14 search terms that spent $260 together and none converted, “jobs” is a negative keyword even though no single search term with “jobs” reached the spend limit.

Three safeguards keep word suggestions from blocking good traffic:

• A word is only suggested if every search term containing it has zero conversions. Words are never flagged for a high cost per conversion, because a phrase-match negative would block every converting search that contains them.
• A word that appears in any of your own keywords (from the report’s Keyword column) is never suggested, since negating it would block that keyword.
• Filler words such as “for”, “the” and “in”, and question words such as “how”, “what” and “near”, are never suggested alone. They appear only inside phrases such as “how to” or “near me”. A two-word phrase is dropped when one of its words is already suggested on its own.

Why low click-through rate is a separate list

A click-through rate (CTR) under 1% across at least 300 impressions usually means searchers don’t see your ad as an answer to their search, like “google ads login” for an agency. These searches rarely cost much, because you pay per click, so they are listed separately and start unselected. If the account’s overall CTR is under 3%, as is common in Shopping campaigns, the default CTR threshold drops to a third of the account average so normal searches aren’t flagged.

What is skipped

• Search terms marked Excluded in the Added/Excluded column, because they are already negatives.
• Search terms marked Added, or identical to one of your keywords, because they are keywords. Pause them instead.
• Total and summary rows, such as “Total: Account”.

A search term that appears in several campaigns or ad groups is judged on its combined cost and conversions across all of them. That is deliberately cautious: a search term that converts in one campaign is never suggested as a negative for any.

What date range should a search terms report cover?

Use the last 90 days for most accounts. A longer range helps in three ways: more search terms reach your limits, zero conversions over 90 days is stronger evidence than over 14, and the report includes more of the low-volume search terms that Google Ads hides from short ranges. A negative for a search term that no longer appears costs nothing.

• Spending over about $1,000 a day: 30 days is enough data and keeps the list current.
• Recently changed targeting, match types or your offer: use only the period since the change.
• Long sales cycle: end the range a week or two before today, so recent clicks have had time to convert.
• How often: run it every two to four weeks, using the period since your last pass once the account is clean.

Negative Keyword Finder reads the date range from the top of a Google Ads export and shows it next to the file name. It suggests a longer range if the report covers fewer than 28 days.

Which match type should negative keywords use?

Negative keywords match differently from regular keywords: they do not match close variants, plurals or misspellings (Google Ads Help: About negative keywords). Negative Keyword Finder uses the match type that blocks exactly what the data supports.

Both Google Ads and Microsoft Ads accept this notation when you paste a list into a negative keyword list, one negative per line.

Worked example: finding negative keywords in a $9,000 account

This example account spent $9,000 for 150 conversions over 90 days. Its break-even CPA is $100, so that is the unacceptable cost per conversion, and the spend limit with no conversions is $120.

Selecting the three flagged search terms and the two words gives five negatives that block $1,081, about 12% of the account’s spend. $691 of it produced no conversions, and the other $390 bought one conversion at almost four times the break-even CPA.

Which report columns does Negative Keyword Finder need?

Negative Keyword Finder needs three columns: Search term, Cost and Conversions. Column names are matched automatically, from English or Swedish Google Ads exports (Sökterm, Kostnad, Konverteringar), and any of them can be reassigned under Columns.

A keyword report is not a search terms report. If you load one, Negative Keyword Finder says so and explains where to find the search terms report.

Is my search terms report uploaded anywhere?

No. Negative Keyword Finder reads the file with the browser’s FileReader API and analyzes it in JavaScript on your device. The page sets a Content-Security-Policy with default-src 'none' and connect-src 'none', which tells the browser to block every network request the page could make, including fetch, XHR, beacons, external scripts, fonts and images. The one request it allows is for this site’s own stylesheet (style-src 'self'), and a stylesheet request can’t carry your report. Nothing about the report is stored. The only thing saved is your light or dark theme choice. You can load the page, disconnect from the internet, and it keeps working.

What Negative Keyword Finder does not account for

The lists are based on the cost and conversions in your report, so treat them as a short list to review, not autopilot. Check these before adding a high-spend negative:

• Conversion lag: conversions are credited to the day of the click and can arrive days later, so very recent clicks can look like waste. End the date range a little before today if your customers take time to buy.
• Conversion tracking: if a conversion action is missing or broken, good search terms look like zero-conversion terms. The tool warns you when a file has no conversions at all.
• Assisted conversions: a research-style search can start a journey that a later search gets credit for.
• Brand and competitor terms: decide these on strategy, not on one report.
• Hidden search terms: Google Ads does not show every search term, only those with enough volume, so some waste is invisible in any report.

Frequently asked questions

What is a negative keyword?

A negative keyword tells Google Ads or Microsoft Ads not to show your ad for searches that contain it. Adding "free" as a negative keyword, for example, stops your ads from showing for “free ad copy templates” and every other search that includes the word free.

How do I find negative keywords in Google Ads?

Find negative keywords in the search terms report, which lists the real searches that triggered your ads. Look for search terms that spent money without converting, and for words that keep appearing in those searches. Negative Keyword Finder does this automatically: export the search terms report for the last 90 days and drop it into the tool.

How much should a search term spend before I add it as a negative keyword?

Add a search term as a negative keyword once it has spent 1.5 to 2 times your target cost per conversion without converting. A search term that converts at your target rate has only about a 14% chance of spending 2× your target CPA with zero conversions, so most terms that get there are genuinely poor. Negative Keyword Finder asks you to enter this spend limit before you upload a report.

What cost per conversion is too high for a search term?

A search term’s cost per conversion is too high when it is above your break-even CPA, the gross profit from one conversion. A search term above that loses money on every conversion it brings, so it is a candidate for a negative keyword even though it converts. Negative Keyword Finder asks for this unacceptable cost per conversion before you upload, and flags converting search terms that exceed it once they have spent at least that amount.

What date range should I use for a search terms report?

Use the last 90 days for most accounts. A longer range lets more search terms reach your limits, makes zero conversions stronger evidence, and shows more low-volume search terms. If the account spends more than about $1,000 a day, the last 30 days is enough. If you changed targeting or your offer recently, use only the period since the change.

Should I add search terms with a low CTR as negative keywords?

Sometimes. A search term shown hundreds of times with a click-through rate under 1% usually means searchers don’t see your ad as relevant, such as “google ads login” for an agency. These terms cost little because few people click, so Negative Keyword Finder lists them separately and leaves them unselected for you to review.

Should negative keywords be exact match or phrase match?

Use exact match to block one specific search term and phrase match to block a word or phrase wherever it appears. Negative Keyword Finder copies individual search terms as exact match, like [copywriting jobs remote], and recurring words as phrase match, like "jobs", which also blocks future searches containing that word.

Does Negative Keyword Finder work with Microsoft Ads?

Yes. Negative Keyword Finder reads Microsoft Ads (formerly Bing Ads) search terms reports in CSV or Excel format and recognizes Microsoft column names such as Spend and Conv. The negatives it copies use the same bracket and quote notation that Microsoft Ads accepts.

Can Negative Keyword Finder add negatives to my account?

No. Negative Keyword Finder never connects to Google Ads or Microsoft Ads. It only reads the file you give it. You paste the negatives into a negative keyword list or a campaign yourself.

Is Negative Keyword Finder free?

Yes. Negative Keyword Finder is free, needs no account or sign-up, and has no usage limits.

Glossary

Search term

The exact words someone typed into Google or Bing when your ad was shown. Different from a keyword, which is what you bid on.

Search terms report

The Google Ads and Microsoft Ads report that lists the search terms that triggered your ads, with their clicks, cost and conversions.

Negative keyword

A word or phrase that stops your ad from showing for searches that contain it.

Negative keyword list

A shared list of negative keywords that can be applied to many campaigns at once.

Cost per conversion (CPA)

Cost divided by conversions. The average amount spent to get one conversion.

Click-through rate (CTR)

Clicks divided by impressions. The share of people who saw the ad and clicked it.

N-gram analysis

Grouping search terms by the single words (1-grams) or word pairs (2-grams) they contain, to find patterns too spread out to see term by term.

Wasted spend

Spend on search terms that produced no conversions.