01The Direct Answer
Which words should I negative in Google Ads for an industrial company?
Direct Answer
Six categories cover most of the waste: employment, education, repair or maintenance, used or surplus parts, free or DIY intent, and consumer-scale quantities.
None of these searches is rare in an industrial account, because the product vocabulary overlaps with the job market, the education market and the repair market. A candidate searches for the equipment name plus "vacancy." A student searches for it plus "course." A maintenance technician searches for it plus "repair" or "spare part." Every one of those clicks costs the same as a buyer's click and converts at close to zero.
02How Negative Matching Actually Works
A negative keyword is more literal than it looks
Two mistakes make a negative list fail silently. The first is assuming a negative word blocks its variations: Google Ads Help states that negativing "flowers" does not block "flower," so an industrial account needs the singular, the plural and common misspellings listed separately. The second is picking the wrong match type for the negative itself. A broad negative keyword blocks any search containing all of its terms, in any order; a phrase negative blocks the terms only in that exact sequence; an exact negative blocks only the identical search — the same three-tier logic that governs positive keywords, according to Google Ads Help.
The practical consequence: a list built once, with only the obvious words, decays as new phrasings of the same non-buying intent appear in the search terms report.
03The Checklist
Six categories to negative on almost every industrial account
The Checklist
1. Employment
"vacancy," "job," "hiring," "résumé," "salary." Add the plural and common misspellings — a negative does not expand on its own, per Google Ads Help.
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2. Education
"course," "training," "how to become," "internship," "class." Full detail on the specific set in the next page of this cluster.
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3. Repair and Maintenance
"repair," "fix," "broken," "maintenance manual," "troubleshooting" — searches from someone who already owns the equipment, not someone buying it.
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4. Used and Surplus Parts
"used," "second hand," "surplus," "for parts," "salvage" — a different purchase decision than the one your ad is written for.
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5. Free and DIY
"free," "download," "template," "DIY," "how to build" — an intent to avoid buying, not to buy.
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6. Consumer Scale
"unit," "for home," "small," "residential" — the same product name searched at a scale your account does not sell.
04How to Apply It Without Losing Reach
A negative list is edited, not just added to
Apply the checklist at broad match first, since Google Ads Help describes it as the tier that blocks any search containing all the listed terms in any order — the widest net for words that never carry buying intent. Move a category to phrase or exact match only when the broad version starts blocking a legitimate query, because at that point the negative is too wide, not too narrow. Review the list against the real search terms report at least once a month: new phrasings of the same non-buying intent keep appearing, and the checklist above is the starting set, not the final one.
05FAQ
FAQ
Which words should I negative in Google Ads for an industrial company?
Start with employment, education, repair or maintenance, used or surplus parts, free or DIY intent, and consumer-scale quantities. These six categories share vocabulary with almost any industrial product without sharing its buying intent, and they cover most of the waste before you even open the search terms report.
Does negativing one word also block its plural or misspellings?
No. Google Ads Help states negative keywords do not expand to close variations — negativing "flowers" does not block "flower." An industrial account needs to list the singular, the plural and common misspellings of each term separately for the list to actually cover them.
What is the difference between broad, phrase and exact negative match?
According to Google Ads Help, a broad negative blocks any search containing all of its terms in any order; a phrase negative blocks the terms only in that same sequence; an exact negative blocks only the identical search. Start broad for categories that never carry buying intent, and narrow to phrase or exact only where broad starts blocking legitimate queries.
How often should I update the negative keyword list?
At least monthly, against the real search terms report. Because negative keywords do not automatically cover new phrasings, per Google Ads Help, the categories in this checklist keep producing fresh variants that only a recurring review catches.
Can negativing too broadly block searches from real buyers?
Yes, and it is the most common failure mode of a checklist applied without review. If a broad negative starts excluding a legitimate query, Google Ads Help's own three-tier logic is the fix: move that specific term to phrase or exact match instead of removing the negative entirely.
Should I negative competitor brand names too?
That decision depends on strategy, not on this checklist. The six categories here filter out searches with no buying intent at all; bidding on or avoiding a competitor's brand term is a separate decision about which buyers you want to intercept, and it deserves its own account review.
Does this checklist apply to Performance Max as well?
Only partially. Negative keywords in Performance Max affect Search and Shopping inventory, and brand exclusions remove traffic from listed brands, so the same six categories are worth applying there too, with the account-level tools Performance Max provides instead of campaign-level negatives.
Where do I find a ready-made list of employment and education terms to negative?
The next page in this cluster details the exact employment, education, maintenance and repair terms most industrial accounts negative first, with the reasoning for each one.
Turn the checklist into a reviewed list
A negative-keyword audit checks this checklist against your real search terms report and flags what the account is still paying to show.
