Negative Keywords for Construction: How a Senior PPC Team Stops Wasted Ad Spend

Negative keywords for construction stop your Google Ads budget being spent on people who will never become customers. They block your ads from showing for searches like “construction jobs”, “DIY garden wall”, “cheap roofing materials” or “how to mix concrete”. Get the negative keyword list right and every pound goes to people who can actually buy.

This guide is written for construction business owners, marketing managers and PPC specialists running Google Ads. It covers a construction-specific negative keyword strategy: the real negatives we use, the reasoning behind each group, and a starter list of 50 to 100 negatives you can copy. PPC stands for pay per click, the model where you pay Google each time someone clicks your ad.

At Made By Factory, our PPC work is led by Ben Tennant, who spent years inside Google before joining us. We have rebuilt construction Google Ads accounts where broad match keywords were pulling in search terms that looked relevant but never produced a single qualified lead. Negative keywords were the fastest fix every time.

By the end of this guide you will know how to find negative keywords, how to group them by search intent, and how to keep your negative keyword list working as new irrelevant searches appear.

What Are Negative Keywords?#

Negative keywords are words or phrases you add to a Google Ads campaign to stop your ads showing for searches that include them. They are the opposite of normal keywords. A keyword tells Google when to show your ad. A negative keyword tells Google when to hold it back.

In simple terms, negative keywords make sure your ads reach people genuinely interested in your construction services, not job seekers, students, DIY users or bargain hunters. They do not reduce all traffic. They remove the traffic that wastes money.

Most construction businesses face a search intent problem. Someone searching “roof edge protection” could be a facilities manager who needs a compliant system. The same words could come from a student looking for a definition, or someone trying to buy a cheap part online. The keywords look identical. The intent behind them is completely different.

That is why a negative keyword strategy matters more in construction than in many other sectors. Construction terms carry multiple meanings, and Google often stretches them further through broad match.

How Negative Keywords Work in Google Ads

Negative keywords work by filtering searches before the click happens. When someone types a query into Google, the system checks your negative keyword list. If the query contains a negative, your ad does not enter the auction for that search. No impression, no click, no wasted spend.

This is how negative keywords ensure cleaner data. Your campaign stops collecting clicks from irrelevant searches, so your reports show what is really working.

Negative keywords use three match types, which we explain in full later: broad match negatives, phrase match and exact match. Each one controls how strictly Google blocks a search term.

Why Construction Campaigns Need Negative Keywords

Construction Google Ads campaigns attract a wide mix of searchers. Job seekers, apprentices, DIY users, students, researchers and bargain hunters all use the same search bar as your buyers. Without negative keywords, your ads show to all of them.

We use a blunt benchmark when we audit poor construction accounts: around 60% of PPC spending is wasted on irrelevant clicks when targeting is loose. That figure is not a typo. In many badly managed accounts, more than half the ad budget reaches people who were never going to call.

Negative keywords prevent ads from showing for irrelevant searches, which means fewer wasted clicks and a higher click through rate. Click through rate, or CTR, is the percentage of people who click your ad after seeing it. A higher CTR improves your Quality Score, and a better Quality Score can lower the cost of every click. Negative keywords play a quiet but important role in that whole chain.

The Cost of Poor Negative Keyword Management#

When we check a construction Google Ads account for the first time, wasted spend almost always traces back to a thin or missing negative keyword list. The account is paying for searches that no sales team would ever want.

Job-related queries are the most common drain. We have seen “construction jobs”, “site manager salary”, “roofer vacancy” and “apprenticeship” spending real money in lead generation campaigns. None of those searches buy anything. People searching for work are not people searching for a contractor.

Bargain terms are the second drain. Searches with “cheap”, “free”, “DIY” or “second hand” pull in people looking for the lowest price, not professional construction services. Negative keywords exclude searches for low-cost options, which protects both your budget and your brand positioning.

Across a wider PPC data set we reviewed, advertisers added more than 100,000 negative keywords in a single 30-day period. That shows how often new irrelevant search patterns appear once campaigns go live. A negative keyword list is never finished. It needs regular review.

The good news is that the fix is simple and fast. Once you sort potential negative keywords into clear groups, your Google Ads account becomes far easier to manage.

Common Construction Negative Keyword Categories#

A strong negative keyword list is not a random pile of words. It is organised by search intent, so you can see why each term is there and add to it sensibly over time.

For most construction businesses we start with six groups: job seekers, DIY and education, bargain hunters, suppliers and materials, locations outside the service area, and trades you do not offer. Negative keywords must be tailored to each construction firm’s specialisation. A commercial fit-out company, a civil engineering contractor and a height safety installer should never share the same full list.

Job Seeker Negative Keywords

Construction companies use negative keywords to remove job seeker queries first, because they are the highest-volume waste. These people are not bad, they are simply not buyers.

Common job seeker negatives include:

• jobs
• job
• career
• careers
• vacancy
• vacancies
• hiring
• recruitment
• salary
• wage
• apprentice
• apprenticeship
• cv
• work experience

Irrelevant terms can also include “employment”, “internship”, “CSCS card” and “site manager job”. A CSCS card, the Construction Skills Certification Scheme card, matters to a worker but rarely signals a buyer looking to hire a contractor.

DIY and Educational Negative Keywords

Negative keywords filter out DIY projects and how-to research. People seeking instructions do not need professional construction services, even when the topic sits close to your work.

Common DIY and education negatives include:

• diy
• do it yourself
• how to
• tutorial
• tutorials
• guide
• tips
• instructions
• youtube
• step by step
• meaning
• definition
• history

Searches for “how to” and “training” often lead to irrelevant clicks. Treat “training” with care, though. If you sell installer training, do not block it across the whole account. Add it as a negative only in the campaigns where training is not part of the offer.

Bargain and Low-Cost Negative Keywords

Bargain terms should be excluded from construction campaigns because they attract price shoppers, not buyers who value certified work. Negative keywords exclude searches for low-cost options, which keeps your spend on people who will pay a fair rate.

Common bargain negatives include:

• cheap
• cheapest
• free
• budget
• discount
• bargain
• second hand
• used
• low cost

These negatives protect more than your budget. They protect your positioning. A specialist contractor competing on quality does not want clicks from people sorting by price alone.

Supplier, Materials and Trade Negative Keywords

Many construction searches come from people who want to buy materials or hire a different trade. If you install systems rather than sell parts, materials searches waste money.

Common supplier and materials negatives include:

• for sale
• supplier
• wholesale
• buy online
• materials
• spare parts
• hire
• rental

You should also block trades you do not offer. A roofing contractor running broad match should add “plastering”, “electrician”, “plumbing” and similar as negatives, so closely related searches do not trigger the wrong ads.

Location Negative Keywords

If you only serve certain regions, geographic negatives stop your ads showing to searchers outside your service area. Add the towns, cities and counties you do not cover, plus “near me” variations where relevant.

Regional geographic filtering can sharpen targeting for construction companies far more cheaply than relying on location settings alone. We usually combine both.

How To Build a Negative Keyword List#

Building a negative keyword list is a practical job, not a guessing game. Here is the process we use on every construction Google Ads account.

Step 1: Start With a Seed List

Begin with the obvious groups above. A solid construction negative keyword list should have 50 to 100 terms before a single campaign goes live. That seed list catches the most common irrelevant searches from day one.

Step 2: Use the Google Ads Search Terms Report

The Google Ads search terms report shows the actual search queries that triggered your ads. This is the single most useful tool for finding negative keywords. Real search terms beat any amount of guessing.

Review the search terms report at least every month. Look for queries with no commercial intent, then add them as negatives. Regularly reviewing search term reports is how you find the negatives you could never have predicted.

Step 3: Use the Google Ads Keyword Planner

The Google Ads Keyword Planner helps you spot related keywords and variations you may want to exclude. Tools like Keywordtool.io can do the same job. Both surface potential negative keywords around your core terms.

Step 4: Group and Label Your Negatives

Sort every negative into the categories above. Clear groups make the list easy to read, easy to expand, and easy to hand over to anyone else managing the account.

Step 5: Build Shared Negative Keyword Lists

Shared negative keyword lists let you apply one set of negatives across multiple campaigns at once. Build a core construction list, apply it everywhere, then add campaign-specific negatives on top. This keeps your whole Google Ads account consistent while filtering out the junk.

Negative Keyword Match Types Explained#

Negative keywords use three match types, and getting them right stops you blocking good searches by mistake.

Broad Match Negatives

A broad match negative blocks a search only when it contains every word in your negative keyword, in any order. Broad match negatives do not block close variants, synonyms or misspellings. So a broad match negative for “cheap fence” blocks “cheap fence panels” but not “cheap fencing”.

Negative Phrase Match

Negative phrase match blocks any search containing your phrase in the same word order. A phrase match negative for “second hand” blocks “second hand scaffold” and “buy second hand parts”, but not “hand second opinion”.

Negative Exact Match

A negative exact match blocks only the exact search term, with no extra words. Use exact match negatives when a term is fine in some searches but not on its own. Blocking “free” as exact match stops “free” but keeps “free standing platform”, which may be a real product search.

Match the match type to the risk. Broad and phrase negatives clear out groups of waste. Exact negatives handle the careful, one-off cases.

A Starter Negative Keyword List for Construction#

Here is a starter negative keyword list you can copy into a construction Google Ads account today. Treat it as a base, then tailor it to your services.

Job seekers: jobs, job, career, careers, vacancy, hiring, salary, apprentice, apprenticeship, recruitment, cv, employment.

DIY and education: diy, how to, tutorial, guide, tips, youtube, meaning, definition, history, step by step.

Bargain hunters: cheap, cheapest, free, budget, discount, bargain, second hand, used, low cost.

Suppliers and materials: for sale, wholesale, supplier, buy online, spare parts, materials, hire, rental.

Research and study: course, courses, qualification, degree, dissertation, statistics, regulations meaning.

This list alone removes a large share of the irrelevant searches that drain construction accounts. We keep a longer version for clients and tailor it to each firm’s trades and region.

Negative Keywords and Broad Match Keywords#

Negative keywords matter most when you run broad match keywords. Broad match keywords reach the widest set of searches, which is useful for finding new keywords, but they also pull in the most irrelevant searches. Negative keywords are how you keep broad match keywords under control.

Think of it as a balance. Broad match keywords open the door to relevant searches you had not thought of. Negative keywords close the door on the irrelevant searches that come through with them. Run broad match keywords without a strong negative keyword list and you will waste a large share of your google ads budget on searches that never convert.

We often start a new construction account on phrase match and exact match keywords, then test broad match keywords once the negative keyword list is mature. That order keeps wasted ad spend low while the account learns.

How Negative Keywords Improve Ad Relevance and Quality Score

Negative keywords do more than save money. They improve ad relevance, because your ads stop showing for searches they were never meant to answer. When your ads only appear for relevant searches, more people click, and a higher click through rate lifts your Quality Score.

A better Quality Score lowers your cost per click across the google ads campaign. So a good negative keyword list pays twice: it cuts wasted spend on irrelevant searches, and it makes the relevant clicks cheaper. Few changes in a google ads account deliver both at once.

Account-Level and Campaign-Level Negative Keywords

You can add negative keywords at two levels. Campaign-level negative keywords apply to a single google ads campaign. Account-level negative keywords, applied through shared negative keyword lists, apply across every relevant campaign at once.

Use account-level negatives for the universal waste: job searches, DIY queries and bargain terms that no construction campaign wants. Use campaign-level negatives for the specific searches that are fine in one campaign but not another. This two-tier setup keeps a large google ads account tidy as it grows.

How To Maintain Your Negative Keyword List#

A negative keyword list is a living document. New irrelevant search patterns appear every month as Google matches your keywords to fresh queries.

Set a monthly schedule to review the search terms report and add new negatives. After major Google Ads changes, or when you launch new keywords, check more often. Negative keywords ensure your spend stays focused as the account grows.

Watch for over-blocking too. If conversions drop after you add negatives, check that you have not blocked a term your buyers actually use. The goal is to remove waste, not real demand.

Common Mistakes With Construction Negative Keywords#

The most common mistake is having no negative keyword list at all. The second is building one once and never touching it again.

Other frequent mistakes include blocking “training” or “repair” across the whole account when those are services you sell, using only broad match negatives and missing close variants, and forgetting to apply shared negative keyword lists to new campaigns. Each one quietly lets wasted spend back in.

We see these patterns constantly when we audit construction PPC accounts. They are simple to fix once you know what to look for.

A Real Construction Example#

Here is how this plays out on a real account. We took over a google ads campaign for a commercial roofing contractor. The campaign used broad match keywords like “commercial roofing” and “roof repair”, with almost no negative keywords in place.

The search terms report told the story fast. The account was paying for “roofing jobs”, “roofing apprenticeship”, “roofing courses”, “cheap roof repair”, “how to repair a roof” and “DIY roof”. Every one of those searches was spending money. None of them was a buyer. Roughly half the google ads budget was going to irrelevant searches.

We built a negative keyword list in stages. First, account-level negatives for the universal waste: jobs, careers, salary, apprenticeship, cheap, free, DIY, how to and course. Then campaign-level negatives for the searches specific to roofing, such as “felt”, “shingles” and “tiles for sale”, because the client installed systems and did not sell materials.

Within a month, wasted ad spend dropped sharply, the click through rate rose, and the cost per qualified lead fell. We did not change the keywords, the bids or the ad copy. The negative keywords alone moved the numbers. That is why we treat the negative keyword list as the first job on any construction account, not an afterthought.

Frequently Asked Questions#

What Are Examples of Negative Keywords for Construction?

Common examples include “jobs”, “salary”, “apprenticeship”, “cheap”, “free”, “diy”, “how to”, “for sale” and “second hand”. These block job seekers, bargain hunters and DIY users from triggering your construction ads.

What Are Popular Construction Keywords To Protect With Negatives?

High-value construction keywords like “commercial roofing”, “groundworks contractor” and “height safety installation” are worth protecting. Broad match can stretch them to “roofing jobs” or “cheap roofing”, so negatives keep the spend on buyers.

How Do I Build a Negative Keyword List for a Construction Account?

Start with a seed list of 50 to 100 negatives grouped by intent, then use the Google Ads search terms report each month to add the real irrelevant searches that appear. Apply the core list as a shared negative keyword list across campaigns.

What Should Negative Keywords Be in a Google Ads Campaign?

Negative keywords should be the words that signal no buying intent for your services: job searches, DIY and how-to queries, bargain terms, materials and supplier searches, and locations or trades you do not cover.

How Often Should I Review Negative Keywords?

Review your negative keyword list at least once a month using the search terms report, and more often after launching new keywords or campaigns. New irrelevant search patterns appear constantly.

Stop Wasting Budget on the Wrong Searches#

Negative keywords are the cheapest, fastest win in most construction Google Ads accounts. A focused negative keyword list cuts wasted spend, lifts your click through rate, and points every pound at people who can actually buy.

If you want a second opinion on where your construction campaigns are leaking budget, our team runs construction PPC audits that start with exactly this. Learn more about our work as a construction digital marketing agency, see how we run accounts as a Google Ads agency in Manchester, or read more about our wider PPC services. We will tell you honestly what we would change and what we would leave alone.