If you have been using Performance Max campaigns for a while, then you will remember how frustrating and limiting the process of adding Performance Max negative keywords was. Advertisers only had the option of adding account-level negative keywords, which was limiting in more ways than one.
And to add campaign-level PMax negative keywords, advertisers had to contact and instruct Google’s support team directly.
Starting December 2024, Google started rolling out a feature where advertisers could add negative keywords to PMax campaigns from their Google Ads account. Now the feature is fully rolled out and advertisers can add negative keywords directly at the campaign level without Google’s intervention.
Further, In March 2025, Google officially increased the maximum number of PMax negative keywords in a campaign from 100 to 10,000. Google also released the PMax Search Terms Report that same month.
All of these developments give advertisers greater control over where their ads appear, avoiding irrelevant traffic and a wasted budget.
To make the most of these updates, it’s essential to follow key Performance Max best practices that help you apply Performance Max negative keywords strategically without restricting valuable traffic.
In this guide, we will walk you through exactly how to navigate to your Performance Max campaign, access the Negative Keywords section, create and apply Negative Keyword Lists, and implement brand exclusions. We will also discuss the limitations, match types, and best practices for monitoring performance.
Let’s get started.
Table of Contents
Understanding Performance Max Campaigns
PMax campaigns are automated campaigns that display across multiple Google channels such as Search, Display, Shopping, YouTube, Gmail and Maps. They use machine learning to optimize your PMax campaigns, serving them to the best possible leads.
They allow advertisers to access Google’s entire advertising network from a single campaign—all while optimizing for conversions and value.
Performance Max campaigns have the potential to yield highly targeted and effective results when used with negative keywords. Applying negative keywords to PMax campaigns ensures your ads appear only for the most targeted search terms. Negative keywords display your ads only to the most high-intent audiences, improving the odds of receiving clicks each time the search engine displays your ad.
To further enhance campaign effectiveness, it is beneficial to regularly review your PMax reporting data. This practice helps identify underperforming search queries and refine your Performance Max negative keywords lists accordingly.
How to Add Negative Keywords to Performance Max Campaigns?
Adding account-level negative keywords means excluding specific search terms from all your ad campaigns within your Google Ads account. This means that it is not limited to just PMax campaigns, it applies to any sort of campaign running in your account (Search, Display, Shopping Ads, etc.)
Negative keywords at the account level allow you to exclude your campaigns from search terms not in line with your brand or advertising goals.
Use account-level negative keywords for broad exclusions, i.e., when you need to block certain terms across all campaigns.
Method 1: How to Add Negative Keywords at the Account-Level in Performance Max? (Step-by-Step)
Before adding negative keywords, it is important to strategically combine keyword research with search terms analysis. Through your keyword research, start by identifying keywords you want your ads to show for. This will give you an idea about the keywords you want to target. Then, analyze your Search Terms Report to uncover irrelevant terms that have triggered your ads. Combining these two approaches you will have a negative keywords list.
After completing your research and preparing the list of negative keywords Performance Max, you need to sign into your Google Ads account. Follow the steps below to add your list on an account-level:
Step 1: In your Google Ads account, click on “Admin” and then “Account Settings”. Find “Negative Keywords” and click on it.
Step 2: The system will prompt you to add a negative keywords list applicable to Search, Shopping, App, and Performance Max Campaigns. You can add up to 1,000 negative keywords for all eligible campaigns.
Benefits of Account-Level Keywords
- If you add account-level negative keywords, you don’t have to individually add the same keywords for each campaign you are running. It centralizes the management and ensures consistent application to all campaign types.
- By using a single list, you save time and effort, especially when running multiple campaigns.
| Pro Tip: Avoid excessive use of account-level negatives in complex setups, as applying them universally across varied campaign types (like brand vs. competitor campaigns) can unintentionally block valuable traffic and limit targeting precision. |
Method 2: How to Add Campaign-Level Negative Keywords to PMax? (Step-by-Step)
As the name suggests, you add campaign-level keywords at the campaign level. Campaign-level PMax negative keywords prevent ads from appearing for irrelevant search queries across an entire ad campaign. You can add them to individual or multiple campaigns.
Previously, advertisers had to contact Google’s support team to add PMax negative keywords at the campaign level. Now, advertisers can use the self-serve feature which allows them directly manage and add PMax negative keywords without Google Support.
Another recent development (as of March 25’) is that Google has officially increased the limit of negative keywords per campaign from 100 to 10,000.
Use campaign-level negative keywords for precision. When you tailor negative keywords performance max to specific campaigns or marketing objectives, these keywords offer more control.
Important: Negative keywords in Performance Max campaigns apply exclusively to Search and Shopping inventory.
Step 1: To add negative keywords at the campaign level, open your Google Ads account and click on “Audiences, keywords, and content” and then click on “keywords”:
Step 2: Type in your campaign name and select it:
Step 3: Next, click on “ + Negative Keywords”
Step 4: Add your negative keywords in the space provided and click on “Save”.
Important: Negative keyword lists are not currently supported for use in Performance Max campaigns.
| Pro Tip: “Can I use both types of negative keywords: Account-Level & Campaign Level”? Yes, you can. Use account-level for board level exclusions, and campaign level to fine targeting within each campaign. |
Benefits of Adding Performance Max Negative Keywords to Your Campaigns
Let’s explore the benefits of adding negative keywords to Performance Max campaigns. This helps reduce wasted spend and improves targeting efficiency.
Improved Targeting
Negative keywords ensure that your ads appear only to those actively searching for the products or services you are offering. They are a way of avoiding irrelevant audiences, low intent users, researchers, competitor focused users, and mismatched demographics or interests.
PMax offers limited direct control over keyword targeting compared to traditional campaigns. Applying PMax negative keywords to your campaigns ensures better relevance and efficiency in ad delivery.
Thus, they help target a focused audience more likely to convert, improving your conversion rates.
Cost Efficiency
When your PMax campaigns are only shown to highly relevant users, you eliminate wasted ad spend. You avoid uninterested clicks from those users that might be browsing, researching or searching for something else.
This in turn lowers your Cost-Per-Click (CPC) because you are not paying for clicks from people who are unlikely to convert. It also reduces the cost per conversion (CPA) by reducing wasted clicks on non-converting users.
This is an especially important benefit because in PMax you cannot set your CPC the way you can in other Standard Search or Shopping campaigns.
Enhanced Ad Performance
When your ads are only served to users with relevant intent, negative keywords help in increasing ad performance.
You will experience higher Click-Through Rates (CTR) and improved conversion rates by filtering out irrelevant queries and users.
By reducing noise from irrelevant clicks, you are feeding better quality data to Google’s AI–allowing PMax campaigns to optimize faster and more accurately over time.
Best Practices for Adding PMax Negative Keywords
To get the best results, it’s important to add negative keywords to Performance Max campaigns with a clear strategy in mind. This helps prevent irrelevant traffic while maintaining the reach and effectiveness of your ads.
Using Broad Match Types
When you use broad match negative keywords, your ads will only be excluded if the search query contains all of the individual words in your negative keyword, regardless of the order.
However, if the search query only includes some of the words in your negative keyword, there is a chance your ad still might appear.
For example:
- Negative broad match keyword: cheap running shoes
Your ad won’t show for:
- buy cheap running shoes
- running shoes that are cheap
Your ad may still show for:
- cheap shoes
- affordable running sneakers
Broad match keywords cast a wider net but must be used with caution, they can sometimes unintentionally block relevant traffic if used too aggressively. Combine them with phrases or exact match keywords for better results. Regularly review your Search Terms Report to check any variations you might have missed.
Regularly Updating Keyword List
Always ensure that you are refreshing your Performance Max negative keywords list periodically. This is because trends and search terms keep evolving based on customer demands. Ensuring that you keep your negative keyword list as updated as possible is essential.
Update your keyword list periodically based on market trends and customer dynamics. Failing to keep up with trends may make you lose relevant traffic as your negative keyword becomes relevant due to ongoing trends.
Review Search Terms Report For Search & Shopping Campaigns
If you are running campaigns for similar products then you can also check the Search Terms Report for Search & Shopping campaigns for more data.
Remember that PMax shares inventory with both of these channels so it can be beneficial for you to review their Search Terms Report.
Avoiding Common Mistakes
If you are too exhaustive in defining your negative keywords, you may inadvertently exclude your ads from relevant search queries. It is important to understand how the keywords’ string matches the search terms to determine inclusion or exclusion.
Be aware of navigating through synonyms and variations. These concepts do not apply to negative keywords, so even if you do not wish an ad to rank for “blue tees,” it may still rank for “blue shirts.” Specifying all the variations for the search terms you absolutely want your ad excluded from may get extremely exhaustive.
Don’t delay adding negative keywords. Once your campaign is out of the learning stage, access your Search Terms Report and start adding identified keywords to avoid wasting your budget.
Focus on Highly Relevant Negative Keywords Only
Avoid using negative keywords too aggressively and adding one too many of them at once. If you add a large volume of Performance Max negative keywords, you might inadvertently block valuable traffic and hurt your campaigns reach. Test your negative keywords before adding more.
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Tools for Identifying Negative Keywords
Yes, you can access the Search Terms Report to narrow down negative keywords. But what other methods are out there?
There are certain tools that can help with this process:
Opteo
Opteo is a Google Ads management tool.
One of the features included in it called N-Gram Finder provides access to negative keywords for your PMax campaigns (or any other Google Ads campaigns).
It analyzes search query data to identify recurring word patterns that may be underperforming or irrelevant to your PMax campaign. You can then create a negative keywords list within minutes. Opteo offers a 14-day free trial and their pricing starts from $129/mo.
Google Keyword Planner
Google Keyword Planner is a free tool included in your Google Ads subscription. You can use this tool to find negative keywords ideas for your list by exploring related search terms and identifying those irrelevant to your business.
Google Trends
Google Trends is another free tool to understand trending and seasonal variations in search queries. Identify queries or search terms that may become irrelevant eventually and adjust your list accordingly.
Word Stream’s Keyword Free Tool
WordStream offers a free keyword tool to help identify negative keywords. Enter a keyword or website URL to get relevant keyword results according to industry and location. Then, take note of the keywords not relevant to your business and create your negative keywords list.
Once you have generated a list of negative keywords based on your business terms–ensure you review and refine the lists regularly. It should alight with your campaign goals.
Conclusion
Negative keywords work in the inverse mechanism of keywords—they drive traffic away from your ads. This may sound counterproductive, but it helps ensure that only the most relevant traffic arrives at your landing pages.
It helps boost conversions, knowing that only the most purchase-intending crowd will be visiting your website. With that said, care is essential when working with Performance Max negative keywords, lest you risk exclusion even for the relevant search queries.
Use the insight shared in this blog to inform your negative keyword campaigns on Google with flair and a high possibility of success. Additionally, consider exploring PMax search themes for further optimization strategies in your Performance Max campaigns.
FAQs
Can you add negative keywords to Performance Max campaigns?
Yes, negative keywords can now be added to Performance Max campaigns at both the campaign and account level. This gives advertisers greater control over traffic quality and brand safety.
How do I add negative keywords to a Performance Max campaign in Google Ads?
To add campaign-level negative keywords, navigate to your campaign settings in Google Ads, select ‘Negative Keywords’, and input your desired keywords.
To add account-level negative keywords, navigate to account settings, look for ‘Negative Keywords’ and add your keywords.
How can I identify which negative keywords to add to my Performance Max campaign?
Access your Search Terms Report, use Google Keyword Planner, Opteo, WordStream’s free tool, and Google Trends to analyze search terms and exclude irrelevant keywords.
How do negative keywords in Performance Max campaigns differ from those in Search campaigns?
Negative keywords in PMax campaigns help refine targeting across multiple channels, while in Search campaigns, they focus on excluding specific search queries.
(Explore – Performance Max Vs Search Campaign: Key Differences)
How can I use shared negative keyword lists across multiple Performance Max campaigns?
Create a shared negative keyword list in Google Ads and apply it at the account level.
Why should I use negative keywords in my Performance Max campaigns?
Negative keywords in PMax campaigns help improve targeting, reduce wasted ad spend, and enhance overall campaign performance by excluding irrelevant traffic.
Does Google Performance Max use keywords?
No, PMax does not use keywords the way traditional Search campaigns do. It uses audience signals, assets, search themes and relies on Google AI optimize your ad campaigns. It does use negative keywords though.
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