76% of UK service-business Google Ads accounts have no negative keyword strategy (DPOM's 2025 research). The consequence: 20-30% of paid spend goes to clicks that never convert, on queries that have nothing to do with what you actually sell. The fix is one of the highest-ROI hours you can spend on a paid account, and most UK SMEs never do it.
This piece is the practical negative keyword playbook for UK service businesses. Universal negatives, sector-specific additions, the search-term audit pattern. Pairs with our UK plumber Google Ads cornerstone for sector-specific application.
The 20-30% waste
The mechanism: Google Ads uses query expansion to match your keywords to broadly relevant search terms. Without negative keywords telling the algorithm what to exclude, your ads show up on:
- Job-seeker queries ("plumber jobs", "dental nurse vacancies")
- DIY content queries ("how to fix a leaking tap", "DIY boiler service")
- Parts and supplies queries ("plumbing parts wholesale", "dental tools online")
- Out-of-area queries (someone in Edinburgh searching when you serve London only)
- Competitor research queries (people looking up your competitors who probably aren't buying from you)
Each click costs you between £1 and £8 depending on your niche. None of it converts. Multiply by the volume of irrelevant clicks and the waste mounts quickly.
The universal UK service-business negative list
These six categories apply to almost every UK service-business Google Ads account:
1 · Job seekers
jobs, vacancy, vacancies, hiring, apprenticeship, training, salary, wages, course, qualifications, recruit, recruitment, employment, work for, "how to become a"
2 · DIY intent
DIY, "how to", tutorial, youtube, video, "fix yourself", "replace yourself", guide, tips, hacks
3 · Parts and supplies
parts, spares, wholesale, supplier, manufacturer, trade account, retailer (Sector-specific terms also go here: for plumbers, "valve", "pipe", "fitting" if these terms drive supply queries.)
4 · Free intent
free, no charge, complimentary, "does anyone know", advice forum (Be careful: don't block "free quote" or "free consultation" which are usually high-intent. Use phrase-match negatives carefully.)
5 · Competitor brand names
List of competitors you don't want to spend on (assuming you don't have a competitive brand-bid strategy). Sector-specific.
6 · Out-of-area locations
List of cities and regions you don't serve. Particularly important for accounts with broad geographic targeting that accidentally shows ads in cities you don't cover.
The Search Terms audit pattern
The Search Terms report in Google Ads shows you the actual queries that triggered your ads, not just the keywords you bid on. It's the source of truth for finding negatives.
The pattern:
- Open Google Ads → Keywords → Search terms
- Set the date range to the last 30 days
- Sort by cost descending (highest-spend search terms at the top)
- Review every search term that hasn't converted
- Add irrelevant ones as phrase-match negatives at the campaign or ad-group level
- Repeat monthly
The first 30 days of any new account produces the richest negative list because the algorithm is exploring widely. Mature accounts still produce 5-10 new negatives per month as Google's query matching evolves.
Phrase, exact, or broad?
For negative keywords specifically:
- Phrase match · Default. Catches the variant ("plumbing job" in phrase blocks "plumbing jobs", "part-time plumbing job", etc.)
- Exact match · Use for precision when phrase would over-block (e.g. blocking exact "competitor name" without blocking "competitor name vs" queries you might want)
- Broad match · Generally avoid for negatives. Too aggressive, blocks valuable traffic.
When negatives go wrong
Common over-negative mistakes that block valuable traffic:
- Blocking "free" without checking, kills "free quote" and "free consultation" high-intent queries
- Blocking "cost", kills "how much does X cost" queries from genuine buyers
- Blocking "cheap" without considering, kills genuine price-sensitive buyers who are still in-market
- Blocking entire location names without checking impact, can suppress legitimate local searches
The rule: phrase match by default, exact match for surgical precision, monthly review of search terms to ensure you're not blocking valuable traffic. The audit is the discipline; the negatives without the audit can backfire.