# Negative match types, levels and limits Everything here was checked against Google's live help and developer pages on 2026-10-17. Limits and menu paths change, so re-check the pages in `sources.yaml` before quoting a number to a user. ## Match types: the traps Google's "About negative keywords" page defines negative broad, phrase and exact with examples; read it live when a user asks what each one does. The traps that page states, and the ones seen in practice: - Negatives do not match close variants or other expansions. Add singular and plural forms and synonyms yourself (`job` and `jobs`, `course` and `courses`, `cv` and `resume`). - The live page says negatives automatically account for casing and misspellings. Older guidance said the opposite, and the conflict script matches literal words only, so spot-check the next search terms report for misspelled variants still getting clicks and look for misspelled forms among converting terms before approving. - A one-word broad negative and a one-word phrase negative block the same searches. - Long searches: Google says an ad might still show for a search longer than 16 words when the negative's word comes after the 16th word. Treat such words as possibly not blocked. - Symbols: `&`, accent marks and `*` are allowed. `cafe` and `café` are two different negatives, and `socks & shoes` is different from `socks and shoes`. Periods are ignored. A `+` is usually ignored, except at the end of a word such as `C++`. Commas and some other symbols cause an error; the editor command warns on the ones Google lists. - Positive keywords and negatives behave differently. A phrase or exact keyword can match searches with the same meaning, while a negative only blocks the words it contains. A negative that does not literally contain a converting search's words cannot block it, and a negative that does contain them blocks it even if you meant something else. - Display and Video: all negatives are treated as broad, the match type cannot be changed, matching is less precise than on Search, and at most 1,000 negatives are considered. ## Levels - Ad group negative: applies to one ad group. Use it to route searches between ad groups in the same campaign. It does nothing for the campaign's other ad groups, so it is the wrong level for irrelevant traffic. - Campaign negative: applies to one campaign. Use it for searches that are wrong for this campaign but right for another (brand names in non-brand campaigns, another campaign's product, Shopping priority routing). - Negative keyword list (shared list): created once in the shared library and applied to many campaigns. Changes to a list apply to every campaign that uses it. A list still used by a campaign cannot be removed until it is detached. - Manager account lists: lists created in a manager account are created and edited in the manager's shared library and appear in the shared library of every client account by default; they are applied from the client account's shared library. - Account-level negatives: one list that applies automatically to all eligible search and shopping inventory in relevant campaign types, Performance Max included. Found in the account settings under "Negative keywords" (path from the help page; confirm in the live interface). ## Limits checked on 2026-10-17 - Negative keywords per campaign: 10,000. - Negative keyword lists: 20 per account. A manager account can have 20, and each client account can have 20 of its own. - Keywords per negative keyword list: 5,000. Google notes this is subject to change and some lists can hold more; do not plan on it. - A list can be applied to up to 1,000 campaigns at one time ("Add negative keywords to campaigns" page). - Account-level negatives: 1,000. - Display and Video campaigns: at most 1,000 negatives are considered. - Campaign targeting items, which include campaign-level negatives: one million per account. Ad group targeting items: 20,000 per ad group. - Keyword text: at most 80 characters and 10 words (Google Ads API `KeywordInfo.text` reference; the system limits page lists the 80-character limit). Long phrase or exact negatives built from search terms can exceed the word limit. - Brand lists: 10,000 per account, 10 per campaign, 5,000 brands per list. When a list or the account-level list is near its limit, remove redundant entries first (the conflicts command prints them) before creating another list. ## Performance Max - Campaign-level negative keywords can be added to a Performance Max campaign, typed one per line or chosen from an existing negative keyword list. The match type is set with the same symbols as Search. - Performance Max negatives apply to Search and Shopping inventory only. Display and Video placements are excluded through excluded content keywords in the content suitability settings, not keyword negatives. - Account-level negatives apply to Performance Max automatically. - The Performance Max search terms report is separate: in the Search terms report, choose "Search terms and landing pages for Performance Max". Data goes back to March 2023. Google advises weighting conversions over clicks and impressions there because some conversions happen without a direct click. - Performance Max has no ad groups. Ad group routing does not exist; use campaign negatives, lists, account-level negatives and brand exclusions. - Exact match keywords identical to a search take priority over Performance Max. Phrase and broad keywords share priority with identical Performance Max search themes. - A campaign negative in a Search campaign does not block the same search in Performance Max. When a theme is wrong everywhere, put it in a list both campaign types use or in the account-level list. - Google Ads Editor 2.10 added campaign-level negative keywords for Performance Max; 2.11 added campaign-level negative keyword lists for Performance Max and a Performance Max search term report. Check the user's Editor version before planning an Editor import for these. ## Shopping - Standard Shopping has no positive keywords, so there is nothing for a CONFLICT line to find. Run the conflict check with `--terms` and the existing negatives; CONVERTING, DUPLICATE, REDUNDANT and IMPACT still apply. - Campaign priority (Low, Medium or High; Low by default) decides which Standard Shopping campaign bids when several advertise the same product: the highest priority bids, and the next one takes over when its budget runs out (help page on campaign priority, 2026-10-17). - Common practice, not a Google rule: negatives in the higher-priority campaign push the searches they match down to the next priority, which is how queries are routed between priority tiers. These routing negatives are campaign-level. Never put them in a list shared with the other tiers or in the account-level list: the account-level list applies to shopping inventory too, so the search would be blocked in every tier. - Google Ads Editor 2.13 release notes list AI Max capabilities for Shopping campaigns, including URL exclusions and brand list controls. Check whether AI Max is on for the Shopping campaign before planning brand traffic changes, and prefer brand lists there over long keyword negative lists, as for Search. ## Brand exclusions and AI Max - Brand exclusions keep a campaign from serving on branded searches you want to avoid, your own brand or other brands, chosen from Google's brand list. Google says they help block brand misspellings and brand searches in other languages, which keyword negatives would need many entries for. - Performance Max: brand exclusions apply to Search, Shopping and YouTube search inventory. A setting allows Shopping ads to keep showing on searches that mention excluded brands. Path for an existing campaign: campaign Settings, Additional settings, Brand exclusions (help page, 2026-10-17). - Search: from 27 May 2025 brand settings for Search campaigns moved into the AI Max settings panel. To add a new brand list to a Search campaign, AI Max has to be turned on for that campaign. Existing brand settings keep working outside AI Max, and their brands can still be edited or removed. - Google's own rule of thumb for AI Max (developer guide updated 2026-10-15): a bad query gets a negative keyword (ad group or campaign level), bad cannibalisation between campaigns gets a brand exclusion (campaign level), and a bad landing page gets a URL exclusion. - AI Max search terms show their match source. In the API, `segments.search_term_match_source` separates AI Max matches from keyword matches; the most detailed AI Max view is `ai_max_search_term_ad_combination_view`. ## Recommendations that touch negatives - "Remove conflicting negative keywords" and "Add broad match keywords" are both on Google's list of recommendations that can be applied automatically (2026-10-17). If auto-apply is on, Google can remove a negative placed on purpose (for example an exact routing negative) or add broad keywords that bring in new search terms. - Seen in practice: broad copies of every phrase keyword appeared in an account that never added broad keywords, matching the broad match recommendation being auto-applied, and new irrelevant searches started the same day. Check the auto-apply settings and the change history whenever search terms suddenly widen.