If you run Google Ads for a plumbing company in West Jordan, some of your clicks come from people who will never book a job. They want plumbing work as an employee, a how-to video, or a part for a weekend project. Negative keywords keep your ads away from those searches. Here is why the wrong searches appear, how to find them, and how to block them without cutting off real customers.
Why Plumbing Ads Show Up for the Wrong Searches
The cause sits in how Google connects a search to your ad. A keyword is the word or phrase you choose to target, while a search term is what a person actually types. When someone searches, the match type on your keyword decides how close the search must be before your ad can enter the auction. Google's page on keyword matching options describes all three types.
Broad match is the default. It lets your ad enter auctions for searches related to your keyword, including searches that don't contain its direct meaning. It also weighs signals such as the person's recent searches and your landing page content. Phrase match requires the search to include your keyword's meaning, and exact match requires the same meaning or intent.
So a broad keyword like plumber can put your ad in front of searches about plumbing careers, apprenticeship training or replacement parts, because they are related in meaning. Broad match is doing its job, and negatives are how you narrow it.
A West Jordan Scenario You Might Recognize
Picture a homeowner in West Jordan whose kitchen faucet starts dripping on a Saturday morning. She searches her phone for instructions on replacing a faucet cartridge herself. A local plumbing company targets faucet repair in broad match, and her search is related in meaning, so its ad appears near the top. She taps it, finds a service page instead of a video, and leaves.
Down the street, a young man who just finished school searches for plumbing apprenticeships, and the company's broad plumber keyword puts the same ad in front of him. He taps it hoping to find a hiring page. Neither visitor will book a service call, yet the company pays for both clicks, because Google Ads charges advertisers when someone clicks an ad.
Later that afternoon, a family with a leaking water heater searches for a plumber, which is the search the company actually wants. For the owner, the lesson is that the searches behind your clicks matter as much as the keywords you selected.
What the Search Terms Report Reveals
The search terms report lists the actual searches that triggered your ads and shows how each one performed. In your Google Ads account, open Campaigns, then Insights and reports, then Search terms. Turn on the Keyword column to see which of your keywords matched each search. The Match type column shows how closely they matched.
In a plumbing account, irrelevant searches usually fall into a few groups:
- Job seekers: searches that mention jobs, hiring, apprenticeships, careers or training programs.
- DIY searchers: searches that begin with how to, or mention videos, tutorials or doing it yourself.
- Parts shoppers: searches for fittings, supply stores, replacement cartridges or other materials to purchase.
Google notes that some low-volume searches are left out of the report for privacy reasons, but it still shows enough to reveal patterns.
How Negative Keywords Block the Wrong Searches
Negative keywords tell Google not to show your ad when a search contains certain words. According to Google's help page on negative keywords, they use the same three match types, but they behave differently:
- Negative broad match: your ad won't show if the search contains all of your negative terms, in any order.
- Negative phrase match: your ad won't show if the search contains your terms in the same order, even with additional words around them.
- Negative exact match: your ad is blocked only when the search matches your terms exactly, with no additional words.
The most important difference is that negative keywords don't match close variants. Block job, and a search for jobs can still trigger your ad, so add plurals and synonyms yourself. Google does say that negative keywords automatically account for capitalization and misspellings, so you can skip those.
Build Negative Keyword Lists by Theme
Adding negatives one campaign at a time gets messy. Google's guide to negative keyword lists recommends using the search terms report for ideas and organizing words by theme. You can apply one list to several campaigns, and a word you add later reaches every campaign sharing it.
A plumbing account might begin with lists like these:
- Employment: jobs, job, hiring, careers, apprenticeship, apprenticeships, training.
- DIY and instructions: how to, diy, video, videos, tutorial, yourself.
- Parts and supply: supply, supplies, wholesale, fittings.
- Work you don't offer: any service your company doesn't provide, such as irrigation or well pumps.
Keeping each list to one theme makes it easy to see what you blocked and why. It also makes it simple to remove a word that starts blocking valuable searches.
A Weekly Check You Can Do Yourself
Once a week, work through these steps:
- Open the report: set the search terms report to the previous week and sort by clicks.
- Mark the misses: flag any search that could never realistically turn into a booked job.
- Find the source: use the Keyword column to see which of your keywords allowed it in.
- Add the negative: put the unwanted word on the right themed list, with its plural and common synonyms.
- Check for overlap: confirm the new negative doesn't conflict with a keyword you're targeting.
Google warns in its guide to adding negative keywords that overlapping negatives and keywords will prevent your ad from showing, so that final step protects the searches you want.
Mistakes to Avoid
A few common habits undo this work or quietly hide your ads from real customers.
- Blocking your own keywords: a negative that overlaps a keyword you target can stop that ad from showing entirely.
- Overdoing it: Google cautions that using too many negative keywords can mean your ads reach fewer customers.
- Blocking words with two meanings: a word like parts can appear in searches from homeowners who want a repair, not a part to purchase.
- Forgetting the plurals: since negatives ignore close variants, job and jobs need separate entries.
- Setting it once and walking away: search behavior changes, and new campaigns may not have your lists attached.
- Reacting to one unusual search: a single strange search is not a pattern, so review a full week before blocking.
When to Bring in a Marketing Partner
A weekly check is manageable with one or two campaigns. It gets harder when you manage several campaigns across different services, or when your search terms report stretches to hundreds of rows. The same is true when job-seeker calls keep reaching your office. Help is also worth it when you can't tell why a keyword keeps matching unrelated searches. The same applies when you're unsure whether to tighten a match type or add a negative.
Those decisions balance reach against relevance. Custom Marketing Solutions offers paid ads management for home service businesses, including a dedicated page for plumbing companies. A good partner reviews your search terms with you, keeps your lists current, and explains each change.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between a keyword and a search term?
A keyword is what you add to your campaign. A search term is what a person types into Google, and your match types decide which search terms can trigger your ad.
Should I stop using broad match?
Not necessarily. Broad match reaches useful searches you might not have considered, and negative keywords let you keep that reach while filtering out searches that will never become jobs.
How many negatives should I add?
There is no correct number. Base them on what your search terms report shows, keeping in mind Google's warning that too many can reduce your reach.
Do negatives work the same in every campaign type?
No. Google's help pages explain that negatives work differently in Display and Video campaigns. This guide covers Search campaigns.
Your Next Step With Custom Marketing Solutions
Before you make changes, gather a few things. Note which campaigns you run and the keywords in each one. List the services you offer and the ones you don't. Write down any calls or form leads from job seekers or parts shoppers, since those point to searches worth blocking. If someone else built your account, find out who has administrator access. If you can, download a recent copy of your search terms report as well.
With that information ready, book a strategy call with Custom Marketing Solutions. Use the call to review your search terms report together, choose the searches worth blocking, and see how negative keywords fit the rest of your West Jordan advertising plan.