Negative keywords by funnel stage stop your top-of-funnel ad from showing to someone ready to buy, and stop your bottom-of-funnel ad from showing to someone just researching — each stage needs its own negative list, not one generic list for everything. Without that, your campaigns compete against each other and budget leaks into searches that don't match that specific ad's intent. This guide shows how to build the right list for top, middle and bottom of funnel, and how to correctly negate a review campaign.
Negative keyword: a term you add to a campaign to stop your ad from showing when it appears in a search. It's the opposite of positive targeting — instead of telling Google where to show up, you tell it where not to show up, refining whatever intent remains.
This guide assumes you already know the basics — negative match types, universal lists and shared lists. If you don't have that foundation yet, it's worth reading the complete Google Ads negative keywords guide before applying the funnel-stage segmentation below.
Why one negative keyword list doesn't work for every campaign
When an affiliate splits campaigns by funnel stage — top, middle, bottom — but reuses the same negative keyword list across all of them, they recreate the exact problem the split was supposed to fix. The top-of-funnel campaign, for instance, needs to negate transactional terms so it doesn't compete with its own bottom-of-funnel campaign for the same expensive click. The bottom-of-funnel campaign needs to negate informational terms so it doesn't pay for clicks from curious searchers who were never going to buy.
This overlap, where your own campaigns compete against each other (called cannibalization), inflates CPC inside Google's internal auction and distorts your metrics — it becomes impossible to tell whether a bottom-of-funnel campaign is underperforming or just paying too much because a top-of-funnel campaign is bidding in the same auction.
Negative keyword list for top-of-funnel campaigns
At the top of the funnel, the goal is to show up only for people discovering the problem — so negate anything that signals purchase intent or advanced comparison.
- buy, price, cost, discount, coupon, free shipping — transactional terms that belong at the bottom of the funnel.
- best, vs, comparison, review, rating — comparative terms that belong in the middle of the funnel.
- free, cracked, torrent — traffic that will never convert into a paid sale.
- scam, complaint, does it actually work — searches from people who are already suspicious and need more nurturing before a top-of-funnel ad.
Negative keyword list for middle-of-funnel campaigns
In the middle of the funnel, the visitor already knows a solution exists and is comparing options — negate both extremes: people who don't know about the problem yet and people who already decided to buy.
- what is, why, symptoms, causes — informational searches that belong at the top of the funnel.
- buy now, price, coupon, free shipping — transactional searches that belong at the bottom of the funnel.
- free, download, pdf — people looking for free content rarely compare in order to buy.
- job, career, hiring, resume — common noise when the product name overlaps with employment terms.
Negative keyword list for bottom-of-funnel campaigns
At the bottom of the funnel, every click is expensive because intent is high — negate aggressively anything that isn't an immediate purchase.
- what is, how does it work, symptoms, causes — top-of-funnel informational searches.
- best, vs, compare, alternative to — middle-of-funnel comparative searches (unless the campaign is specifically a comparison campaign).
- free, free trial, free download, free course — a clear signal the searcher won't pay.
- complaint, scam, is it legit, reviews — negate only if the campaign is direct-sale; these terms belong to the review strategy covered below.
- job, hiring, distributor, reseller, how to become an affiliate — searches from people who want to sell the product, not buy it.
Common trap: negating 'review' and 'scam' across every campaign with no exceptions. It feels cautious, but it cuts off exactly the traffic a review campaign was built to capture — people searching those terms are at the bottom of the funnel and ready to buy, they just need reassurance first.
Negative keyword strategy for review pages
The review campaign is an exception to the rules above: it exists specifically to capture people searching 'is it legit', 'does [product] actually work' or '[product] complaints'. Here the negation logic flips — instead of blocking these terms, you keep them as positive keywords and negate something else.
- Negate job and distribution searches: hiring, resume, how to become a reseller, official distributor.
- Negate direct competitor brand names when the review covers a specific product and you don't want to pay for third-party brand traffic without authorization.
- Negate post-purchase support terms: how to cancel, refund, customer service, phone number — people who already bought don't need to click an ad, and that click just costs money.
- Keep as positive keywords: scam, complaints, is it legit, is it worth it, review, opinion — these are exactly the searches the review page was built to answer with an honest evaluation and a purchase recommendation.
This inversion only works if the review presell is an actual review — with pros, cons and a final recommendation. If the ad promises 'is it legit?' and the page just pushes the product with no real analysis, Quality Score drops and bounce rate climbs, because the ad's promise doesn't match the page's experience.
How AdsWords automates negation by funnel stage
Building this list by hand for top, middle, bottom and review — and reviewing it every week — is exactly the kind of task affiliates put off until budget starts leaking. AdsWords is AdsX's feature that generates the negative keyword list automatically with AI, factoring in the product, the campaign strategy (top, middle, bottom or review) and the language — before the campaign even goes live.
In practice, that means a review campaign launches with 'scam' and 'complaints' already kept as positive keywords while the right noise gets negated, and a bottom-of-funnel campaign launches without top-of-funnel informational terms from day one. AdsWords applies the exact inversion logic described in this article, without the affiliate having to build the list term by term.
Affiliates who split negative keyword lists by funnel stage and set up the review strategy correctly typically cut wasted clicks by up to 25%, because budget stops leaking between campaigns with conflicting intents.
Frequently asked questions about negative keywords by funnel stage
Should I use account-level or campaign-level negative keywords?
Use both. An account-level negative list blocks terms that are never relevant to any campaign (jobs, pirated, free). Campaign-specific lists apply stage-level negation — top, middle, bottom or review.
Why does my bottom-of-funnel campaign get clicks from people just researching?
You're probably missing negatives for informational terms like 'what is' and 'how does it work'. Review the search terms report weekly and add any search that doesn't match purchase intent as a negative.
Is it always right to negate 'scam' or 'complaints'?
No. In direct-sale campaigns, yes — that traffic rarely buys. But in review campaigns, 'complaints' and 'is it legit' are exactly the searches you want to capture, because the page will answer that concern and convert.
How often should I review my negative keyword list?
Weekly at the start of a campaign, when the volume of new search terms is high. Once it stabilizes, a biweekly review is usually enough, alongside regular checks of the search terms report.
Conclusion
Negative keywords by funnel stage stop your own campaigns from competing against each other and keep every ad talking only to the audience it was built for. Top of funnel negates buying intent, bottom of funnel negates curiosity, and review campaigns flip that logic to capture people searching for reassurance before they buy. Build specific lists for each stage and check the search terms report every week to keep budget under control.
Let AI build your negative keyword list for you
AdsWords generates each campaign's negative keyword list automatically — by product, strategy and language. Available on every AdsX plan.