How to Succeed with Google PMax Negative Keywords


In a big announcement last week, Google Ads released a series of updates for Performance Max (PMax) campaigns. Among the most exciting changes were improvements to device and demographic targeting, as well as enhanced reporting features.
However, an update about negative keywords may not have quite lived up to the hype. Read on to learn about the change and how you can adjust your strategy to succeed.
PMax Negative Terms Limited to 100
The bummer from the announcement is that PMax negatives will be capped at 100 per campaign and won’t have the ability to leverage negative keyword lists. This may sound like a lot of terms, but to truly remove all the riff-raff, you’ll likely need a more intentional strategy.
Here are some tips on how you can get the most of those 100 PMax negative terms:
Use Brand Exclusions Where Warranted
Brand exclusions won’t catch all branded terms, but they do a good job of filtering out the majority. If you don’t want your ads showing for branded searches, applying a Brand Exclusion can easily save you over 100 negative terms.
Try Account-Level Negatives
Although account-level negatives can be risky, they can be strategically used to remove some of the most undesirable terms that you never want to target. For instance, if you only sell new products, you can add negatives like “used” or “Facebook Marketplace” at the account level. This helps free up space for your PMax negatives.
Note: Be careful when adding account-level negatives. Once a term is excluded at the account level, it will apply to all campaigns, so make sure you never want it to show up again.
Save Room With Phrase Match Negatives
When setting negative keywords, you can often save room by using a “phrase” match instead of [exact] match term. For example, if you want to exclude all variations of a brand, using “Nike” as a phrase match can help cover more ground. On the other hand, [Nike] as an exact match will only exclude that specific term, leaving searches like “Nike running sneakers” unaffected.
Remove the Generic Brand Searches At All Costs
In my opinion, PMax does a poor job of driving generic brand terms (like “Nike”) that can quickly eat up your budget. If you want to drive branded terms with more specific intent (like “Nike men’s running shoes,”) consider using an exact match negative rather than relying solely on a brand exclusion list.
To remove generic brand terms, use exact match negatives like:
- [Nike]
- [Nike Inc]
- [Nik]
- [www.nike.com]
If you’re still seeing mismatches sneak through, you can layer with phrase match terms to further narrow down your targeting. For example, if you’re running a campaign for men’s running sneakers, you can include the (above) generic brand terms (no search intent) and then leverage phrase match terms (below) to ensure that your targeting is dialed in:
- “Womens”
- “Women”
- “Basketball”
- “Soccer”
- “Children”
- “Kid”
By stacking phrase match terms, you can cover more variations with fewer negative keywords.
So there you have it! While we don’t have unlimited negative terms, there are still plenty of options to make the most of what we do have. The key is to approach this with intentionality and strategy.
If you need any help adjusting to this change or getting the most out of your campaigns, don’t hesitate to contact us.
Meet the Author

Greg Finn
Greg is the Head of Performance and Innovation for Cypress North's digital marketing team and one of the founders of our agency. In 2010, he and Matt Mombrea started Cypress North in Buffalo. Greg oversaw the opening of our second office in 2022, located in his hometown of Rochester.
As Head of Performance and Innovation, Greg co-manages our digital marketing department and works closely with our team to ensure all our clients achieve the best possible results. He is always looking for ways to test new digital marketing techniques and technology, and oversees all teaching and training efforts to ensure our agency stays ahead of the curve.
Greg is also a co-host of our weekly Marketing O'Clock podcast, where he and the team provide updates, insights, and hot takes on the latest SEO, PPC, and social media marketing news. In addition to weekly news shows, Greg hosts our Marketing O'Torial digital marketing tutorials and often co-hosts bonus Marketing O'Talk episodes that bring together panels of digital marketing experts.
With nearly two decades of experience, Greg is a known and trusted voice in the digital marketing community. He’s a contributor for Search Engine Land, a member of the Search Marketing Expo (SMX) programming team, and has been a featured speaker at some of the largest search engine conferences, including SMX, eSummit, and Pubcon.
When he’s not working or staying updated on the latest trends, Greg enjoys watching his kids play sports and coaching their soccer team. He’s been named the runner-up “Greg of the Year” on Marketing O’Clock’s annual Clockscars Awards four years in a row. While the coveted award has evaded him for many years, Keanu Reeves has not. Greg once saw him at Gabriel's Gate tavern in Buffalo (and noted he was very tall.)