Reads negative keywords and placement exclusions from a Google Sheet and syncs them to multiple campaigns via shared negative keyword and placement lists. Optionally filters to campaigns with a specific label.
by Google (original), Chiliad (adaptation)·developers.google.com/google-ads/scripts/docs/solutions/common-negative-list
Uses Claude AI to analyze your search terms and recommend negative keywords with clear reasoning. Each term is evaluated for business relevance, intent, and conversion potential — then exported to a Google Sheet with actionable suggestions.
Finds brand search terms leaking into non-brand campaigns (inflating their stats and misleading Smart Bidding) and generic traffic riding in brand campaigns — with the misrouted spend quantified.
Measures how much of your exact-match spend actually flows through close variants and lists the zero-conversion variants — the most surgical negative keyword candidates in the account.
Quantifies spend on search queries containing competitor names, with conversion performance and a period-over-period trend — whether competitor bidding is your strategy or your broad-match accident.
Shows what your Dynamic Search Ads decided on their own: waste queries to negate, the landing pages absorbing DSA spend, and converting queries to promote into real keywords.
Finds identical keywords (same text and match type) active in multiple ad groups or campaigns, with per-instance performance so the keeper is obvious — ending the internal competition that splits history and muddies results.
Common Negative List reads two sheets from your spreadsheet — Keywords and Placements — and creates or updates corresponding shared negative keyword and excluded placement lists in your Google Ads account. It then adds the lists to all enabled/paused campaigns (or only those with a specified label), removing the lists from any campaigns that no longer qualify. On each run it sends a summary email of keywords, placements, and campaigns synced.
| Variable | Default |
|---|---|
CONFIG.spreadsheet_url | 'INSERT_SPREADSHEET_URL_HERE' |
Campaign Label (spreadsheet C3) | blank |
Keyword List Name (spreadsheet C4) | Common Negatives |
Placement List Name (spreadsheet C5) | Common Placement Exclusions |
The Common Negative List script successfully processed Customer ID: 123-456-7890 and synced a total of 48 keywords and 12 placements. (Email sent to configured address)
The script handles match type syntax in the spreadsheet: wrap keywords in quotes for phrase match, square brackets for exact match, or leave bare for broad match. On the first run with a new list name, the script creates the list automatically.