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The short answer
Unlike normal keywords, negative keywords do not match plurals or close variants. A negative for job does not block jobs. Oppy finds the recent searches that a negative meant to block and missed only by its plural, and prepares the missing forms as campaign negatives.
Why it matters
Google extends close variants to positive keywords: plurals, misspellings, reordered words. It does not do the same for negatives. A negative keyword covers capital letters and misspellings, but not plurals, synonyms or other close variants.
So an account can have a careful negative list and still pay for the plural of almost every word on it. Each one is a small leak, and they add up across campaigns.
How Oppy decides
The check reads the negatives in force, from campaigns, ad groups and shared lists, with their match types.
It reads the search terms of Search and Shopping campaigns. Performance Max searches are not part of this read yet, so check them in the search terms report.
It also reads Google's account-level negative keywords, so a plural you already block there is not listed.
Checks that weigh money or clicks judge what they find on your own account's numbers, not on one figure applied to every account, so what counts as a problem on a small account is not the same on a large one. Checks on settings read how the account is set up.
When there is too little to go on, the check says so instead of guessing. A finding always comes with the rows behind it, so you can read the evidence before you decide.
| This check | |
|---|---|
| Step of the audit | Spend |
| What it reads | Search terms report |
| Needs trustworthy conversions | No. It does not wait for the tracking step. |
| What happens next | Oppy prepares the missing plural forms as campaign negatives. Waits for your approval in both modes. |
Check it yourself in Google Ads
- In Google Ads, list your negative keywords: campaign level, ad group level and the shared lists under Tools, then Shared library.
- Open Insights and reports, then Search terms, for the last 30 days, and download the report.
- For each negative, search the report for its plural or singular, for example jobs when the negative is job.
- Note the searches that cost money and should have been blocked.
What to do about it
Add both forms of every negative word: job and jobs, course and courses. In French, also add the forms with and without accents if your customers type both.
Keep shared lists for the words that are wrong everywhere, and check new search terms against them every few weeks.
Terms on this page
Other checks in this area
The checks next to this one in Wasted spend, each with its own page.