Yes. You can add campaign-level negative keywords and negative keyword lists to Performance Max, and account-level negatives apply too, but they only block Search and Shopping inventory. Performance Max also has a search terms report that shows which searches triggered your ads and lets you add negatives from it.
Performance Max gives you two controls over searches: negative keywords you add yourself, and a search terms report. Both work on the Search and Shopping side of the campaign. For YouTube, Display and the other visual channels you need different tools.
How do you add negative keywords to Performance Max?
Google's steps for a campaign-level negative:
- Go to Keywords in the Campaigns menu and open the Negative keywords tab.
- Select the plus button and choose your Performance Max campaign.
- Enter your keywords one per line, or pick an existing negative keyword list.
- Select Save.
Match types work as in Search: cheap (broad), "cheap shoes" (phrase) and [cheap shoes] (exact). See which symbols you can use in negative keywords.
Where do the negatives apply, and what are the limits?
Google is explicit that Performance Max negative keywords apply to Search and Shopping inventory only. They don't stop your ads on YouTube, Display, Gmail or Discover.
| Option | Limit (as of November 2026) | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Campaign-level negatives | 10,000 negative keywords per campaign | Search and Shopping inventory of that campaign |
| Negative keyword lists | 20 lists per account, 5,000 keywords per list | Every campaign you apply the list to |
| Account-level negatives | 1,000 per account | Search, Performance Max, App, Shopping, Smart and Local campaigns |
For Display and Video inventory, Google points you to excluded content keywords in the Content Suitability center instead. For brand names, brand exclusions are usually cleaner than long negative lists. More on that in what an account-level negative keyword list is.
Can you see which searches triggered Performance Max?
Yes. Go to the Search terms report in the Campaigns menu and choose Search terms and landing pages for Performance Max from the dropdown.
The report shows:
- the search terms that triggered your Performance Max ads, with performance metrics;
- the ad format, split into Shopping ads and text ads;
- the landing pages that served.
Data goes back to March 2023. Store visits and store sales conversions are not included. From the report you can add irrelevant terms as negative keywords at account or campaign level. Google also makes the report available through the API.
How should you use them?
In my experience the waste sits in a handful of patterns: job searches, "free" and DIY queries, competitor names you don't want, and products you don't sell. I put those in one shared negative list and apply it to both Search and Performance Max, so the two campaigns follow the same rules.
Then I check the Performance Max search terms report weekly for the first month after launch and monthly after that. Don't over-prune: every negative also removes searches the campaign could learn from, so block what is clearly irrelevant, not what is merely expensive.
If Performance Max is taking queries you want Search to handle, negatives are only half the fix. See whether Performance Max takes traffic from Search. For the bigger picture, read my guide to negative keywords and how to use the search terms report.
Sources
- Google Ads Help: Negative keywords in Performance Max campaigns - https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/15726455
- Google Ads Help: About the search terms report in Performance Max - https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/16327396
- Google Ads Help: About account-level negative keywords - https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/11396330
- Google Ads Help: About your Google Ads account limits - https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/6372658