Growth · Paid-media governance · 02
Search-term and negative keyword governance
Search-term and negative keyword governance is the recurring review of what searches actually triggered the organization’s ads, the exclusion of the ones that could never produce a qualified inquiry, and the record that shows the account is kept clean on purpose. It is needed when broad matching and automation have expanded ads to searches nobody intended, when spend goes to job seekers, students, unrelated products or competitors’ customers, when negative lists have not been reviewed in months, or when a governance engagement must show its work. The governance produces a scheduled search-term review, a maintained negative keyword structure with the reasoning recorded, the spend recovered from excluded terms, and the monthly note that reports what changed.
Scope
What the review covers.
- Scheduled search-term review across campaigns
- Negative keyword structure: account, campaign and shared lists
- Intent classification of terms against qualified inquiry
- Automation and match-type settings that drive expansion
- Recovered spend measurement
- Monthly record of exclusions and reasoning
Deliverables
What you receive.
| Deliverable | Form |
|---|---|
| Search-term review | Monthly, with classifications |
| Negative keyword structure | Maintained, documented |
| Recovered spend report | Term by term, month by month |
| Monthly note | What changed and why |
Prerequisites
What we need from you.
- Account access and search term reports
- The qualified inquiry definition
- Agreement on the review cadence
Related
Where this sits.
By David Selakovic · Published 2026-10-16 · Revised 2026-10-16 · Reviewed every 180 days
Questions
Asked before engaging.
Why does this need governance rather than a one-time cleanup?
Because automation re-expands searches continuously. A cleanup lasts weeks; governance lasts.
Can excluding terms lose good inquiries?
Exclusions are reasoned and recorded, and inquiry volume is watched. An exclusion that costs inquiries is reversed and noted.
Does this apply to other platforms?
Where they are in scope. See Meta, LinkedIn and Microsoft Ads governance.