What Negative Keywords Should a Real Estate Agent Use?
Stop paying for clicks from job seekers, complaint searchers, and supply shoppers. The 4 essential negative keyword categories that protect every real estate Google Ads budget.
Negative Keywords Are the Cheapest Way to Improve Real Estate ROI
One of the most common questions Softtrix gets from real estate agents is: “what negative keywords should I be using in my Google Ads campaign?” The answer matters more than most agents realize.
Without a strong negative keyword list, your ads will trigger for searches that look related to real estate but have zero buyer or seller intent. Someone searching “real estate jobs in [city]”? Your ad shows. Someone looking up “real estate scams”? Your ad shows. Someone shopping for “real estate office supplies”? Your ad shows. Every one of those clicks costs you money — and none of them will become a lead.
Based on Softtrix’s experience managing hundreds of real estate accounts, there are four essential negative keyword categories every campaign must include from day one: jobs, supplies, complaints, and scams. Beyond these four, smart agents also run Google Keyword research to identify location-specific irrelevant searches and add those as negatives too.
The investment is essentially zero — adding negative keywords takes minutes. The return is significant — campaigns typically see 30–50% reduction in wasted spend, with budget redirected to clicks that actually have a chance of converting. This is the highest-leverage hour you can spend on a real estate campaign.
Real Estate Negative Keyword Master List
| Category | What It Blocks | Example Negatives |
|---|---|---|
| 💼 Jobs | Career searches, salary lookups, employment queries | jobs, careers, salary, hiring, vacancy |
| 📦 Supplies | Agents shopping for tools, forms, equipment | supply, supplies, signs, software, forms |
| ⚠️ Complaints | People searching to file or research complaints | complaints, reviews, bad, worst, issues |
| 🚨 Scams | Scam-awareness queries, fraud research | scam, scams, fraud, fake, illegal, warning |
| 📚 Education | Students researching real estate as a topic | course, exam, license, study, training, school |
| 🏛️ Government | Tax, legal, and regulatory queries | tax, taxes, law, legal, regulation, code |
| 🆓 Free / DIY | Searches looking for free info or DIY guides | free, DIY, how to, tutorial, guide |
| 📍 Wrong Locations | Searches from outside your target geography | (Add specific cities you don’t serve) |
What negative keywords should a real estate agent use in Google Ads?
Real estate agents should add four core categories of negative keywords to every campaign — they’re the consistent low-intent themes that drain real estate budgets across every market we’ve audited:
1. Job-related keywords:
2. Supply-related keywords:
3. Complaint-related keywords:
4. Scam-related keywords:
Beyond these four core categories, you should also run Google Keyword research for your specific target location. Look for terms with search volume that aren’t relevant to your business — supplies, decor, history, free guides — and add them as location-specific negatives.
Why are negative keywords important for real estate Google Ads?
Negative keywords are essential because they prevent your ads from showing on searches that look related to real estate but have zero buying intent. Without them, your budget gets eaten by clicks that will never convert.
Here’s what happens without a strong negative keyword list:
→ Someone searches real estate jobs in Toronto → your ad shows → click costs you money → they’re a job seeker, not a buyer
→ Someone searches real estate scams 2024 → your ad shows → click costs you money → they want a warning, not an agent
→ Someone searches real estate office supplies → your ad shows → click costs you money → they’re an agent buying signs, not your client
→ Someone searches real estate license course → your ad shows → click costs you money → they’re a student, not a buyer
Multiplied across hundreds of clicks per month, this kind of leak burns 30–50% of a typical real estate budget. Negative keywords plug the leaks. One hour spent building a strong negative list often saves thousands of dollars per month — making it the highest-ROI activity in real estate PPC.
Why should real estate agents block job-related keywords?
Job-related keywords are the single biggest source of wasted clicks in real estate PPC. Phrases like “real estate jobs”, “real estate agent salary”, and “real estate careers” generate enormous search volume — but every searcher is looking for employment, not a property.
Why it’s such a big leak:
→ “Real estate jobs” gets 10,000+ searches/month in major US markets
→ “Real estate agent salary” gets 5,000+ searches/month
→ Most of these queries contain real estate terms your ads bid on
→ Without a job-related negative list, you’re paying for every one of those clicks
The fix is simple but essential. Add these as broad-match negatives to every real estate campaign:
This single category typically accounts for the largest share of budget recovery in any real estate negative keyword audit Softtrix runs.
Should real estate agents add “scam” and “complaint” as negative keywords?
Yes — and it’s becoming more important every year. Real estate scams have grown globally, which means searches like “real estate scams”, “real estate fraud”, “real estate complaints”, and “real estate problems” are climbing in volume across every market.
People searching these terms are usually:
→ Looking for warnings or red flags about real estate practices
→ Researching how to file a complaint or report fraud
→ Reading horror stories or news articles about real estate issues
→ Trying to verify if a specific deal looks legitimate
None of them are looking to hire an agent. Yet without scam and complaint negatives in place, your ads can match these searches and burn budget on clicks that will never convert.
The standard scam/complaint negative keyword list every real estate agent should add:
These take five minutes to add and immediately tighten your traffic to only legitimate buyer/seller intent.
How do I find more negative keywords for my real estate campaign?
The four core categories (jobs, supplies, complaints, scams) are your starting point — but every market has its own irrelevant search variations. The Softtrix workflow for finding more negatives uses two complementary methods:
Method 1 — Google Keyword Research (proactive):
→ Open Google Keyword Planner
→ Enter your main real estate keywords (houses for sale, real estate) plus your target city
→ Review the suggested keywords list — Google shows you what people actually search
→ Look for terms that have search volume but aren’t your audience: course, license, exam, decor, history, museum, free guide, how to become, photos, Wikipedia
→ Add those as negatives before they ever cost you money
Method 2 — Search Terms Report (reactive):
→ In Google Ads, go to your campaign → Insights and reports → Search Terms
→ Review what queries are actually triggering your ads
→ Spot anything irrelevant — these are queries you’ve already paid for
→ Add them as negatives immediately to stop the bleeding
Run Method 1 once when launching the campaign. Run Method 2 weekly for the first two months, then monthly thereafter. Together they catch nearly every form of wasted spend before it accumulates.
How often should I update my real estate negative keyword list?
The standard Softtrix cadence for negative keyword maintenance:
First 2 months of a new campaign: Weekly review
This is the highest-leverage period. Your campaign is still learning, lots of irrelevant queries are slipping through, and weekly maintenance catches them fast. Spend 15 minutes every week reviewing the Search Terms report and adding negatives.
After month 2: Monthly review
Once the campaign is stable and your negative list has caught most patterns, monthly review is enough. You’re now in maintenance mode — quick monthly check-ins prevent any new query patterns from accumulating.
Quarterly: Full keyword research refresh
Every 90 days, run Google Keyword Planner research again. Search behavior evolves — new scam variations appear, new job titles trend, new supply keywords emerge. A quarterly refresh keeps your negative list ahead of the curve.
This cadence is what separates high-performing real estate accounts from budget-wasters. Most agents add negatives once at launch and forget about them — their CPL slowly creeps up over months. Continuous maintenance keeps your CPL stable or improving over time.
Does Softtrix help build negative keyword lists for real estate agents?
Yes. Softtrix builds custom negative keyword lists as part of every real estate campaign and audit. The free PPC audit reviews your current account and delivers:
→ A full Search Terms analysis identifying which low-intent searches are wasting your budget
→ A starter negative keyword list covering the four core categories (jobs, supplies, complaints, scams)
→ Location-specific negative recommendations based on Google Keyword Planner research for your market
→ A maintenance schedule for ongoing negative keyword management
→ A prioritized action plan to maximize ROI from your existing budget
If you don’t have a campaign running yet, no problem. Share your website URL, monthly budget, and location targeting — Softtrix will research your market, build the negative keyword strategy from day one, and create a complete plan of action. Contact us via WhatsApp or the number at the top of the site.
★ Request My Free Audit →The Real Impact of Negative Keywords on Real Estate Budgets
A well-built negative keyword list typically recovers 30–50% of wasted ad spend on real estate campaigns. On a $2,000/month budget, that’s $600–$1,000 redirected to actual buyers and sellers — translating to 30+ additional qualified leads per month at no extra cost.
The Softtrix 5-Step Negative Keyword Build Framework
Add the 4 Core Categories Upfront
Before launching any real estate campaign, add jobs, supplies, complaints, and scam keywords as negatives. This single step blocks the most common 80% of wasted clicks on day one.
Run Google Keyword Planner Research
Use Google Keyword Planner with your main terms + target location. Review suggested keywords for irrelevant variations and add those as negatives proactively before they cost you money.
Review Search Terms Report Weekly
For the first 2 months, spend 15 minutes every week reviewing actual search queries that triggered your ads. Add anything irrelevant to your negative list immediately.
Use a Mix of Match Types
For broad themes (jobs, scams), use broad match negatives. For specific phrases like “real estate license course“, use phrase match. Don’t rely on exact match alone — it misses too many variations.
Build a Master Shared Negative List
Create a shared negative keyword list in Google Ads and apply it to every real estate campaign you run. This makes ongoing maintenance fast — update one list and all campaigns benefit instantly.
★ Apply This Framework to My Campaign →Full Video Transcript
Softtrix Q&AAmi (Softtrix PPC Specialist):
Hi everyone, my name is Ami and we are Softtrix — a Google Premier Partner. We have worked with hundreds of real estate clients and we have managed millions of dollars in terms of budgets for them.
So there are a few questions that I am regularly asked. One of them is: what are the negative keywords that a real estate agent should use?
Anything related to jobs — because there will be a lot of queries from people that are actually looking for the word “jobs” and so on. These types of keywords should be added as negative.
Also, based on our experience, the keywords related to supply should also be negatives.
Also, the keywords related to complaints, scams — because there are a lot of real estate scams going on these days in various countries as well. So all these keywords should be added as negative.
Also, we can do the Google Keyword research and find out the keywords that have some search volume. From that list, we can see what are all the negative words we are getting, which we can just add as negative for that specific location we want to set up the Google Ads campaign for.
If you have any campaigns running in a similar niche, you can contact us for a free audit. There is a phone number on the top right corner. You can contact us on WhatsApp. We will be able to look at your PPC account and send you the free audit report. In the audit report, we will let you know what you are doing and what you need to do in order to maximize the ROI from the campaigns.
On the other side of things, if you do not have any campaign running, don’t worry about it. You can just share with us some basic information: the website URL, the monthly budget, and the location targeting. We will be able to do the research and get back with a plan of action on what you can do to bring your business online to the next level.
Thank you for watching the video.
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About Softtrix
Softtrix is a Google Premier Partner PPC agency with 300+ team members. We’ve managed millions in real estate Google Ads spend and delivered free audits to hundreds of campaigns across the US, Canada, UK, and Australia.
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