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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.hireotto.com/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

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Three ways to add negatives

Campaign-level — blocks a term across every ad group in the campaign. Best for broad exclusions that apply to the whole campaign (e.g. “free”, “jobs”, “DIY”). Ad group-level — blocks a term only within a specific ad group. Best for preventing cross-contamination between ad groups (e.g. blocking “product B” keywords in the “product A” ad group). Shared negative keyword lists — a reusable list you create once and assign to multiple campaigns. Best for exclusions you’ll want across many campaigns (e.g. a brand safety list, a competitor exclusion list, or a standard jobs/free-trial exclusion set).

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Finding negatives to add

The search terms report is the primary source. Pull it for any account or campaign you want to clean up: 
Get the search terms report for account [CUSTOMER_ID] for the last 30 days, sorted by cost, output mode summary_and_csv.
Look for: terms with spend but zero or low conversions, irrelevant queries, competitor brand names you don’t want to pay for, and queries that don’t match your offer.

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Adding negatives at the campaign level

For broad exclusions across an entire campaign: 
Add "[NEGATIVE_KW1]", "[NEGATIVE_KW2]", "[NEGATIVE_KW3]" as exact match negatives to campaign [CAMPAIGN_ID].
Mixed match types: 
Add these negatives to campaign [CAMPAIGN_ID]: "[KW1]" as broad match, "[KW2]" as phrase match, "[KW3]" as exact match.
Match type guidance:
  • Exact — only blocks that precise query. Most surgical, lowest risk of over-blocking.
  • Phrase — blocks any query containing that phrase in order.
  • Broad — blocks any query containing all the words in any order. Use carefully — it can block more than you intend.
When in doubt, start with exact match negatives. You can always expand later.

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Adding negatives at the ad group level

For cross-contamination prevention between ad groups: 
Add "[NEGATIVE_KW]" as exact match negative to ad group [ADGROUP_ID] in campaign [CAMPAIGN_ID].

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Shared negative keyword lists

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Creating a new list

Create a list with initial keywords in one step: 
Create a negative keyword list called "[LIST_NAME]" with these keywords as exact match: [KW1], [KW2], [KW3].
Mixed match types: 
Create a negative keyword list called "[LIST_NAME]": "[KW1]" broad, "[KW2]" phrase, "[KW3]" exact.

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Assigning a list to campaigns

After creating a list (or to assign an existing one), get the list ID first: 
List all negative keyword lists in account [CUSTOMER_ID].
Then assign it: 
Assign negative keyword list [LIST_ID] to campaign [CAMPAIGN_ID].
You can assign the same list to multiple campaigns: 
Assign negative keyword list [LIST_ID] to campaign [CAMPAIGN_ID_1].

Assign negative keyword list [LIST_ID] to campaign [CAMPAIGN_ID_2].

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Adding more keywords to an existing list

Add these keywords to negative list [LIST_ID]: "[KW1]", "[KW2]", "[KW3]" — exact match.

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Reviewing an existing list

List all negative keyword lists in account [CUSTOMER_ID] and include the keywords in each list.

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Typical negative keyword workflow

New account or campaign:
  1. Pull search terms for context (if the account has history)
  2. Create a shared brand-safety / common-exclusions list
  3. Assign it to all campaigns
  4. Add any campaign-specific negatives at campaign level
Ongoing optimisation (weekly or monthly):
  1. Pull search terms report sorted by cost
  2. Identify wasted spend — zero-conversion terms with significant spend
  3. Add confirmed wasted terms as campaign-level exact match negatives
  4. Add any terms that indicate ad group cross-contamination at ad group level
  5. For terms you’ll want to exclude permanently across all campaigns, add to your shared list
Full weekly negative review sequence: 
Get the search terms report for account [CUSTOMER_ID] for the last 7 days, sorted by cost, output mode summary_and_csv.

Add these negatives to campaign [CAMPAIGN_ID]: "[WASTED_TERM_1]", "[WASTED_TERM_2]" — exact match.

Add "[BROAD_EXCLUSION]" to negative keyword list [LIST_ID] — phrase match.