What's the Maximum Number of Keywords Allowed in a Google Ads Negative Keyword List?

A Google Ads shared negative keyword list caps at 5,000 keywords, and an account can create up to 20 of these lists, per Google's official "About negative keyword lists" and "About your Google Ads account limits" help pages. Separately, a single campaign can hold up to 10,000 negative keywords, and account-level negatives are capped at 1,000.

The Four Different Limits

• Per shared list — up to 5,000 negative keywords in any one list.
• Lists per account — up to 20 shared negative keyword lists can exist in a single account at once.
• Per campaign — up to 10,000 negative keywords total, whether added directly or through applied shared lists.
• Account-level negatives — a separate pool of up to 1,000 negative keywords can be excluded across the entire account.

Performance Max Used to Be the Exception

Performance Max campaigns were capped at just 100 negative keywords per campaign when the format first allowed them, far below the 10,000 ceiling Search campaigns had. Google raised that cap to 10,000 negative keywords per Performance Max campaign in 2025, bringing it in line with Search. Shared negative keyword lists still aren't available inside Performance Max the way they are for Search — PMax negatives get added directly to the campaign rather than applied from a shared list.

Why Google Separates "List Size" From "Campaign Total"

A shared negative keyword list is meant to be reused across multiple campaigns — a common one is a list of competitor brand names or clearly irrelevant terms applied account-wide. The 5,000-per-list cap keeps any single reusable list manageable, while the separate 10,000-per-campaign cap accounts for the fact that one campaign might apply several shared lists at once, plus its own campaign-specific negatives, and still needs a ceiling on the combined total.

What Happens When Display or Video Campaigns Are Involved

Google's documentation notes that negative keywords behave differently on Display and Video campaign types, where only part of a long negative list may actually be honored depending on targeting settings. Advertisers running Display alongside Search under the same shared lists should treat the Search-campaign limits as the reliable ceiling and verify Display-specific behavior separately, since Google's own guidance on the exact Display-campaign number has varied across versions of its help documentation.

Practical Guidance

• Split large negative lists by purpose — a dedicated "competitor brands" list and a separate "irrelevant intent" list stay under the 5,000-keyword cap far more easily than one combined master list, and each stays easier to audit on its own.
• Audit before you hit the campaign ceiling — a campaign nearing 10,000 total negatives, especially one built from several applied shared lists, is a signal to review for redundant or outdated entries rather than requesting more room.

Bottom Line

Treat 5,000 as the working limit for any one shared negative keyword list, 20 as the limit on how many such lists an account can hold, and 10,000 as the hard ceiling on negatives applied to a single campaign — including Performance Max campaigns since the 2025 increase.

Source: Google Ads Help Center, "About negative keyword lists" (support.google.com/google-ads/answer/2453983) and "About your Google Ads account limits" (support.google.com/google-ads/answer/6372658).