# Negative keywords for Apple Ads: the list that stops the waste

Sam · Published November 4, 2026 · Canonical: https://rankaso.app/blog/apple-ads-negative-keywords/


Negative keywords are the searches you tell Apple Ads never to show your ad for, and for a small app they save more money than any bidding trick, because most waste comes from searches that share one word with your app and mean something else entirely. Our own app [Escape](https://escapethegrip.com/) is a content blocker whose name is also a games genre and whose category word also means ad blockers and call blockers. The negatives list for it has five categories, and every indie app's list has the same five. Here they are, with the way to build yours in an hour from your tracked terms.

![A keyword's detail in RankASO with the top 10 apps on that term](https://rankaso.app/assets/device-02.png)

## 1. The other meanings of your words

"blocker" also means ad blocker, call blocker, spam blocker, pop-up blocker. "escape" also means escape room and escape game. "filter" also means photo filter. Every category word has neighbours. Each neighbour phrase is a negative, as a phrase, so that your real terms still match. RankASO's top 10 on a broad word shows you the neighbours in seconds: search "blocker" and the apps above and around you tell you what else the word means to the store.

## 2. Other apps' brand names

Searches for a specific competitor by name convert badly for you, because the person wanted that app, and they are expensive, because the brand is bidding too. Unless you are running a deliberate competitor campaign with its own budget, every rival brand you know is a negative in your main campaign. Your Rivals list is the starting point.

## 3. Platforms and devices you do not serve

"for mac", "for android", "chrome extension", "for windows", "for kids" if you are not a kids app. Searchers add the platform when it matters to them, and if you are not on it, the tap is wasted.

## 4. Free, hack, crack, mod

The person searching "free" plus your category will not pay, and "hack" and "mod" searchers are not your users at all. "free" is also a word the store ignores in listings, so it earns nothing organically either.

## 5. Your own irrelevant long tail

The search terms report after the first two weeks is the best source. Sort by spend, read every term with taps and no installs, and ask what the person wanted. For Escape that produced a list of game titles, fashion brands that share a word with one of our terms, and medical queries, none of which any keyword tool would have predicted.

## Building the list in an hour

1. Take your tracked terms and their broad words from RankASO.
2. For each broad word, read its top 10 and list the other meanings. Those phrases are negatives.
3. Add every rival brand from your Rivals list.
4. Add the platform and free-hack-mod sets.
5. After two weeks, import the search terms report, read the taps-no-installs rows, and add the long tail. RankASO's query import turns that report into tracked terms as well, so the ones that do convert get an organic rank from the next morning.

Negatives are added as phrases, so your real two-word terms keep matching while the neighbours are excluded. Read the search terms report monthly; the list is never finished, but after the first month it changes slowly.

RankASO on the App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6830350753?ct=blog-en-25&mt=8 (Free to start. No account. Data Not Collected.)

## Questions

### What are negative keywords in Apple Ads?

Searches you exclude so your ad does not show for them. For a small app they are mostly the other meanings of your category words, rival brand names, platforms you do not serve, and "free" and "hack" searches.

### How do I find negative keywords?

Read the top 10 for each of your broad words to see the other meanings, list your rivals, and after two weeks read the search terms report for taps that produced no installs.

### Can negative keywords hurt my campaign?

Only if they are too broad: a single-word negative that appears inside your real terms blocks those too. Add negatives as phrases that name the unwanted meaning.