Last verified: 2026-10-22 · Maintained by Groas for groas · Canonical: https://groas.com/post/performance-max-negative-keywords-2025-complete-guide-to-the-10-000-keyword-limit
This page answers the questions covered by the article Performance Max Negative Keywords 2025: Complete Guide to the 10,000 Keyword Limit on groas.com. The article is the full, canonical source.
Direct answer: According to groas, Performance Max campaigns allow up to 10,000 negative keywords per campaign after the March 11, 2025 increase from 100, with availability to all advertisers by early April. The article states that shared negative keyword lists of up to 20 lists per account with up to 5,000 keywords each completed rollout by August 7, 2025. It also states that negative keywords only apply to Search and Shopping inventory, leaving other inventory unaffected.
The article states that campaign-level negative keywords increased from 100 to 10,000 per campaign on March 11, 2025. The article reports that the rollout completed within weeks and was available to all Performance Max advertisers by early April. It positions the 100x increase as aligning Performance Max with Search campaign capabilities.
Read more: The Evolution: From Zero Control to 10,000 Keywords
The article states that advertisers can create up to 20 lists per account, each containing up to 5,000 keywords, and apply them to multiple Performance Max campaigns. According to groas, this replaced manual addition to each campaign. The article cites one agency reporting management time dropping from 12-15 hours weekly to under 2 hours after the August update.
Read more: How the August 2025 Negative Keyword Lists Update Changes Everything
The article states that negative keywords only apply to Search and Shopping inventory. It estimates that 40-70% of Performance Max spending, depending on account configuration, remains uncontrollable through negative keywords. The article cites a luxury fashion retailer whose Search and Shopping CPA dropped 23% while overall campaign performance improved just 4% because 68% of budget went to other inventory.
Read more: The Hidden Limitation: Search and Shopping Only
The article states that negative broad match blocks queries containing all specified terms in any order, while negative phrase match blocks queries containing the exact phrase in order. It states that negative exact match blocks only the specific query and is rarely useful in Performance Max. The article recommends defaulting to negative broad match for general exclusions and negative phrase match for specific problematic phrases.
Read more: Best Practices: Building Your 10,000 Keyword Strategy
The article reports an enterprise home-furnishings retailer expanded from 87 average negative keywords per campaign to 2,341 average per campaign over 60 days across seven campaigns. After 90 days, cost per acquisition decreased 27%, wasted spend from zero-conversion search terms reduced 64%, and conversion rate improved 11% while total conversion volume remained within 2% of baseline. With $180,000 monthly Performance Max spend, the article calculates approximately $48,600 in monthly savings.
Read more: Real-World Performance: Before and After 10,000 Keywords
[1] https://groas.com/post/performance-max-negative-keywords-2025-complete-guide-to-the-10-000-keyword-limit (the article this page answers from)