Paste the 125 terms below into one shared negative keyword list applied to every personal injury Search campaign; Google allows 20 lists of 5,000 terms and 10,000 negatives per campaign (Google Ads Help, opened 9 October 2026). Read the search terms report weekly. This is my working list from real search terms reports, not a finished product.
Grouped, paste-ready, with notes on which tempting words to leave out: the costliest negative keyword is the one that blocks a real caller. For costs, start with personal injury Google Ads cost in 2026.
How do you read and paste this list?
Quotation marks mean negative phrase, square brackets negative exact, a bare term negative broad: the same symbols as regular keywords (Google Ads Help, syntax). Phrase blocks any search containing those words in that order; exact blocks only that one search; broad blocks the words in any order. Negatives do not match close variants: misspellings are covered, plurals and synonyms are not, so "job" and "jobs" both appear (Google Ads Help). A negative that overlaps a keyword you bid on switches it off (Google Ads Help). Lines starting with # are notes; delete them before pasting.
# 1 JOB SEEKERS "jobs" "job" "hiring" "careers" "salary" "salaries" "resume" "internship" "apply" "indeed" "glassdoor" "intake specialist" lawyers make # 2 DIY AND FREE "template" "templates" "sample" "form" "forms" "diy" "do it yourself" "without a lawyer" "represent myself" "pro bono" "legal aid" "small claims" "legalzoom" # 3 OTHER PRACTICE AREAS "divorce" "child support" "immigration" "visa" "deportation" "criminal" "bankruptcy" "eviction" "landlord" "real estate" "estate planning" "probate" "employment lawyer" "wrongful termination" "social security" "traffic ticket" "dmv" "lemon law" # 3b IF YOU REFER THESE OUT "dui" "dwi" "workers comp" "workers compensation" "malpractice" "nursing home" # 4 INSURANCE COMPANY AND CLAIMANT-ADJACENT "insurance agent" "insurance quote" "insurance quotes" "cheap insurance" "login" "claims department" "claim status" "sr22" "adjuster jobs" "become an adjuster" # 4b CARRIERS, IF YOU NEVER RUN DENIED-CLAIM ADS "geico" "progressive" "state farm" "allstate" "usaa" # 5 EDUCATION AND COURSES "law school" "lsat" "bar exam" "law degree" "course" "university" "college" "case brief" "definition" "meaning" "tort law" become lawyer become paralegal # 6 NEWS AND CELEBRITY "news" "breaking" "accident today" "crash today" "footage" "video" "dashcam" "movie" "netflix" "wikipedia" [accident] [car accident] [crash] [injury] # 7 UNRELATED INJURY CONTEXTS "injury report" "nfl" "nba" "injury update" "sports injury" "exercises" "first aid" "repair" "body shop" "for sale" "used cars" "rebuilt title" # 8 SPANISH-LANGUAGE FALSE FRIENDS "injuria" "personal de" "agencia de personal" "oferta y demanda" "empleo" "salario" "curso" "universidad" "significado" "que significa" "traducción" "noticias" "inmigración" "divorcio" "plantilla" "modelo de demanda" "sentencia" # 8b IF YOU REFER WORKPLACE INJURIES OUT; "gratis" IF NO FREE CONSULTATION "trabajo" "laboral" "accidente de trabajo" "gratis"
125 terms. Lines beginning with # are notes, not keywords.
What is each group for, and what should you leave alone?
Each group removes one kind of searcher who will never be a client; each has a tempting word to leave out.
Job seekers
Every keyword you bid on is also a job search. Leave "how much do" out: it blocks "how much do personal injury lawyers charge".
DIY and free
Templates and forms for people settling alone. Never add "free": "free consultation" is one of a personal injury firm's best-converting searches.
Other practice areas
A divorce or immigration search still matches a phrase keyword containing "lawyer". Add 3b only if you refer those cases out.
Insurance company and claimant-adjacent
"claim status" and "insurance quotes" are people inside the insurance process. "adjuster" alone stays out: "how to deal with the adjuster" is a prospect.
Education and courses
Students add "definition" or "tort law" to your words. become lawyer and become paralegal are negative broad, catching any word order. Leave "degree" alone: burn victims search "second degree burns".
News and celebrity
A crash in the news floods your keywords. [accident] is negative exact: it blocks the bare word only, so "car accident lawyer near me" still shows. Never add "killed", "died" or "fatal": those are wrongful death callers.
Unrelated injury contexts
The biggest leak is "injury report", the NFL kind, then car repairs and used-car buyers. "symptoms" and "treatment" stay out: "whiplash treatment after car accident" is an injured person.
Spanish-language false friends
"Injuria" means slander, "personal" means staff, "demanda" is also economic demand. Never add "personal" alone: "lesiones personales" contains it. In our 9pm Test crawl, 39 of 281 readable personal injury firm sites had a human-written Spanish page: the Spanish auction is thin.
How do you add them: campaign level or a shared list?
One shared negative keyword list applied to every personal injury Search campaign; campaign-level negatives only for words one campaign wants and another does not. Capacity is not the constraint: 20 lists per account, 5,000 terms per list, 10,000 negatives per campaign (Google Ads Help), plus 1,000 account-level negatives for all Search and Shopping inventory (Google Ads Help). Build it under Campaigns, Keywords, Negative keywords, the plus button, one term per line, Save to new or existing list; apply it under Tools, Exclusion lists, the Negative keywords lists tab, Apply to campaigns (Google Ads Help).
How do you mine the search terms report every week?
Open Campaigns, Insights and reports, Search terms, set the last seven days, sort by cost, and read every term that spent money without a call or form. Ask three questions: would intake take this case, is the searcher the injured party, and in Spanish, could the words mean something else. A no goes into the shared list as negative phrase, or negative exact for a bare generic word. The report omits low-activity terms for privacy (Google Ads Help), so broad match always leaks spend you cannot see.
What did this look like on a real account?
Raices Legal, a Spanish-language accident firm, had a $500-a-day Google campaign that got 15 impressions and no clicks in 30 days because five keywords were capped at a $0.01 bid. We rebuilt it and cut 81 wasted search terms, $1,102.97. This is my working list, built from real search terms reports on personal injury accounts and written from the intake side, on personal injury intake work with Walker Advertising and Jacoby & Meyers. It is not a finished product or a promise about your account; your own search terms report knows your metro.
Want this applied to your account?
We run Spanish-first Google Search for one personal injury firm per metro. Flat $5,000 a month, never a share of fees.
See if my metro is openFrequently asked questions
Should I add free as a negative keyword in a personal injury campaign?
No. Free consultation is one of a personal injury firm's best-converting searches, and a negative phrase on free blocks it. Use pro bono and legal aid instead.
How many negative keywords can a Google Ads account hold?
10,000 per campaign, 5,000 per list, 20 lists per account, plus 1,000 account-level negatives for all Search and Shopping inventory (Google Ads Help, opened 9 October 2026).
How often should a law firm check the Google Ads search terms report?
Weekly, for the last seven days, sorted by cost: soon enough to stop a leak before it costs a week of budget.
Does this negative keyword list work for a Spanish-language personal injury campaign?
Yes, group 8 exists for it, and nothing in the English groups blocks a Spanish accident search. Never add personal alone: lesiones personales contains it.
Related reading
- Personal Injury Google Ads Cost 2026
- Personal Injury Google Ads Cost per Signed Case
- How to Get More Car Accident Cases
- The 9pm Test: 308 injury firm websites
Method and sources
- Google Ads Help, opened 9 October 2026. About negative keywords, account limits, add negative keywords to campaigns, negative keyword lists, search terms report, keyword matching options. primary
- Wealth Marketing AI, 2026. Raices Legal figures: client account as recorded. ours
- Wealth Marketing AI, 2026. The 9pm Test: 308 personal injury firm sites, 281 readable, 39 of 281 with a human-written Spanish page. ourswealthmarketing.ai/9pm-test