Negative keywords for restaurants
Restaurants advertising on Google fight recipe traffic, job applications and delivery-driver signups. This list blocks the kitchen-facing queries and keeps the table-booking ones.
Updated
Before you paste: what NOT to block
Diner intent includes words other industries block — keep them all:
- restaurants near me
- best pizza near me
- happy hour specials
- kids eat free
- restaurant reviews
Every list on this page is a starting point, not a decree. Scan it against your own offer before applying — one business's junk click is another's best lead.
The full list
Restaurant-specific negatives merged with 4 curated categories, de-duplicated and sorted.
- .gov
- academy
- application
- apply now
- apprenticeship
- bootcamp
- calories in
- career
- careers
- certificate
- certification
- cheat sheet
- checklist
- chef salary
- city hall
- class
- classes
- college
- county
- course
- courses
- curriculum vitae
- cv
- definition
- degree
- diploma
- diy
- dmv
- do it yourself
- doordash driver
- e-learning
- employer
- employment
- exam
- example
- examples
- exams
- explained
- federal
- food handlers card
- freelance
- gov
- government
- grubhub driver
- guide
- guides
- headhunter
- health inspection scores
- hiring
- homemade
- how do i
- how does
- how to
- how to cook
- how to make
- ideas
- instructions
- intern
- internship
- interview
- irs
- job
- jobs
- lesson
- lessons
- license renewal
- manual
- masterclass
- meaning
- menu template
- municipal
- municipality
- national insurance
- now hiring
- official site
- online course
- part time
- permit
- printable
- public
- recipe
- recipes
- recruiter
- recruitment
- remote job
- remote work
- restaurant equipment
- restaurant for sale
- restaurant jobs
- resume
- resumes
- salaries
- salary
- scholarship
- school
- schools
- seminar
- server jobs
- staffing
- step by step
- studies
- study
- syllabus
- tax
- taxes
- template
- templates
- textbook
- tips
- training
- tricks
- tutorial
- tutorials
- uber eats driver
- universities
- university
- vacancies
- vacancy
- video tutorial
- wage
- wages
- webinar
- what are
- what is
- why is
- wiki
- wikipedia
- work from home
- workshop
- youtube
Frequently asked questions
Why does this page skip the reviews and free-and-cheap lists?
Because diners live there. "Best tacos near me reviews" and "kids eat free tuesday" are people choosing where to eat tonight — blocking review and deal vocabulary would cut real covers. Restaurants get a deliberately smaller category set than any other industry here.
"Recipe" as a phrase negative — how much does it matter?
More than anything else on this page. Recipe intent shadows every cuisine keyword a restaurant bids on: "chicken parmesan" the dish vs "chicken parmesan recipe" the project. One phrase-match negative removes the entire class.
These are generic industry negatives - safe in most accounts of this kind, but not tuned to yours. Inside Keyword Ninja, the Smart Blocklist cross-checks this exact catalog against your real search terms and shows the wasted spend before you block a single word.
Match these lists to your actual traffic
The Smart Blocklist checks every curated term against your real search terms and shows the wasted spend before you block anything. Connect Google Ads for a free look.