How do I avoid duplicate keywords across ad groups?

Why duplicate keywords happen (and why it’s more common than most advertisers think)

“Duplicate keywords across ad groups” usually isn’t a simple copy/paste problem. In modern keyword matching, two different ad groups can end up eligible for the same search even when the keyword lists look different on the surface. This is especially true once you mix broad match, updated phrase match behavior, and close variants.

Identical keywords vs. overlapping intent

Identical duplicates are straightforward: the same keyword text with the same match type appears in multiple ad groups. You can’t place truly identical duplicates inside the same ad group (the platform and the desktop editor will flag that), but you can place them in different ad groups—where they can create reporting confusion, inconsistent ad messaging, and messy optimization decisions.

Overlapping intent is the bigger issue: two different keywords (or match types) that still map to the same meaning and intent of the user’s query. Even if you carefully separate “categories,” close variants can blur your boundaries by allowing matches to searches that are similar but not identical—and there’s no opt-out from close variants across match types.

What actually happens when multiple ad groups could match the same search

When multiple eligible keywords/ad groups could match a search, the system prioritizes which ad group and keyword to enter into the auction based on relevance. If multiple keywords/search themes have equal priority, the tie-breaker is Ad Rank. In plain English: you don’t get “two shots” in the same auction—one route wins, and it may not be the one you intended, especially if your ad groups share similar keywords, similar landing pages, and similar creative.

Also, don’t overlook eligibility. If the “winning” ad group isn’t eligible (low search volume keyword status, disapproved ads/landing pages, mismatched targeting like location/audience settings, or budget constraints), another ad group can serve instead. This is one of the most common reasons advertisers swear the platform is “ignoring” their preferred ad group.

A proven framework to prevent duplicates across ad groups (without overcomplicating your account)

Start with a “one intent, one owner” structure

The cleanest way to prevent duplicates is to decide that each core intent has a single “owner” ad group. That owner ad group gets the primary keyword set and the most aligned ad copy and landing page. Every other ad group is built to avoid that intent—either by targeting a different intent entirely, or by using exclusions when overlap is unavoidable.

In practice, this means you separate ad groups by what the searcher is trying to accomplish, not just by product category. For example, “pricing,” “near me,” “emergency,” “comparison,” and “brand” behave like distinct intents—even if they share the same root product term. When you build ad groups around intent, overlap drops dramatically and your ad messaging becomes more specific (which typically improves CTR, conversion rate, and Quality-related signals).

Be deliberate with match types (because match types don’t create clean silos anymore)

If you’re still structuring ad groups as if exact match only matches exact wording, you’ll accidentally create duplicates. Close variants can include misspellings, singular/plural, stemming (like “floor” vs. “flooring”), reordered words with the same meaning, and adding/removing “function words” that don’t change intent. Updated phrase match (fully rolled out after the 2021 changes) also focuses on meaning, which increases overlap if your ad groups are thematically similar.

My rule after managing accounts through multiple match-type eras: use match types to express confidence and control, not to create separate, competing ad groups. If you want separate ad groups, separate them by intent and landing page experience first. Match type comes second.

Keep landing pages distinct when you truly need multiple ad groups for similar themes

Relevance-based prioritization doesn’t just look at the single keyword—it evaluates the meaning of the search term, the set of keywords in the ad group, and the landing pages associated with that ad group. If two ad groups share similar keyword sets and drive to the same (or near-identical) landing page, you’re effectively asking the system to guess which message you wanted for that search.

When you genuinely need separate ad groups (for example, two different service lines that share language), give each ad group its own tightly aligned landing page and ad copy that clearly differentiates the offering. This reduces “internal ambiguity,” which reduces overlap outcomes you don’t like.

Use consistent naming and a keyword governance rule

This sounds boring, but it’s one of the highest-ROI habits you can adopt. Decide how keywords are allowed to “live” in your account. For example: brand terms only live in Brand campaign/ad groups; “jobs/careers” terms are always excluded; pricing intent is isolated; competitor terms are isolated; and so on.

Once you have a governance rule, you can scale without accidentally reintroducing duplicates every time you add a new product line, location, or landing page.

How to control overlap when you can’t avoid it (negative keywords, prioritization, and ongoing hygiene)

Negative keywords are your scalpel—use them intentionally

When two ad groups could match the same searches, negatives let you draw hard boundaries. The most common example is separating Brand vs. Non-Brand. Another is separating “free”/“cheap” seekers from premium-intent traffic, or separating “support/login” traffic from purchase intent.

Two practical cautions. First, negatives can be highly restrictive and can block valuable traffic if you get too aggressive. Second, negatives behave differently by campaign type (for example, display/video handling differs, and there are limits on how many negatives are considered for an individual ad in some formats).

Campaign-level and account-level negative keyword lists keep you consistent

If you find yourself adding the same exclusions repeatedly, that’s a sign you should centralize. Negative keyword lists applied at the campaign level help keep boundaries consistent across ad groups. Account-level negative keywords can also be used for broad housekeeping exclusions across eligible campaign types, but keep in mind there’s a limit of 1,000 account-level negative keywords, so reserve this for the highest-impact exclusions (brand safety, irrelevant traffic, legal/policy constraints, or universally bad searches).

Use the search terms report to validate “who is stealing what” (and why)

The fastest way to stop duplicates from quietly hurting ROI is to make overlap visible. In the search terms report, you can see the actual searches and which keyword triggered. You’ll also notice an important nuance: a broader-match keyword can trigger a search term and still show a “narrow” search term match type classification in reporting (for example, a broad match keyword can be logged as “exact” for that specific search term). That’s not a bug—it’s a reminder that matching and reporting classifications aren’t the same thing.

Most critical diagnostic checklist (use this before you restructure anything)

• Identify true duplicates: Export keywords and group by keyword text + match type to find duplicates across ad groups (separate from “similar” keywords).
• Find overlap by search term: Pull the same search term appearing across multiple ad groups/campaigns and quantify spend + conversions by ad group.
• Check eligibility issues: Look for low search volume keyword statuses, disapprovals, targeting differences (especially locations), and budget limits that could be causing the “wrong” ad group to serve.
• Confirm intent alignment: For overlapping terms, compare ad copy and landing page alignment. If they’re similar, prioritization will be unpredictable—tighten differentiation or consolidate.
• Add negatives last (not first): Only after you decide the rightful “owner” ad group for that intent, add ad group/campaign negatives to enforce the boundary.

When it’s smarter to consolidate than to “sculpt”

After years of managing accounts of every size, here’s the hard-earned truth: if you need a growing web of cross-negatives just to keep ad groups from colliding, you probably have too many ad groups targeting the same intent. Consolidation often improves results because you concentrate data, simplify optimization, and reduce internal competition for learning signals—while still keeping messaging tight through well-written ads and strong landing page alignment.

A good consolidation is not “dump everything into one ad group.” It’s merging only the ad groups that serve the same intent to the same outcome, then rewriting ads so they’re truly representative of that merged intent. Done well, this usually reduces duplicate keyword headaches and makes performance more stable month over month.

To avoid duplicate keywords across ad groups in Google Ads, start by recognizing that “duplicates” aren’t only identical keyword text: with broad match, updated phrase match, and close variants, different keywords and match types can still be eligible for the same query, so you should audit both true duplicates (same keyword text + match type in multiple ad groups) and “intent collisions” (different keywords that map to the same meaning) using your keyword export and the Search terms report (group by search term and see which ad groups are competing). Structurally, the most reliable fix is “one intent, one owner”: assign each core intent (e.g., brand, pricing, comparison, “near me,” support/login, careers) to a single ad group/campaign with the most aligned ads and landing page, and avoid creating separate ad groups just to split match types on the same intent, since they’ll overlap heavily. If you must run similar themes in parallel, differentiate with clearly different landing pages and ad copy so Google’s relevance signals consistently pick the right ad group, and check eligibility issues (low search volume, disapprovals, budget/targeting constraints) before assuming prioritization is broken. Use negative keywords as a scalpel after you’ve chosen the “owner” ad group, keeping exclusions focused and scalable via shared negative lists (and reserving account-level negatives for true “never show” terms). If you find yourself maintaining a complex web of cross-negatives just to stop internal competition, consolidation is usually safer. If you want help spotting overlap and keeping negatives precise over time, Blobr connects to your Google Ads account and runs specialized AI agents—like its Negative Keywords Brainstormer (to propose new negatives without blocking valuable traffic) and Negative Keywords Cleaner (to refine overly restrictive negatives)—so you can turn these best practices into clear, repeatable actions.