How to Stop Job Seekers on Google Ads
If you’re running Google Ads (or any paid campaign) for a B2B business, you’ve probably seen this problem…
People click your ads looking for jobs or internships, instead of actually wanting to buy from you.
This happens a lot for creative businesses like film production, design, or marketing agencies, but the wasted clicks (and wasted budget) can happen in any B2B industry.
In this blog post, I’m going to show how a simple 3-step strategy helped one of my film production clients cut out irrelevant leads and focus only on genuine B2B inquiries.
1. Build a Negative Keyword List
Google is pretty smart, but it can also be sneaky. If you’re bidding on broad terms, your ads might show up for people searching things like:
“film production internships”
“video editing jobs”
“summer work experience in media”
That’s money wasted. By creating a negative keyword list (with phrase terms like “jobs,” “internships,” “experience,” etc.), you filter out those searches before they even trigger your ad.
Location: Campaigns > Audiences, keywords, and content > Keywords > Negative keywords
2. Exclude Irrelevant Audiences
Targeting isn’t just about who you do want. It’s also about who you don’t.
For this client, we excluded:
People actively in-market for Employment
Current College Students
Both groups are far more likely to be job hunting than looking to hire a production company. By filtering them out, the ads reached a cleaner, more relevant audience.
Location: Campaigns > Audiences, keywords, and content > Audiences > Edit Exclusions
3. Clarify on Your Landing Page
Even with filters in place, some people will still slip through. That’s where your landing page comes in.
We added a small, polite note to the contact form:
“We regret that we are currently unable to offer apprenticeships or work experience placements.”
It’s direct, professional, and helps set expectations before someone hits submit.
Also for advanced auto bidding, it helps prevent going for the wrong audience.
The Results
By making these small adjustments, the client saw:
Fewer irrelevant enquiries
More qualified leads
Better value from every ad click
It wasn’t about spending more. It was about spending smarter.
Conclusion
If you’re running ads and keep getting unwanted job applications instead of real customers, don’t panic. With the right mix of negative keywords, audience exclusions, and landing page clarity, you can quickly shift the balance back toward genuine leads.
And if you’re finding it difficult to cut out the noise or want a second pair of eyes on your campaigns, feel free to get in touch. I’d be happy to help.