You rent scissor lifts. Google just charged you for someone searching "used scissor lift for sale." That click will never book a job, and you paid full price for it.

This is the single biggest source of waste in a rental account, and it comes from two doors left open: buyer - intent search terms and unfiltered broad match.

Broad match waste, defined. Broad match lets Google show your ad for anything it thinks is related. Point it at "boom lift rental" and it will happily spend on "boom lift for sale," "boom lift jobs," "boom lift repair manual," and "how to operate a boom lift." Each is a real person, none is a customer. We audited a seasonal account where phrase and broad keywords had triggered nearly 3,000 unique search terms with zero negative keywords in place — the budget was quietly funding job seekers and DIYers.

The negative keyword system every rental account needs. Build standing lists in tiers:

• Buying intent: for sale, used, buy, rent to own, auction, wholesale, price of, cost to buy.

• Jobs: jobs, salary, hiring, careers, operator wages.

• DIY / free: free, how to, template, DIY.

• Parts & service: parts, repair, manual, troubleshooting (unless you service).

• Wrong segment: if you're commercial, negate "for home," "cheap residential"; if you're consumer, negate the heavy-contractor terms.

Structure them at three levels: an account list for universal junk, campaign lists so categories don't cannibalize each other (your scissor-lift campaign shouldn't show on "boom lift"), and ad-group negatives for fine control.

The match-type rule that keeps broad honest. Broad match works — but only behind a clean conversion signal and a real negative wall. Our default rental structure: exact and phrase for the beginning, and broad only on proven converters with tight negatives. Flip everything to broad "to let Google optimize" without that scaffolding and you'll spend 20–30% more to find the same bookings.

Do this Now: Pull the search-terms report for the last 90 days, sort by cost, and read the top 50. Every term that isn't someone trying to rent becomes a negative. Then repeat every two weeks — search terms drift, and broad drifts fastest.