I think we all know the importance of the perfect keyword list for a successful Google Ads campaign. Most marketers would painstakingly create a list of keywords, look for long key phrases, research on competitor keywords and so on.
However, when it comes to the ‘perfect’ keyword list, one aspect that is often forgotten or overlooked is the negative list.
Negative keywords are often as important as the standard keyword list you add to your campaign. Negative words could mean eliminating several non-performing clicks on search engines.
Since clicks equal to money spent, it is important that we try to reduce irrelevant clicks from users that are not particularly interested in the product or service you are selling at the moment.
What are negative keywords in PPC?
Negative keywords are quite simply the keywords that should not trigger your ad on search engines such as Google.
By default, Google uses a broad match system to display ads in its search and display networks. What this means is you may add the keyword men’s shoes and Google will ensure your ad is displayed for variations of that keyword including men’s sneakers, sports shoes for men, running shoes etc.
This is done to ensure that you do not miss out on potential customers as the chances of them searching for the exact keyword you listed are quite low. Broad keyword match captures all those who are looking for your product but may be using different keywords or synonyms during search.
Why are negative keywords used?
Now let us take the example of shoes again as given above. Say you are selling men’s sneakers. Your ad will be displayed for all variations of the sneakers keyword.
However, it may also get triggered if someone searches for women’s shoes. If you are selling only men’s shoes, then you certain do not want your ad displayed for those searching for shoes related to women.
This is where you could add women’s shoes in your negative keyword list. That way you are sure you are not paying for clicks that resulted from searches that do not match your business.
You could take the example of a lawyer. If you are bidding on divorce attorney in California, you may not want your ad to be shown for searches related to corporate attorney in California.
There is another reason people use negative keyword lists in their PPC campaign. Google uses click through rates (CTR) of your ads to determine your cost per click.
If your CTR is poor, the cost per click is higher and vice-versa.
If your ad is getting displayed but not getting clicks, you will end up exhausting your budget with fewer clicks than anticipated.
Someone searching for women’s shoes is unlikely to click on any ad text that clearly mentions men’s sneakers. However, here your ad was displayed but did not get a click.
Your CTR was poor and subsequent clicks may cost higher now.
To avoid such a scenario, you need to use negative keyword lists regularly in all of your Google Ads campaigns.
How to add negative keywords to your Google Ads campaign?
Once you have the list of negative keywords ready for your campaign, do the following:
1) Select the campaign where you want to add the negative keywords.
2) On the left menu in light grey, click ‘Keywords’.
3) Next click ‘Negative Keywords’ within the keywords dropdown as shown in the screenshot below.
4) Click on the plus or add icon (+) in blue.
5) Choose ‘Add negative keywords or create new list’.
6) Add all negative keywords that you want for your campaign. You can copy paste them from any text document if you have it ready with one keyword per line.
7) Scroll down and click on ‘Save’.
Your chosen negative keywords are now active for your campaign. Your ads will not be triggered for those keywords.
Note:
We suggest you go through the support page at Google found here to know how exact match, broad match and phrases work with negative keywords.
Finally do spend some time researching on negative keywords for your Google Ads campaign. They are almost as important as the main keywords itself. More importantly, they will help you reduce your cost per click and filter out unwanted users.
Also for the perfect keyword list, you may want to check out your competitor keywords by using this tool.
