Figuring out the key words that will bring in the most revenue and making related advertisement groups, ads, and destination pages depending on those words is critical to succeeding in paid search. By doing this, you can discover prospective clients who are on the lookout for goods that are similar to yours. But so as not to be wasteful, it is crucial to identify and get rid of search phrases and therefore, hunters – who are not interested in the products and services you offer.
Unfortunately, a lot of Google Ads and Microsoft campaigns are wasteful because they pay for clicks that do not generate any profits despite these related costs frequently being significant. For some people, this can cause enough frustration that they will quit running ads on search networks altogether.
What steps can be taken to prevent money from being wasted?
You use negative keywords, of course!
What Are Negative Keywords?
A technique of ensuring your advertisement does not display for individuals searching or perusing material related to those words is negative keywords.
Paid search management that is productive requires an uninterrupted process of both enriching the keywords you’re bidding on and acclimatizing the words you already have bids on to ensure that you are obtaining the best ROI. This does not just include stopping poor-performers, but also taking out some search queries completely.
Negative keywords provide you with the ability to make sure that your adverts are only seen by the perfect probable viewers.
Negative keywords can be specified not just at the account level, but also the campaign and advertisement group level, and each can be assigned a broad, phrase, or exact match. It’s crucial to comprehend the workings of these match types if you desire to take full benefit of negative keywords in your Google Ads and Bing ad accounts.
What Is a Negative Keywords List and Why Do You Need One?
Creating a negative keyword list can be helpful in streamlining the process of utilizing both broad and phrase match keywords when putting together multiple campaigns. It can help you to build campaigns quickly and proficiently.
You should acknowledge that by targeting more accurately, your advertisement can be shown to those who are more likely to be interested in it, which will consequently raise your financial return. You could have certain words in your head that you would like to avoid from your ads in order to concentrate on the vital keywords.
Rather than taking the time to plug in the same negative words for each campaign, you can make a negative keyword list which has those words included and apply the list to all of your campaigns from that point on.
How to Choose Negative Keywords
Every search phrase that does not have anything to do with your company should be labeled as a “negative keyword”. But how do you find them?
In your list of negative keywords, be sure to include all words that are related to, but have nothing to do with, the goods and services you are providing. Putting your advertisement on incorrect search requests leads to users clicking on your promotion yet then not having their assumptions satisfied. As an illustration, having your advertisement displayed for individuals looking for electric bicycles when you only have regular bicycles for sale.
You should also include search queries that are not related to buying something, which are suggested by users with the goal of information only and not that of purchasing.
There is no need to advertise when the search requests won’t lead to any conversion. It’s a waste of your campaign budget.
You should eliminate search requests that cause your Cost Per Click, Conversion Rate, and Click Through Rate to go beneath average in order to quickly identify negative keywords. Utilize filters in the Search Terms interface extensively to sort out keywords based on the criteria you have selected.
Advantages to adding negative keywords
Making certain your commercials don’t aggravate pointless hunts implies bringing down the chance of superfluous impressions, prompting a higher rate of individuals who snap on your advertisement. Thus, improving your Click-Through Rate (CTR).
Make sure your ad groups are very relevant – dispose of any keywords that don’t relate to your company to make your groups more focused. Using small sets of tightly linked ad groups allows you to create a single message that is suitable for everyone covered by the group of keywords.
Save Money (Again) — So nice it’s listed twice! You can save yourself a lot of money by steering clear of useless clicks by recognizing which searchers are not applicable to your business. You can also stop competing against yourself, reducing visibility and giving you less information on the keyword level.
Increase Your Conversion Rate — Disqualify specific terms from being part of your advertisement by setting negative keywords, such as competitor names or unsuitable terms that bring no possibility of a sale.
How to Add Negative Keywords
Are you wondering how to use broad and phrase match keywords in your account to get more traffic?
What steps can I take to reduce unimportant clicks, views, and unmanaged ad expenditure?
Figuring out which words to avoid proved to be a difficult task, which has required brainstorming and combing through search query data from Google Ads. This can only take you so far.
To complete the task, you must go to the “Keywords” option in the Google Ads User Interface at the account, campaign, or ad group level.
You can use the standard setting to look at the search phrases you’re bidding on, but not the exact queries that initiated them. To view this data, select “Search Terms” from the same menu.
Welcome to Queryland!
Here, you’ll notice columns that don’t exist on the keyword screen, including:
- Search Term: The query a searcher entered into Google (or said to a virtual assistant) that triggered a keyword you’re bidding on.
- Match Type: The degree to which a search query matched up with one of your keywords.
- Added/Excluded: Action you’ve taken with a search query (added it to your account or added it as a negative keyword)
… and any other categories you would like to include in the screen in order to take keyword-based decisions.
Let’s investigate how to incorporate a negative keyword into your account.
Adding a negative keyword to your Google Ads account
Let’s suppose I am not at all interested in having my ads show up when people search for the term “keyword tools”.
Checking the box to the left of the search query (as depicted above) will generate a blue option bar:
We should choose “Add as negative keyword” for this query in order to include it as a negative keyword, which is quite surprising. You will then be asked to specify the extent of the negative keyword as well as the type of match you prefer.
Click the “Save” button and your negative keyword will become active.
If you opt to put your negative keywords into a negative keyword list and then use it across different parts of your account, there are some additional steps that you need to take. Let’s take a look at those.
Advanced (Negative) Search Query Mining
If you’re using broad match keywords to increase visibility, but not keeping track of your search results, you are expending funds needlessly.
I regret having to give you this news, yet it is accurate.
If you don’t pay attention to your negative keywords when taking advantage of new prospects, you will undoubtedly miss out on expensive search terms that will hamper your ability to turn searchers into buyers.
We previously looked into how to add negative keywords to a Google Ads account; now it’s time to determine which queries need to be negated.
Keywords are not search queries
Keywords are assumptions. Search queries are actions.
What a potential customer would look for when using a search engine are the search queries that exist in reality.
Many times, a single keyword can lead to hundreds or even thousands of searches.
Identifying the right negative keyword opportunities at scale
Typically, account managers who are new or have other obligations resort to using a qualitative approach for including negative keywords.
What does that mean?
They organize the list of search queries in alphabetical order, going down the list one at a time and asking themselves, “does this item here have any relevance to my business?”
Although this isn’t negative in a particular way and can be advantageous when eliminating queries related to cat jackets from ads regarding dog sneakers, it does not tap into the abundance of data accessible through quantitative methods and is laborious to apply when involving large-scale projects.
Whether or not a search query deserves to become a negative keyword (or be added to a list of negative keywords), can be deduced by asking three questions:
- Does this search query have a below-average CTR?
- Does this search query have a below-average conversion rate?
- Does this search query have an above-average cost per conversion?
It should be obvious that these are the inquiries you need to pose to yourself.
Best Practices for Successful Negative Keywords Lists
When using Google Ads, it is essential to make a list of negative keywords and then consistently monitor it for any conflicts. You should also keep track of it and increase it over a period of a month (or preferably a week).
Yes, it is a lot of work. Thankfully, we’ve done some of it for you.
Find a Standard Keywords List
Start off with a standard list of negative keywords. In addition to utilizing Google’s applications, programs such as the Keyword Magic instrument can be advantageous. Be sure to check out lots of different websites for information about creating a powerful list of keywords for this step.
Once you have determined your basic search terms, add them to the Search Terms section in the Keywords tab to learn the precise language people use when they are looking for your ads.
Begin examining your outcomes and thoughtfully put aside any keywords that have limited or no applicability to your initiative. These are the initial keywords to be excluded from your list.
Tag all of them as not applicable and head to the Negative section to enter them one by one.
Consider a Competitive Research for Negative Keywords
A basic search on Google is an excellent way to identify additional words that should be avoided in an ad campaign.
It is widely known that, in accordance with Google’s algorithm, the search engine results page (SERPs) display the most suitable results for any given search query at the top of the list. If there is anything you see that does not relate directly to transactions, make sure to add those terms to your list of words to avoid.
It is important to remember that if the purpose of the user is to gain information and not to shop, they will not complete a purchase. Include all search queries that provide information as negative keywords.
Refine your negative keywords list
Once the original list of keywords is put into practice, make sure to include at least 50 to 100 words that should not be included. It can be tricky to keep up with the changing situation, so make sure to come back to this list frequently and adjust it according to the most recent information.
It is suggested that there be one keyword per ad group in order to avoid any potential issues involving overlapping negative keywords across your AdWords efforts.
Negative Keywords Mistakes to Avoid
In order to give Google Ads novices a leg up, we have put together some advice from industry specialists so that you can streamline your procedures with the use of negative keywords. We committed some errors in our initial days when we didn’t have much marketing experience.
Spare yourself a few headaches with this helpful list of avoidable negative keywords mistakes:
1. Don’t Add the Same Keyword as Both Positive and Negative
Don’t assume that this is an absurd error that no one would ever commit.
It is probable that you could have a common keyword used in the same Google Ad campaign or ad group as a normal, conventional keyword as well as a negative keyword.
Here are a few possibilities:
- If your Google Ad account has a default list of negative keywords you are not aware of which are running on an account-wide level, whatever positive keywords you add on a campaign level will always compete with them.
- A slightly different scenario could happen if you intentionally add a shared negative keywords list to a new campaign, but the list is not compatible with the new campaign.
2. Don’t Forget to Consistently Manage Your Negative Keywords Lists
How many keywords are too many? It’s up to you to decide! However, be consistent.
If your current ad campaign has almost a thousand negative keywords, your next one doesn’t have nearly as many. It is evident that you did not carry out sufficient investigation for the second campaign. Every account will at some stage have an average amount of words that should be excluded from targeting. Try and stick to it.
The solution here is easy: create negative keyword lists. By using this method, you can rapidly implement the same list to your commercial efforts and advertisement groups without having to continuously invest in the same investigation.
Going Negative
Why is this time-consuming process so valuable?
Effective use of negative keywords can help to ensure that your keyword research stays organized and pertinent, making it easier for you to access the correct group of people who are searching for your particular service or product. Your budget will be spent on advertizing which has a good chance of bringing in relevant visitors, creating qualified prospects, and resulting in eventual purchases.
Boring? Yes. Time-consuming? Uh huh. Necessary? You betcha.
