The Ultimate Negative Keyword Guide – Best Tips and Tricks

In the world of Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising, mastering the art of keyword selection is paramount. However, while most advertisers are laser-focused on the keywords they want to be associated with, there’s another equally critical side to the story that often goes unnoticed – negative keywords.

Negative keywords, the unsung heroes of PPC campaigns, work behind the scenes, ensuring your ad doesn’t appear in irrelevant search queries. They act as a filter, refining your audience, improving ad performance, and ultimately saving your advertising budget from being spent on unfruitful clicks.

Yet, despite their immense potential, negative keywords are frequently overlooked or underused, leading many advertisers to miss out on their benefits. In this blog post, we’ll dive deep into the realm of negative keywords, exploring their importance, how they can enhance your PPC campaigns, and tips for implementing them effectively.

So, whether you’re new to digital advertising or a seasoned professional seeking to optimise your campaigns further, understanding negative keywords can be your secret weapon in the vast and competitive battlefield of online advertising. Stay tuned as we unravel the power of negative keywords and how you can use them to your advantage.

Negative Keyword List

Negative keywords are a type of keyword used in pay-per-click (PPC) advertising campaigns that prevent your ad from being triggered by a specific word or phrase. These keywords work to ensure that your ad does not appear in search queries that are irrelevant to the product or service you’re offering. In essence, they act as a filter, refining the audience that sees your ads, and helping to improve the overall performance of your PPC campaign.

To fully grasp the concept of negative keywords, it’s helpful to refer to the standard keywords we typically use in marketing as “positive keywords”. Positive keywords are the words or phrases you intentionally select to target relevant searches and attract potential leads to your website. They are the search terms you believe your potential customers are using and the ones you want your ads to appear for.

On the flip side, negative keywords are the exact opposite. Instead of drawing traffic to your website, they work to exclude certain search terms. Negative keywords are used when you want to prevent your ads from showing up for specific queries that are not relevant or beneficial to your business.

For example, if you’re selling high-end laptops, you might use “luxury laptops” or “top-quality laptops” as your positive keywords. At the same time, you might set “cheap laptops” or “second-hand laptops” as your negative keywords to avoid attracting traffic from people looking for low-cost or used options, who are less likely to convert into customers for your high-end products.

Grasping the concept and application of negative keywords is a crucial component of effective PPC campaign management. They serve as a dual tool, simultaneously aiding in the reduction of advertising costs by filtering out irrelevant clicks, and enhancing the performance of your ads by increasing their relevance to user search queries. This improved relevance consequently boosts your Quality Score, a critical metric used by platforms like Google Ads. A higher Quality Score can lead to a decrease in cost-per-click and an elevation of your ad’s positioning in search results – a strategic win in the competitive landscape of digital advertising.

Negative Keywords Inside Campaign

The benefits of using negative keywords

Negative keywords play a pivotal role in refining your Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising strategy. They bring a host of benefits that collectively serve to optimise your advertising efforts, driving efficiency and effectiveness. Here are the key benefits of harnessing the power of negative keywords:

Cost Efficiency:
Negative keywords prevent your ad from appearing in irrelevant searches. This means you’re not spending money on clicks that are unlikely to convert, leading to more efficient use of your advertising budget.

Improved Click-Through Rate (CTR):
By excluding irrelevant search terms, negative keywords ensure your ads are shown only to those genuinely interested in your offerings. This increases the likelihood of clicks, thereby improving your CTR, which in turn positively impacts your Quality Score.

Reduced Cost-Per-Click (CPC):
A better Quality Score often leads to a reduced CPC. By filtering out irrelevant queries, negative keywords indirectly help you lower your advertising costs per click.

Higher Ad Position:
A higher Quality Score, boosted by a good CTR and relevant ads, can also secure a higher ad position for your business. This increases the visibility of your ads and gives you an edge over competitors.

Improved Quality Score:
Negative keywords boost your Quality Score by ensuring your ads align more closely with relevant search queries. The more relevant your ads are to the user’s search, the higher your Quality Score is likely to be.

Better Conversion Rates:
By targeting the most interested and relevant users, negative keywords can lead to improved conversion rates. When your ads are shown only to those who are genuinely interested, the chances of them taking the desired action increase.

Increased Return on Investment (ROI):
As a result of all the above benefits, negative keywords can significantly enhance your ROI. By reducing costs and improving both the quantity and quality of traffic, they ensure you get more value from your ad spend.

In contrast to positive keywords, which aim to attract potential customers by targeting relevant searches, negative keywords are used to filter out and exclude irrelevant search queries. This dual approach enables you to draw in qualified prospects while steering clear of less relevant or unprofitable searches. It’s this balance that makes negative keywords a vital tool in the arsenal of every savvy digital advertiser.

How do negative keywords work?

Let’s consider a situation where you are running a promotional campaign for a university course conducted at a physical campus. If a user searches for “university course online study,” your ads will be displayed in the search results. However, if a user clicks on your ad and visits your website, you would incur a cost for that click, even though you only offer offline university courses.
Consequently, the likelihood of converting a customer who specifically searched for online study is minimal, resulting in an inability to recoup the costs associated with that click.

However, by utilising negative keywords such as “online” or “online study,” your ads will not appear in any of the search results containing these terms. This strategic approach eliminates any expenditure on clicks that are highly unlikely to benefit your business. Once you have identified known words or search terms as negative, you need to decide on the best match type for each

Shared List Negative Keywords

Negative Keyword Match Type

Negative keyword match types determine how closely a search query needs to match your specified negative keyword in order to prevent your ads from showing. There are three different types of negative keyword matches that you can use, which we will demonstrate using the example negative keyword phrase “cheap dog food”: Here are the common match types for negative keywords below:

Negative broad match

Negative broad match” is a keyword matching option that allows advertisers to prevent certain search terms from triggering their ads. Sometimes there may be certain keywords or search terms that are related to the advertiser’s offerings but are not relevant or may not result in desired conversions.

Negative broad match allows advertisers to specify keywords or search terms that they want to exclude from triggering their ads. It provides a broader scope for excluding related terms rather than exact matches. With negative broad match, the ads won’t be shown if any of the excluded keywords appear in a user’s search query.

For example, if an online shoe retailer wants to exclude searches related to “cheap dog food,” they can add cheap as a negative broad match keyword. This ensures that their ads won’t appear when users search for terms that contain the word cheap. Single-word negative broad match keywords allow advertisers to create smaller and more effective negative keyword lists. 

By using negative broad match, advertisers have more control over their ad targeting and can prevent their ads from appearing in irrelevant or low-converting search queries, thereby improving the efficiency and effectiveness of their advertising campaigns.

Negative phrase match 

A negative phrase match is a targeting method in online advertising where your ads will not be displayed on searches that contain the exact order of words in your negative keyword phrase. For example, if your negative phrase match keyword is “cheap dog food,” your ad will not show if someone searches for “cheap organic dog food.” However, if a search query removes the word “organic” from within your keyword phrase, your ad would still be eligible to display.

To clarify, a single word phrase match is similar to a single word broad match negative. In other words, when using the phrase match option, it is more effective to use keywords that consist of two or more words in the specific sequence that you want to block. By doing so, you can ensure that your negative keyword phrase precisely matches the search query, rather than triggering the exclusion based on individual words.

By employing negative phrase match effectively, you can refine your ad targeting and prevent your ads from appearing on searches that include specific word sequences you consider irrelevant to your campaign. This level of control allows you to optimise your advertising budget by focusing on more relevant traffic and improving the overall performance of your campaign.

Negative exact match

A negative exact match is a targeting option in online advertising that prevents your ads from being displayed on searches for your exact negative keyword phrase. It ensures that your ads will only be shown if a user’s search query exactly matches your negative keyword, with no additional words before, after, or in between.

For instance, if your negative exact match keyword is “cheap dog food,” your ad will not be shown when a user searches for “cheap dog food.” However, your ad will still display if the search query includes additional words, such as “cheapest dog food” or “best cheap dog food.”

To illustrate this, let’s consider the following example:
Negative keyword: -[cheap dog food]
Search query: “cheap dog food”
Result: Your ads won’t show because the search query exactly matches the negative keyword.

By utilising negative exact match keywords, you have precise control over excluding specific search queries that match your exact negative keyword phrase. This helps refine your targeting and ensures that your ads are displayed to a more relevant audience. As a result, you can optimise your advertising budget and improve the overall performance of your campaign by focusing on the most relevant and valuable traffic.

Negative Keywords

How to get started using Negative Match Type?

To effectively utilise negative keywords, it is advisable to begin by creating a list of individual words that consistently appear in multiple search terms but are irrelevant to your campaign. This approach provides a quick and efficient way to block a significant portion of irrelevant traffic, following the 80/20 principle.

Next, consider using exact match negative broad matches. These are negative keywords that precisely match specific search terms or phrases, ensuring that your ads do not appear when users search for those exact terms. This level of specificity helps further refine your targeting and exclude specific variations that might not be relevant to your campaign.

Lastly, you can explore phrase match negative keywords. These are broader negative keywords that encompass a phrase or group of words. They allow you to exclude search queries that contain the specified phrase, even if it appears alongside other terms. Phrase match negative keywords provide a balance between specificity and coverage, helping you exclude a wider range of irrelevant search queries.

By following this sequential approach of starting with single words, then moving to exact match negative broad matches, and finally considering phrase match negative keywords, you can progressively refine your ad targeting and prevent your ads from appearing in irrelevant search queries. This approach enhances the efficiency and effectiveness of your advertising campaign, reducing wasted ad spend and improving the quality of traffic that reaches your website.

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How to spot negative keywords.

Identifying negative keywords involves understanding your target audience, conducting thorough keyword research, monitoring campaign performance, and leveraging data analytics. Here’s a step-by-step approach to spotting negative keywords:

Use established Lists 

There are many generic negative keyword lists online – for example, Best Negative Keyword List – so it is always worth starting with these and looking for a single-word broad negative match, ideally where the word is considered to be 100% irrelevant for your industry, products, or services.

Google Ads Search Terms Report

The Google Ads Search Terms Report is a valuable tool for identifying negative keywords by analysing the searches users make before clicking on your ads. By refining and expanding upon the provided information, you can enhance your understanding of the report’s significance. Here’s an improved version:

The Google Ads Search Terms Report is a powerful feature that provides insights into the specific searches users perform before clicking on your advertisements. By examining this report, you can identify potential negative keywords that can optimise your campaign performance.

To effectively utilise the Search Terms Report, follow these steps:

1. Run the report and sort by cost:
Generate the Search Terms Report and sort the searches from highest cost to lowest cost. This allows you to focus on the most significant keywords and identify any potential negative keywords associated with high costs.

2. Look for low CTR, conversion rate, and average session duration:
Review the report for search terms that have a low click-through rate (CTR), low conversion rate, or low average session duration compared to your account’s average performance. These metrics indicate that the search terms may not be relevant to your campaign or attracting the right audience.

3. Identify irrelevant or low-converting search terms:
Pay attention to search terms that consistently show low performance metrics or no conversions at all. These terms are likely candidates for negative keywords as they are unrelated to your campaign goals or fail to generate the desired outcomes.

Regularly monitor the search term reports within your advertising platform, such as Google Ads, to stay updated on the actual search queries triggering your ads. This ongoing analysis helps you identify search terms that are irrelevant, attracting irrelevant traffic, or not aligning with your campaign objectives.

By leveraging the insights from the Search Terms Report and diligently reviewing and optimising your negative keyword list, you can improve the targeting of your ads, reduce wasted ad spend, and maximise the effectiveness of your campaign. Want to learn more? See our article- How to use the Google Ads Search Terms Report

Negative Keywords Sdsd

Google Keyword Planner:

When using the Google Keyword Planner (formerly known as the Google Keyword Tool), you can leverage its features to identify and add negative keywords. Here’s an improved version:

During your keyword research using the Google Keyword Planner, it’s important to not only identify keywords to target but also discover potential negative keywords. This can be accomplished by utilising the tool’s functionalities specifically designed to identify irrelevant searches. Here’s how to make the most of the Google Keyword Planner:

1. Access the Google Keyword Planner:
Sign in to your Google Ads account and navigate to the “Tools & Settings” menu. Select “Keyword Planner” from the dropdown.

2. Discover new keywords:
Use the “Discover new keywords” option within the Keyword Planner. Enter relevant terms related to your campaign, products, or services. For example, if you’re running a campaign for athletic shoes, you could input terms like “running shoes,” “sports footwear,” or “athletic sneakers.”

3. Review keyword suggestions:
The Keyword Planner will generate a list of keyword suggestions based on your inputs. Focus on the suggested keywords and phrases that have a high search volume or relevance to your campaign.

4. Identify irrelevant searches:
Analyse the keyword suggestions and identify any terms that may attract irrelevant or low-converting traffic. Look for keywords that are unrelated to your offerings, indicate a different search intent, or are not aligned with your target audience. These are potential negative keywords.

5. Add negative keywords:
Compile the identified irrelevant terms and add them as negative keywords to your campaign. By doing so, you prevent your ads from being displayed for searches containing those specific terms, ensuring your budget is focused on more relevant and valuable traffic.

6. Refine and optimise:
Continuously monitor the performance of your campaign, review search term reports, and gather feedback from customers or support channels. Identify any new irrelevant search terms that may have been missed initially, and add them as negative keywords to further optimise your targeting.

Using the Google Keyword Planner effectively allows you to not only discover valuable keywords but also identify and block irrelevant searches by adding them as negative keywords. This optimisation process helps refine your ad targeting, improve the quality of traffic, and maximise the impact of your advertising campaigns.

Google Search Autocomplete & SERPS

To identify popular negative keywords, you can utilise Google Autocomplete and the search engine results page (SERP) to uncover potential irrelevant suggestions. Here’s an improved version:

Google Autocomplete, along with the SERP, can be valuable tools for identifying popular negative keywords. By leveraging the autocomplete feature, you can discover negative keyword suggestions that commonly appear when people search for your target keyword phrase. Follow these steps to make the most of this approach:

1. Start typing your keyword:
Begin typing your target keyword phrase into the Google search bar. As you type, take note of the autocomplete suggestions that appear below the search bar.

2. Identify irrelevant suggestions:
Pay attention to autocomplete suggestions that are unrelated to your campaign, products, or services. These suggestions may indicate search queries that are not aligned with your target audience or objectives. Record these irrelevant suggestions as potential negative keywords.

3. Perform search and review SERP:
Conduct a search using your target keyword phrase and review the search engine results page (SERP). Analyse the organic search results and paid ads that appear. Look for any keywords or phrases that are not relevant to your campaign or indicate a mismatch in search intent.

4. Record negative keywords:
Based on the autocomplete suggestions and SERP analysis, compile a list of negative keywords that you want to exclude from triggering your ads. These are the terms that consistently appear as irrelevant or unrelated to your campaign goals.

5. Continuous review & optimisation:
Regularly revisit the autocomplete feature and monitor the SERP to identify new negative keyword suggestions. Stay updated on evolving search trends and adjust your negative keyword list accordingly.

By using Google Autocomplete and analysing the SERP, you can identify popular negative keywords that commonly appear during searches. This approach helps you proactively block irrelevant queries, improve your ad targeting, and increase the effectiveness of your campaigns.

Attach-Campaigns-To-Negative-Keyword-Lists

Keyword Frequency Finder

There are several tools available, including free ones, that can facilitate the extraction of single-word keywords and their frequency of occurrence from the search terms report. One such useful tool is the Frequent Keyword Utility. By simply pasting the Google Ads Search Terms report into the provided box, the tool generates a list of single words.

This method of reviewing single-word keywords is significantly more efficient than manually combing through the search terms report to identify terms that should be designated as negative keywords. The generated report provides insights into keyword density and allows for further analysis. Additionally, tools like Excel can be employed to compare performance metrics, such as conversion rates, for individual single-word keywords. By removing relevant keywords from the list, the remaining negative keywords can be easily identified.

By utilising these tools and techniques, you can streamline the process of identifying negative keywords from the search terms report, saving time and effort. This enables you to focus on the most impactful negative keywords based on their performance metrics and improve the overall targeting and effectiveness of your advertising campaigns.

Various tools (including free ones) make it possible to input the search terms report and get a list of single word keywords- and the frequency occurrence of each. This is a useful free tool we use Frequent Keyword Utility. All you need to do is paste the Google Ads Search Terms report into the box, and it will give back a list of single words.

Running through this list of single words is so much faster than manually using the search terms report to identify terms that should negative 100% of the time. This report generated gives an idea of keyword density. Excel can also be used to compare search terms performance metrics for single words (e.g. conversion rate) to decide if the word should be negative. Just remove relevant keywords, and the remainder negative keywords remain in the list.

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Other Free Negative Keyword Tools 

Numerous free tools are available that enable you to input a search terms report and generate a list of single-word keywords along with their frequency of occurrence. This list can then be analysed and compared to conversion rates and other relevant metrics to help determine whether a keyword should be designated as negative. One example of a free negative keyword tool is Negative Keyword Pro.

Negative Keyword Pro offers a useful feature where you can input a seed keyword that you intend to target, and it suggests potential negative keywords based on that seed keyword.

By leveraging these free tools, you can streamline the process of identifying single-word keywords from the search terms report and gain valuable insights. Analysing the generated list alongside conversion rates and other metrics allows you to make informed decisions regarding negative keywords.

Using tools like Negative Keyword Pro adds efficiency to the process by automating the identification of potential negative keywords based on a seed keyword. This assists in expanding your negative keyword list and improving the targeting and relevance of your ads.

By taking advantage of these free tools, you can enhance your negative keyword research process and optimise your advertising campaigns for better performance and cost-effectiveness.

Negative Keywords A

Negative Keyword Hierarchy

Negative keywords can be applied at different levels within the Google Ads account hierarchy, including the ad group level, campaign level, or by using shared lists that can be attached to multiple campaigns. This flexibility allows for precise control over which keywords trigger your ads. Here’s an improved version:

Negative keywords can be strategically implemented at different levels within the Google Ads account hierarchy, providing you with control over your ad targeting. You can apply negative keywords at the ad group level, campaign level, or utilise shared lists that can be attached to multiple campaigns. This flexibility allows for granular management and optimisation of your advertising efforts.

Ad Group Level

The ad group level is the most granular level where negative keywords can be applied. It is recommended to utilise ad group negative keywords when a search query is not relevant to the keywords within that specific ad group. By adding negative keywords at the ad group level, you can effectively exclude certain keywords from triggering ads within that particular ad group. This practice proves particularly beneficial when you have multiple ad groups within a campaign, each targeting different aspects of your products or services.

By applying negative keywords at the ad group level, you can ensure that your ads are displayed only when search queries closely align with the keywords within that specific ad group. This level of precision allows for better ad targeting, increases the relevancy of your ads, and improves the overall performance of your campaign.

Remember to regularly review and update your negative keyword lists at the ad group level to ensure they remain aligned with your campaign objectives and audience preferences. By using ad group negative keywords effectively, you can optimise your ad groups individually and enhance the overall success of your advertising campaign.

Campaign Level

Ad group negatives are best utilised when a search query is not relevant to the keywords within a specific ad group. They allow you to exclude specific keywords from triggering ads within that particular ad group, ensuring the ad group remains tightly focused on its intended audience. This is particularly useful when you have different ad groups within a campaign, each targeting different aspects of your products or services.

In contrast, applying negative keywords at the campaign level enables you to exclude certain keywords across all ad groups within that campaign. This approach ensures consistency in blocking irrelevant search queries that apply to the campaign as a whole. By setting campaign-level negative keywords, you can proactively exclude keywords that consistently generate irrelevant or low-converting traffic across multiple ad groups.

Utilising both ad group negatives and campaign-level negatives allows for fine-tuned targeting and effective control over your ad campaigns. It’s important to regularly review and update your negative keyword lists at both the ad group and campaign levels to align them with your evolving campaign objectives and audience preferences.

By strategically implementing negative keywords at the appropriate levels, you can refine your ad targeting, improve the relevancy of your ads, and enhance the overall performance and success of your advertising campaigns.

Account Level - Shared Lists

Shared lists offer the convenience of creating a centralised negative keyword list that can be shared across multiple campaigns. This approach streamlines the management process by eliminating the need to maintain individual campaign-level negative keyword lists. Here’s an improved version:

Shared lists provide the advantage of creating a single list of negative keywords that can be shared across multiple campaigns. This means you can maintain a centralised repository of negative keywords that can be universally applied, saving time and effort associated with managing individual negative keyword lists at the campaign level.

By utilising shared lists, you establish a consolidated source of negative keywords that can be easily updated and synchronised across multiple campaigns. This ensures consistency in excluding irrelevant search queries and enhances the efficiency of managing negative keyword strategies.

With shared lists, you can make changes to the negative keyword list once, and the updates will automatically apply to all campaigns linked to the shared list. This simplifies the process of adding or removing negative keywords, as you only need to make adjustments in one place.

The use of shared lists not only saves time but also promotes consistency in your negative keyword management. It enables you to maintain a unified approach across all campaigns, ensuring that irrelevant search queries are consistently blocked and campaign performance is optimised.

By leveraging shared lists to centralise your negative keyword management, you can streamline the process, maintain consistency, and maximise the effectiveness of your advertising campaigns.

Negative Keyword List

Negative Keyword Tips

Managing negative keyword lists at different levels across your account requires careful consideration and ongoing optimisation. Here are some tips to help you effectively manage your negative keywords:

1. Start with single-word negatives:
Begin by listing single words as negative broad match keywords that are consistently irrelevant, regardless of the combination of keywords. This could include terms like “free,” “jobs,” “guides,” and so on. However, remember that the relevance of negative keywords can vary by industry, so it’s important to assess them in the context of your specific campaign.

2. Include singular and plural variations:
Add both singular and plural variations of keywords to your negative keyword list. For example, if “job” is a keyword you don’t want triggering your ads, also include “jobs” as a negative keyword. This helps ensure that both singular and plural search queries are excluded from displaying your ads.

3. Identify high-impression, low-performance keywords:
Regularly review your search term reports and identify keywords that generate high impressions but have poor performance metrics, such as low click-through rates (CTR) or low quality scores. Consider adding these as exact match negative keywords to improve your CTR and quality score. By excluding these less relevant keywords, you can focus your budget on more qualified traffic.

4. Leverage match types:
Consider using different match types for your negative keywords. Broad match negatives exclude searches that contain the negative keyword term, while exact match negatives exclude only the exact term. This allows for more precise control over which search queries trigger your ads.

5. Regularly review and update:
Continuously monitor and review the performance of your negative keywords. Analyse search term reports, conversion data, and customer feedback to identify new negative keyword opportunities or reassess the effectiveness of existing ones. Keep your negative keyword lists updated to ensure they remain relevant and aligned with your campaign goals.

6. Organise and structure your lists:
Maintain a well-organised negative keyword structure by grouping related negative keywords together. Consider using shared negative keyword lists to streamline management across multiple campaigns. This helps maintain consistency and makes it easier to manage and update your negative keyword strategy.

7. Create a single base negative keyword list:
Establish a comprehensive base negative keyword list that serves as the foundation for your campaigns. This list should primarily consist of the negative keywords identified using the strategies discussed earlier. By having a solid base list, you can ensure consistent exclusion of irrelevant search queries across your campaigns.

8. Include all keyword variations:
When designating a keyword as negative, make sure to include both the singular and plural versions of that keyword. For example, if “job” is identified as a negative keyword, also include “jobs” as a negative keyword. This helps to prevent ads from displaying for both singular and plural search queries.

9. Start with single words and negative broad matches:
Begin each negative keyword list with single words and negative broad matches that are always irrelevant to your campaigns. For example, “online” may be irrelevant for a brick-and-mortar university, so it should be considered a negative keyword for every campaign. By starting with these universally irrelevant terms, you can save time and effort in setting up campaign-specific negative keyword lists.

11. Use exact match negative keywords for Google Shopping:
In Google Shopping campaigns, as positive keywords are not used, employing exact match negative keywords becomes crucial. These negatives can help eliminate irrelevant searches and ensure that your Shopping ads are displayed only for relevant queries, improving the performance of your Shopping campaigns.

12. Utilise exact match negatives for Dynamic Search Ads (DSA):
For Dynamic Search Ads, exact match negative keywords play a critical role in filtering out irrelevant searches. DSA campaigns often generate a high volume of searches, and using exact match negatives helps to refine targeting and improve the overall efficiency of these campaigns.

13. Opt for smaller, niche negative keyword lists with the Google Display Network (GDN):
When using the Google Display Network, it’s preferable to have smaller, more niche lists of negative keywords, particularly for remarketing purposes. Create a separate negative keyword list specifically tailored for GDN campaigns to ensure precise targeting and control over where your ads are displayed.

14. Employ traffic sculpting:
Implement traffic sculpting techniques by using individual positive keywords as negative keywords within ad groups and campaigns. This helps prevent specific keywords from competing against each other due to variations in Quality Score or historical performance. By strategically using positive keywords as negative keywords, you can ensure that the most relevant keyword triggers your ads.

By following these tips, you can effectively manage and optimise your negative keyword lists at different levels across your account, ensuring greater control over ad targeting, minimising wasted ad spend, and improving the overall performance of your advertising campaigns. Regularly evaluate and update your negative keyword strategy to adapt to evolving search trends and user behavior.

How to Manage Negative Keywords

To ensure effective negative keyword management, consider the following strategies:

Campaign-specific negative keywords:
If certain negative keywords only apply to one specific product or service, include them explicitly within that individual campaign. This allows for precise targeting and exclusion of irrelevant search queries related to that specific offering.

Utilise a shared negative keyword list:
Create a single shared negative keyword list that is attached to all search campaigns. This shared list will often cover a significant portion, approximately 80% or more, of the negative keywords. It serves as a centralised resource for commonly excluded terms and saves time in managing individual campaign-level lists.

Separate negative keyword lists for different campaign types:
Having separate negative keyword lists for different campaign types, such as search, display, or remarketing, facilitates easier updates and customisation. This approach ensures that negative keywords are tailored to the specific targeting requirements and objectives of each campaign type.

Base negative keywords as single words:
Start your negative keyword lists with single words that have a broad applicability in blocking irrelevant search queries. These single-word negatives act as a foundation for excluding general terms that are consistently irrelevant across campaigns. Remember to include both singular and plural variations of each word for comprehensive coverage.

For more insights and tips on building an effective negative keyword list, refer to our blog posting on Negative Keyword List Tips.

By implementing these strategies, you can streamline the management of negative keywords, improve campaign targeting, and enhance the overall performance and efficiency of your advertising campaigns.

See our blog posting on how to build a Negative Keywords List Tipsd.

Campaign Types & Negatives

Google Ads offers a diverse range of campaign types that cater to different advertising goals and target audiences. The choice of campaign type has a significant impact on the selection and implementation of negative keywords within your campaigns. By understanding the relationship between campaign types and negative keywords, you can optimize your advertising efforts and achieve better results.

Search Campaigns

Search campaigns are the most common campaign type in Google Ads. They display text ads on the search engine results page (SERP) when users search for relevant keywords. When setting up negative keywords for search campaigns, it’s crucial to identify terms that are unrelated to your offerings or likely to attract irrelevant traffic. For example, if you sell luxury watches, you may want to add negative keywords like “free watches” or “cheap watches” to avoid wasting ad spend on users looking for inexpensive or free alternatives.

Google Shopping Negative Keyword Tips:

Google Shopping Ads operate differently from traditional text ads as they rely on product data from your Google Merchant Center feed rather than positive keywords. As a result, the use of exact-match negative keywords becomes particularly valuable in optimising your Google Shopping campaigns.

With Google Shopping Ads, your product titles and attributes from the product catalogue are used to match search queries. By strategically adding exact-match negative keywords, you can exclude specific search terms that are not relevant to your products. This ensures that your Shopping ads are displayed only for highly relevant queries, improving the precision and effectiveness of your campaigns.

Carefully review your search term reports and identify search queries that consistently generate irrelevant or non-converting traffic. These queries can be added as exact match negative keywords, preventing your ads from being triggered by such queries in the future. This allows you to refine your targeting and focus your ad spend on more qualified and valuable traffic.

Regularly update your negative keyword list for Google Shopping campaigns to adapt to changing trends, customer behaviour, and your evolving product offerings. Stay vigilant in monitoring search term performance and make data-driven decisions when adding or removing exact match negatives to continuously optimise your campaigns.

By utilising exact match negative keywords in Google Shopping Ads, you can enhance the relevance of your ads, improve the click-through rates, and increase the likelihood of conversions. This approach helps you maximise the return on your advertising investment and drive better results for your e-commerce business.

DSA (Dynamic Search Ads) Negatives Keyword Tips

DSA (Dynamic Search Ads) can be a powerful tool for capturing relevant search queries and expanding your reach. However, it’s essential to effectively manage negative keywords to prevent irrelevant and wasteful ad impressions. Here are some tips for managing DSA negative keywords:

1. DSA does not use match types:
Unlike standard text ads, DSA does not rely on match types. Instead, it dynamically matches ads to relevant search queries based on your website’s content. This means that DSA campaigns have a broader reach, potentially including unrelated or irrelevant searches.

2. Utilise more exact match negatives:
Due to the broad nature of DSA campaigns, it’s crucial to incorporate more exact match negatives to refine your targeting. Review the search terms report regularly and identify irrelevant or non-converting search queries. By adding these terms as exact match negative keywords, you can exclude them from triggering your ads and prevent wasted ad spend.

3. Combine broad match negatives and exact match negatives:
In some cases, both single-word broad match negatives and multiple-word exact match negative keywords may be required for DSA campaigns. The broad match negatives help block broader themes or topics that consistently generate irrelevant traffic, while exact match negatives allow for more precise exclusion of specific search queries.

4. Monitor the search terms report:
Continuously analyse the search terms report to identify patterns and trends in the searches triggering your DSA ads. Look for any wasteful spend or irrelevant queries that need to be addressed. Adding relevant exact match negatives based on the insights from the search terms report helps optimise your DSA campaigns and improve their performance.

5. Consider implementing RLSA (Remarketing Lists for Search Ads):
If you are experiencing issues with broad or irrelevant searches in your DSA campaigns, combining them with RLSA can help refine targeting. By targeting users who have previously interacted with your website, you can narrow the scope and increase the relevance of your DSA ads.

By following these tips and actively managing your DSA negative keywords, you can ensure that your ads are displayed to the most relevant audience and prevent wasted ad spend on irrelevant searches. Regularly reviewing the search terms report and adapting your negative keyword strategy will help maximise the effectiveness and efficiency of your DSA campaigns.

 

Google Display Network Negatives.

When it comes to managing negative keywords for the Google Display Network (GDN), it’s important to adopt a slightly different approach compared to the search network. While the search network often requires more extensive negative keyword lists, the display network typically benefits from a more targeted and selective use of negatives. Here are some key considerations for managing negatives on the GDN:

1. Tailor your negative keyword lists:
Avoid using the same negative keyword list for the GDN as you do for Google Search. The intent and context of display ads differ significantly from search ads, and using the same negative keywords may unnecessarily restrict the reach of your display campaigns. Instead, create separate negative keyword lists specifically designed for the GDN.

2. Use a smaller negative list
When it comes to remarketing campaigns on the GDN, be cautious about using extensive negative keyword lists. Remarketing targets users who have already interacted with your website or shown interest in your products or services. Overly restrictive negative keywords may hinder your ability to reconnect with these valuable audiences. Instead, focus on leveraging your remarketing lists effectively to target and engage your past website visitors.

3. Utilise niche negative keyword lists:
For the GDN, consider building smaller, more niche-specific negative keyword lists. Analyse the performance of your display campaigns and identify patterns in irrelevant placements or non-converting sites. Based on these insights, create negative keyword lists that address the specific themes, topics, or websites where you don’t want your ads to appear. This allows for better control over ad placements and ensures your ads are displayed in relevant contexts.

4. Regularly review and update:
Stay vigilant in monitoring the performance of your GDN campaigns and regularly review the placements where your ads are being displayed. Identify any placements or categories that consistently underperform or generate irrelevant traffic. Adjust your negative keyword lists accordingly to optimise your campaign’s reach and improve overall performance.

5. Experiment and refine:
As with any advertising strategy, it’s important to experiment and refine your negative keyword approach on the GDN. Continuously analyse performance metrics, such as click-through rates, conversions, and engagement, to assess the effectiveness of your negative keyword lists. Make data-driven decisions to add or remove negatives, and test different variations to find the optimal balance between reach and relevance.

By tailoring your negative keyword strategy to the GDN, you can effectively control where your display ads appear and optimise your campaign’s performance. Regularly review and refine your negative keyword lists to ensure your ads are displayed in relevant contexts, driving engagement and conversions on the Google Display Network.

Brand Negative Keyword list.

 

When running a brand campaign targeting your brand-specific keywords, it’s important to create a brand negative keyword list and apply it to your non-brand campaigns. This strategic approach offers several benefits, such as accurate attribution and ensuring non-brand campaigns do not take credit for brand-related traffic. Here are some points to consider when developing and implementing a brand negative keyword list:

1. Separate brand and non-brand campaigns:
It’s common to have dedicated campaigns specifically targeting your brand terms, such as your company name or website. By separating these brand campaigns from your non-brand campaigns, you can allocate resources and optimise bidding strategies accordingly.

2. Create a brand negative keyword list:
To prevent non-brand campaigns from capturing brand-related traffic, develop a comprehensive brand negative keyword list. This list should include variations of your brand terms, common misspellings, and other relevant keywords specific to your brand. By adding these negative keywords to your non-brand campaigns, you can avoid unnecessary ad spend on clicks that are primarily driven by brand recognition.

3. Ensure accurate attribution:
By attaching the brand negative keyword list to your non-brand campaigns, you can ensure proper attribution of conversions and credit the brand campaign for generating brand-related traffic. This attribution helps provide a more accurate understanding of the performance and effectiveness of your non-brand campaigns.

4. Consider attribution level settings:
In some cases, you may want to adjust the attribution level settings to give credit to the first click. This means that if a user initially interacts with your brand campaign before engaging with your non-brand campaigns, the conversion will be attributed to the brand campaign. This setting allows for a more accurate representation of the role your brand campaign plays in driving conversions and customer acquisition.

5. Regularly review and update:
As your brand evolves, it’s important to review and update your brand negative keyword list regularly. New brand terms, variations, or misspellings may arise, and it’s crucial to ensure your negative keyword list remains comprehensive and up to date.

By implementing a brand negative keyword list and properly attributing brand-related traffic, you can ensure that your non-brand campaigns are optimised for their specific objectives and accurately measure the impact of your brand campaign. This approach allows for more effective resource allocation, better attribution modelling, and ultimately, improved performance and ROI across your advertising efforts.

Negative Keywords Asdasd

Traffic sculpting (also known as funnelling)

An advanced technique in negative keyword management is known as traffic sculpting or funnelling, which helps influence Google’s keyword-matching process for search queries. When a search is made, Google looks for the closest match keyword in your account to trigger the corresponding ad. However, in certain cases, different keywords within your account may compete against each other due to variations in quality score, bidding, and historical performance. This can result in ad-serving issues.

To address this, you can use individual positive keywords as negative keywords within specific ad groups or even campaigns. By adding positive keywords as negatives in the ad groups where you don’t want them to trigger ads, you can prioritise the matching of more relevant keywords with higher quality scores and bid settings.

For example, if you sell wooden widgets in various colors, you can have an ad group with the generic keyword “wooden widgets” that contains specific colours like red, blue, green, and orange. By adding these colour keywords as negatives in other ad groups or campaigns, you can direct the traffic to the most relevant ad group and prevent ad-serving issues caused by keyword competition.

Regularly reviewing the search terms report of each ad group will help identify any ad-serving problems that need to be addressed. This report provides insights into which search terms triggered your ads and allows you to assess whether certain keywords are competing or causing mismatches. By analysing this data, you can refine your negative keyword strategy and optimise the alignment between search queries and the corresponding ad groups.

By using traffic sculpting techniques, you can influence the keyword-matching process, improve ad relevance, and ensure that the most appropriate keywords trigger your ads. This method helps enhance the performance and effectiveness of your advertising campaigns.

Conclusion

Negative keywords play a vital role in refining your ad targeting, improving ad relevancy, and maximising the performance of your advertising campaigns. By strategically identifying and excluding irrelevant search queries, you can ensure that your ads are displayed to the most relevant audience, enhance your click-through rates, and optimise your return on investment.

Throughout this blog, we have explored various strategies and techniques for effectively managing negative keywords. From leveraging search terms reports and keyword research tools to identifying single-word negatives and utilising match types, each step contributes to creating comprehensive and tailored negative keyword lists.

Starting with a base list of negatives, including singular and plural variations, and organising your negative keywords at the ad group and campaign levels provide you with the flexibility and control necessary to optimise your campaigns at different levels of granularity. Additionally, utilising shared negative keyword lists, especially for commonly excluded terms, saves time and effort while maintaining consistency across multiple campaigns.

Moreover, the advanced technique of traffic sculpting allows you to influence Google’s keyword-matching process, mitigating ad-serving issues and prioritising the most relevant keywords for triggering your ads.

Regularly reviewing and updating your negative keyword lists is crucial to staying aligned with evolving search trends, audience preferences, and campaign objectives. By monitoring performance metrics, search term reports, and conversion data, you can continually refine your negative keyword strategy to drive better results.

In conclusion, mastering the art of negative keyword management empowers you to reach the right audience, increase ad relevancy, and optimise your advertising budget. By investing time and effort into building effective negative keyword lists and employing best practices, you can maximise the success of your advertising campaigns and drive meaningful business outcomes.

Liam Holmes

Liam Holmes

1 thought on “The Ultimate Negative Keyword Guide – Best Tips and Tricks”

  1. Hi,
    Very informative. For a three tier (high, medium, and low) priority campaign which type of negative keyword type would you use in each stage?

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