Negative keywords can help you reach the most interested customers, reduce your costs, and increase your return on investment. When you add terms as negative keywords it means that your ad won’t show to people searching for those terms.
With negative keywords, you can:
– Prevent your ad from showing to people searching for or visiting websites about things you don’t offer.
– Show your ads to people who are more likely to click them.
– Reduce costs by excluding keywords where you might be spending money but not getting a return.
How To Choose Negative Keywords
In order to properly use a negative keyword you must first have data to back up your choice. For new PPC campaigns it is recommended that you don’t start with any negative keywords. The reason advertisers should not use negative keywords when launching a new campaign is that new campaigns should cast a wide advertising net and over time that net is shrunk down to a refined, profitable target market of consumers.
So let’s say you’ve been running a PPC for a month or even years and you want to add negative keywords, let’s discuss how you choose those negative keywords.
1. Look for high volume keywords. Sort your keywords based on the ones that bring in the most impressions. Those high impression keywords are likely in need of some refinement. Use the search query report to see the actual search queries that people are typing when they see your ads.
2. Use outside sources. Take your research outside of the PPC management system. Go to major search engines and search for your high volume keywords. Look for results that are not within your industry. Look for trends in other ads that show up from keywords used in search engines. Use those ads and search results to choose new negative keywords.
3. Use the Google Trends tool. The Google Trends tool is a great way to get related keyword data on a search phrase. Type in your high volume keywords and find related search phrases that have nothing to do with your products or services.
Keep in mind that you never want to take chances when choosing negative keywords. A poorly chosen negative keyword could result in lost valid impressions and clicks. Take care when choosing negative keywords because although it can enhance the quality of your campaign, it can also keep valid customers from seeing your ads.