Negative Keywords

What are negative keywords?

Negative keywords prevent your ad from showing for irrelevant searches. This helps you avoid paying for clicks that won’t convert.

In Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising, negative keywords play a crucial role in ensuring that your ads are shown only to relevant audiences. Negative keywords are terms or phrases that you specify in your PPC campaigns to prevent your ads from appearing when those specific words are used in a search query. By using negative keywords effectively, you can refine your audience targeting, reduce wasted ad spend, and improve the overall performance of your campaigns.

The Purpose of Negative Keywords

The primary purpose of negative keywords is to filter out irrelevant search queries that are not aligned with your business objectives. When you include negative keywords in your campaign, you tell the advertising platform (such as Google Ads or Microsoft Advertising) that you don’t want your ads to appear for searches containing those specific terms. This helps you avoid paying for clicks from users who are unlikely to convert, allowing you to focus your budget on users who are more likely to be interested in your products or services.

For example, if you are a company that sells premium furniture, you may want to exclude terms like “cheap” or “discount” from triggering your ads. Including these prevents your ads from being shown to users searching for low-cost options, which may not align with the premium nature of your products.

Types of Negative Keywords

Negative keywords can be set at different levels and with varying degrees of specificity. There are three primary types of negative keywords that you can use in your PPC campaigns:

  • Negative Broad Match: Negative broad match is the default setting for negative keywords. With this option, your ad will not appear if the search query contains all of the negative keyword terms in any order. For example, if you add “free trial” as a negative broad match keyword, your ad will not appear for any search that includes both “free” and “trial,” even if they are not in that exact order. However, your ad could still show for searches like “trial membership” or “free offer.”
  • Negative Phrase Match: A negative phrase match keyword prevents your ad from showing if the search query includes the exact phrase in the same word order. If you specify “free trial” as a negative phrase match keyword, your ad will not appear for searches like “free trial membership,” but it could still appear for queries like “trial for free.”
  • Negative Exact Match: Negative exact match keywords are the most restrictive. If you add a negative exact match keyword, your ad will not appear if the search query matches the keyword exactly, without any additional words. For instance, if you add “free trial” as a negative exact match, your ad will not show only for searches that exactly match “free trial,” but it could still appear for searches like “get free trial” or “best free trial.”

Benefits of Using Negative Keywords

  • Reducing Irrelevant Clicks: One of the most important benefits of using negative keywords is that they prevent your ads from being shown to users who are searching for irrelevant products, services, or information. This can save you money by ensuring you don’t pay for clicks that are unlikely to lead to conversions.
  • Improving Conversion Rates: By filtering out irrelevant traffic, negative keywords help ensure that your ads are seen by a more qualified audience. Users who see your ads are more likely to be interested in what you’re offering, which can lead to higher conversion rates. Focusing on high-intent keywords ensures that your ad budget is spent on users who are more likely to take the desired action, such as making a purchase or filling out a contact form.
  • Optimising Ad Spend: Negative keywords help optimise your ad budget by preventing wasted spend on clicks from irrelevant search queries. This allows you to allocate your budget toward more targeted keywords that are more likely to generate leads or sales. As a result, you can lower your cost-per-click (CPC) and cost-per-acquisition (CPA), making your campaigns more efficient and cost-effective.
  • Enhancing Campaign Performance: Negative keywords can improve the overall performance of your PPC campaigns by ensuring your ads appear only for the most relevant searches. This leads to higher click-through rates (CTR) and improved Quality Scores, which in turn can lower your CPC and give you better ad positioning. A well-optimised negative keyword list can make your ads more competitive and increase your ROI.

How to Identify Negative Keywords

Finding the right negative keywords requires continuous monitoring and analysis. Here are a few ways to identify negative keywords for your campaigns:

  • Search Term Reports: Platforms like Google Ads provide a search term report, which shows you the actual search queries that triggered your ads. By reviewing this report, you can identify terms that are irrelevant to your business and add them to your negative keyword list. For instance, if you notice that your ad is appearing for searches like “free software” but you sell paid solutions, “free” could be added as a negative keyword.
  • Competitor and Industry Research: Analysing competitor ads and industry trends can also help you discover these. By reviewing which terms your competitors are targeting and which ones don’t align with your business, you can build a more effective keyword strategy.
  • Customer Feedback and Intent: Understanding the intent behind customer searches is key to finding negative keywords. If certain search terms indicate users are looking for something your business doesn’t offer, adding those terms as negative keywords ensures your ads won’t show for those queries.

In conclusion, negative keywords are a powerful tool for optimising PPC campaigns. By preventing your ads from appearing in irrelevant searches, negative keywords help improve ad relevance, reduce wasted clicks, and increase your campaign’s overall performance. Regularly reviewing and updating your negative keyword list is crucial for ensuring that your ad spend is focused on attracting the most qualified and interested users, leading to higher conversions and better ROI.

For more information on negative keywords contact Click Return.


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