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What are negative keywords?
Negative keywords are keywords that you specify in your Google Ads campaigns to prevent your ads from showing up when certain search terms are used. Essentially, they allow you to exclude irrelevant or undesirable search queries from triggering your ads. This helps to filter out unqualified traffic, reducing wasted ad spend and ensuring that your ads are shown only to users who are more likely to be interested in what you’re offering.
Why Are Negative Keywords Important?
- Cost Efficiency: By excluding irrelevant searches, you avoid paying for clicks that won’t lead to conversions, which helps you make better use of your budget.
- Higher Relevance: Negative keywords ensure that your ads are shown only to users with high purchase intent or interest, improving the relevance of your traffic.
- Improved Click-Through Rate (CTR): By reducing irrelevant impressions, negative keywords can help improve your CTR, which is an important factor in determining your ad’s Quality Score and overall performance.
- Better Conversion Rates: Filtering out unqualified traffic means that the visitors who do click on your ads are more likely to convert, whether that means making a purchase, filling out a form, or completing another valuable action.
How Negative Keywords Work
When you add negative keywords to your Google Ads account, they will prevent your ads from appearing when someone searches for those terms. For example, if you sell premium shoes and don’t want your ads to show for searches containing the word “cheap,” you could add “cheap” as a negative keyword.
Types of Negative Keywords Match Types:
Just like regular keywords, negative keywords can have different match types, which control how broad or specific the exclusions are:
- Negative Broad Match:
- With this match type, your ad won’t show for any search query that contains the negative keyword in any order or form. It’s the most inclusive way to exclude terms, but can be broad in scope.
- Example: Adding “free” as a negative broad match keyword will exclude any searches containing the word “free,” such as “free running shoes,” “free shipping shoes,” or “free offers for shoes.”
- Negative Phrase Match:
- Your ad won’t show if the search query contains the exact phrase or close variation of the negative keyword.
- Example: Adding “buy shoes cheap” as a negative phrase match will exclude queries like “buy shoes cheap online,” but will still allow searches like “buy shoes” or “cheap running shoes.”
- Negative Exact Match:
- This option excludes your ad from appearing only for the exact term or close variations of it.
- Example: Adding “cheap running shoes” as a negative exact match will exclude just that exact term, but it would still allow variations such as “cheap running sneakers” or “buy cheap shoes.”
Where to Add Negative Keywords:
- Campaign level: This applies to all ad groups within the campaign.
- Ad group level: This applies only to specific ad groups, which gives you more granular control over exclusions.
- Shared negative keyword list: You can create a shared list of negative keywords and apply it across multiple campaigns or ad groups to save time and ensure consistency.
Examples of Common Negative Keywords:
- Price-sensitive terms (if you sell premium or high-end products):
- Cheap, free, discount, low-cost, bargain, etc.
- Irrelevant categories (if your product or service doesn’t match certain interests):
- Jobs, careers, hiring, free trial, etc.
- Geographic exclusions (if you only serve certain regions):
- Country names or cities outside your service area.
- Non-commercial queries (if the intent isn’t to buy or convert):
- How to, reviews, tutorial, tips, guide, etc.
How to Choose Negative Keywords:
- Identify irrelevant terms: Think about words or phrases that are irrelevant to your business and could lead to unqualified clicks. For example, if you sell luxury shoes, users searching for “cheap” or “discount” shoes are likely not your target customers.
- Use keyword research tools: Tools like Google Keyword Planner can help identify irrelevant keywords or search terms that could waste your budget.
- Review search query reports: Google Ads provides a Search Terms Report, which shows the exact terms users searched for when your ad was triggered. This can help you identify negative keywords and fine-tune your exclusion list.
- Monitor and update regularly: Negative keywords should be updated periodically as your campaign evolves and new irrelevant terms emerge.
Summary of Benefits:
- Wasted spend reduction: Negative keywords ensure you’re not paying for irrelevant clicks, which optimizes your budget.
- Higher CTR and Conversion Rate: More qualified traffic will visit your site, leading to higher chances of conversion.
- Better campaign performance: By refining the targeting, you improve your campaign’s overall effectiveness and Quality Score.
Example Scenario:
If you are running an online store selling premium shoes and want to avoid attracting users looking for cheap or free products:
- You would add terms like “cheap,” “free,” “discount,” and “bargain” as negative keywords.
- By doing so, your ad won’t show for search queries like “free running shoes,” “cheap shoes sale,” or “bargain athletic footwear.”
- This prevents you from spending money on clicks from users whose intent is not to buy at a premium price point.
In conclusion, negative keywords are a vital tool in Google Ads for excluding irrelevant searches, optimizing your budget, improving CTR and conversions, and enhancing the overall effectiveness of your ads.
