The Definitive Guide to Negative Keywords

Negative keywords are particularly useful in pay-per-click (PPC) advertising campaigns, where you want to optimize your budget and ensure that your ads are shown to the most qualified audience. By excluding irrelevant search terms, you can improve the overall performance and effectiveness of your advertising efforts.

Negative Keywords Meaning

Negative keywords are specific words or phrases that you can add to your advertising campaigns to prevent your ads from being shown to users who are searching for those particular terms. By adding negative keywords, you can refine your targeting and ensure that your ads are only displayed to the most relevant audience.

For example, if you are selling high-end luxury watches, you might add "cheap" or "affordable" as negative keywords to avoid attracting users who are looking for inexpensive watches. This helps you avoid wasting ad spend on clicks from users who are unlikely to convert into customers.

Types of Negative Keywords

There are several types of negative keywords that you can use to refine your advertising campaigns:

1. Irrelevant Keywords: These are keywords that are not related to your products or services. For example, if you sell shoes, you may want to add negative keywords like "hats" or "bags" to prevent your ads from showing up for searches related to these items.
2. Low-Quality Keywords: These are keywords that indicate a user is looking for free or low-quality products or services. For example, if you offer premium software, you may want to add negative keywords like "free software" or "cracked software" to avoid attracting users who are not willing to pay for your product.
3. Competitor Keywords: These are keywords related to your competitors' brand names or specific products. Adding negative keywords for your competitors' names can help prevent your ads from showing up when users search for them, ensuring that your advertising budget is not wasted on users who are specifically looking for your competitors.
4. Geographic Keywords: If your business operates in specific locations, you may want to add negative keywords for areas outside of your target market. For example, if you only serve customers in the United States, you can add negative keywords for other countries to prevent your ads from showing up for users searching from those locations.
5. Broad Keywords: If you are using broad match keywords in your campaigns, you may want to add negative keywords to exclude certain variations or specific terms that are not relevant to your business

Negative Keywords Example

Here are some examples of negative keywords that you might use in different industries:

1. E-commerce: 

• Free: If you don't offer free products or services, you can add "free" as a negative keyword to avoid attracting users looking for freebies.
• Cheap: If your products or services are not budget-friendly, you can add "cheap" as a negative keyword to avoid attracting users looking for low-cost options.
• Used: If you only sell new products, you can add "used" as a negative keyword to avoid attracting users looking for second-hand items.

2. Travel:

• Jobs: If you offer travel services and not job opportunities, you can add "jobs" as a negative keyword to avoid attracting users searching for travel-related jobs.
• DIY: If you provide travel packages and not do-it-yourself options, you can add "DIY" as a negative keyword to avoid attracting users looking for self-planned trips.
• Reviews: If you don't want to target users looking for reviews of your travel services, you can add "reviews" as a negative keyword.

3. Health and Fitness:

• Free trial: If you don't offer free trials of your fitness programs or products, you can add "free trial" as a negative keyword to avoid attracting users looking for trial offers.
• Home remedies: If you provide professional health services and not home remedies, you can add "home remedies" as a negative keyword to avoid attracting users looking for DIY solutions.

Negative Keywords List

A negative keyword list is a collection of keywords or phrases that you specify to exclude from your advertising campaigns. These are terms that are not relevant to your products, services, or target audience, and you want to prevent your ads from showing up when users search for these terms.

Regularly reviewing and updating your negative keyword list is important to ensure that your ads are not being shown for irrelevant searches and to optimize the effectiveness of your advertising campaigns.

Here are some examples of negative keywords that you might consider adding to your advertising campaigns:

• Free
• Cheap
• Affordable
• Discount
• Low-cost
• Bargain
• Used
• DIY
• Tutorial
• Jobs
• Careers
• Employment
• Internship
• Volunteer
• Rental
• Lease
• Repair
• Troubleshoot
• Support
• Complaint

These are just a few examples, and the specific negative keywords you choose will depend on your industry, target audience, and advertising goals. It's important to regularly review and update your negative keyword list to ensure that your ads are being shown to the most relevant audience.

Negative Keywords Phrase Match

Here are some examples of negative keyword phrases in phrase match format:

• "free shipping"
• "cheap products"
• "affordable services"
• "discount codes"
• "low-cost alternatives"
• "bargain deals"
• "used items"
• "DIY tutorials"
• "job openings"
• "career opportunities"
• "employment agencies"
• "internship programs"
• "volunteer work"
• "rental services"
• "lease agreements"
• "repair services"
• "troubleshoot problems"
• "customer support"
• "complaint resolution"

Remember to adjust and customize these phrases based on your specific advertising needs and target audience. Regularly reviewing and updating your negative keyword list is essential to optimize your ad campaigns.

Negative keywords Improves

Negative keywords are terms or phrases that you specify to exclude from your keyword targeting in Google Ads or other advertising platforms. They help you refine your targeting and prevent your ads from showing up for irrelevant searches. Here's how you can use negative keywords:

1. Identify Irrelevant Keywords

Review your existing keyword data and identify any keywords that are not relevant to your business or that are generating low-quality traffic. These are the keywords you'll want to exclude.

2. Use Keyword Research Tools

Utilize keyword research tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, or Moz to identify potential negative keywords. Look for keywords that are related to your industry but are not relevant to your specific products or services.

3. Analyze Search Terms Report

In Google Ads, navigate to the "Search Terms" report under the "Keywords" tab. This report shows you the actual search terms that triggered your ads. Identify any irrelevant search terms and add them as negative keywords.

4. Add Negative Keywords to Campaigns

In your Google Ads account, go to the "Keywords" tab and select the campaign or ad group where you want to add negative keywords. Click on the "Negative Keywords" tab and add the irrelevant keywords you identified.

5. Use Match Types

When adding negative keywords, you can use different match types to control how your ads are excluded. The match types include broad match, phrase match, and exact match. Choose the appropriate match type based on your specific needs.