The ROI Revolution BlogThe Positives of Keyword NegativesDecember 8, 2009
A "mistake" that we consistently see when conducting our AdWords account audit and strategy sessions, or when beginning work with a new client is that there are no negative keywords throughout the entire account. The use of negative keywords can save you hundreds of dollars every month by preventing your ads from displaying for irrelevant Google.com searches. The addition of negative keywords to your account should be made in order to have your ads show only when it is relevant to your product offering or service. The easiest (and quickest) way to find negative keywords is to use the Google AdWords Keyword Tool. This tool can be found by clicking on "Opportunities" at the top of the new AdWords user interface...
...and selecting "Keyword tool" found on the left hand side of the following page.
On the next screen you can enter a few of the keywords you are currently bidding on in your account. Let's say that you operate an office supply company. Common items you might sell include staplers, Scotch tape and paper clips. When you enter these three keywords into the tool and click "Get keyword ideas", you will see a list of keywords populate. Once the list populates you can select the match type on the far right. Use the drop down menu to select "negative".
The populated list will change to potential negative keywords that are worth consideration for inclusion in your account. You will be able to see the negative keywords suggested, as well as the number of times your ad will not show on Google.com by adding the negative keyword. In this example above, the keyword 3m may be a good negative keyword. Perhaps you do not supply 3m products for purchase, and if such was the case, adding 3m as a negative keyword would be a great tactic that could potentially save you a great deal of money. Another example is the keyword electric. This negative keyword suggestion is most likely associated with the keyword "stapler" that you entered originally to populate the list. Perhaps you offer staplers but not the electric type. Adding the keyword electric as a negative should be done so that your ad does not display and run the risk of costing you money when that visitor will only hit the back button once they land on your site because you do not have the product they want. Negative keywords are essential for making a killing with Google AdWords. This tactic will save you money, guaranteed. Need more help? Learn more about ROI Revolution's paid search management services. Permalink | Comments ( 7 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 ) Filed under: Online Advertising Posted by Matt Fritz, PPC Specialist at 10:12 AM CommentsGlenn Jimerson said: Matt you are right, negative keywords can save people a ton of money. I think a lot of people who do this on their own don't even think of negative keywords. One thing about the post. The instructions and corresponding 3rd screen shot apply if you use the old interface. You don't have that same drop down box in the new one. Great post! Matt Fritz, PPC Specialist @Glenn: Good observation. The instructions associated with the third screen shot are for the previous keyword tool interface. Google implemented a new version of the keyword tool recently but it is still in beta. Because the updated keyword tool is still in beta, we provided instructions for the version that all AdWords accounts currently have, just in case some of our reader's accounts have not yet been placed in the beta. Thanks for your comment! Siddharth Pandey said: Some keywords can have different meanings depending on context. If you don't have negative keywords listed in your campaign, it can result in your ad being triggered for queries that are not relevant to your products and/or services.
Adrian Bold - Impact Media said: Well done Matt. Negative keywords are indeed a great way to make a difference to an under-performing campaign. Dan Thies said: Is it just me, or did they remove the negative match functionality altogether the new ajax-y keyword tool? I have to click the "previous interface" link to look for negative matches. The shape of things to come? Matt Fritz, PPC Specialist @Dan: You are right in that there is no clear cut way of identifying negative keywords within the new Google Keyword Tool, which is still in beta. While this functionality has been removed you should notice a 'contains' filter on the left hand side after you conduct a keyword search with the tool. Within this section you can check or uncheck various themes related to the initial keyword search you conducted to identify negative keywords. Dan Thies said: It really is a significantly more capable tool - just weird that it doesn't do negatives. Post Your Comments |
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