Pay-per-click advertising is a boon for every business to get traffic, leads, and increased sales. But with your ad budget sharing attention with rivals and a shortage of space in the market, ads need to get clicked too as often, if not more so, than its rival. Negative keywords are one technique most pay-per-click advertisers have forgotten about. These can significantly increase the effectiveness of your campaign by refining audience targeting and reducing misdirected ad spending.
This post is about negative keywords, what it is all about, and how to employ them for superior outcomes in PPC campaigns.
What Are Negative Keywords?
Negative keywords are those words or phrases which you do not want your ads to show to people, including them in their search queries. You don’t want your ads to get triggered for these keywords.
Let’s say you trade in expensive shoes and don’t have discounts then adding ”cheap” as a negative keyword will ensure your ads don’t appear when someone searches for ”cheap luxury shoes.”. It helps to keep you away from clicks by your target audience.
Why Are Negative Keywords Important?
Negative keywords are essential for several reasons:
- Reduced Wasted Spend: With suitable filters, you can block irrelevant searches from eating up your budget and spend only on users with high purchase intent.
- Improved Click-Through Rate (CTR): When your ads hit the right audience, they are more likely to click, thus increasing your CTR.
- Better Quality Score: If your ads are relevant, they’ll get a higher Quality Score and can have a lower cost per click (CPC).
- Optimised Conversion Rates: The more focused your ad is, the better the chance of turning clicks into conversions.
Steps to Use Negative Keywords Effectively
1. Conduct Keyword Research
If you want to use negative keywords effectively, your first step is thorough keyword research. Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, or Ahrefs can help you identify the keywords driving poor-quality traffic to your ads.
Find terms that seem remotely connected to your product or service but are about something other than what you’re selling. For example, if you are a PPC company offering premium services, you’d want to remove keywords like ”free PPC tools”.
2. Analyse Search Term Reports
Google Ads or Bing Ads search term reports show you what search queries your ads are triggered on. These reports are a good one to run from time to time to clean up your keywords, deleting any that are irrelevant or don’t appear to have the intent.
For example, if your ad is about top-notch PPC management and you see searches such as “DIY PPC setup”, you know that “DIY” needs to be added in negative keywords.
3. Categorise Your Negative Keywords
Negative keywords can be divided into three match types:
- Broad Match: It does not include searches with the keyword in any order.
- Phrase Match: Specific phrases are excluded by searches in that order.
- Exact Match: Prevents search with only specified keywords.
You can use any of these match types based on your goal. For example, a PPC expert can use broad matches to target broader exclusions and phrase matches for the narrow set that are also irrelevant.
4. Test and Refine
PPC campaigns are not “set and forget it type” projects. Adapt your negative keyword list to changing search behaviour to test and refine. The easiest thing to do is monitor your campaign performance metrics – your CTR, Quality Score and conversion rates – to see the impact of your changes.
5. Use Negative Keywords Strategically Across Campaigns
If you have multiple PPC campaigns and run various campaigns, consider setting up a shared negative keyword list across all the campaigns for any irrelevant terms you’re finding. It’s consistent and saves time.
The big idea here is that if, for example, a white-label pay-per-click agency wants to avoid targeting users searching for jobs or part-time jobs from any of their campaigns, they don’t need to include these terms within their respective campaigns.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Being Overly Restrictive: Adding negative keywords is essential, but being too aggressive will limit your reach. Exclude a keyword only after you are reasonably sure that it’s irrelevant.
- Neglecting Search Term Reports: Regular analysis is crucial. With it, you can save ad spend on clicks that don’t matter.
- Ignoring Match Types: You can exclude too many searches or not, depending upon the usage of the wrong match type. Match types are chosen very carefully depending on your intent.
The Role of PPC Experts in Managing Negative Keywords
It’s especially tough to manage negative keywords if you’re a newbie to PPC or have a small budget. It’s here where a PPC marketing agency or professionals could strengthen the process. The professionals in them have the experience to perform in-depth analysis, implement the correct strategies and optimise campaigns for maximum RoI.
SEO Web Key is an expert in PPC campaigns and helps you enhance them through advanced negative keyword management. Our tailor-made solutions let you enjoy the benefits of reaching the right audience while keeping a handle on your costs.
Final Thoughts
Incorporating negative keywords into your PPC strategy is straightforward but powerful to maximise PPC efficiency. With fewer irrelevant search terms, you save on wasted spend, improve the relevance of your ad, and get higher results for your business. Positive keywords are just the beginning, and regardless of whether you are running the campaigns yourself or you use professionals, negative keywords are a cornerstone in your PPC toolkit.
Get a better sense of negativity and how to use negative keywords in your PPC campaigns today.
