Using Negative Keywords in Your PPC Campaign

If you are determined to maintain a successful Google AdWords campaign, sometimes it’s best to think “negatively.” We don’t mean this literally, of course, but rather encourage pay per click managers to take advantage of the program’s use of negative keywords.

What Are Negative Keywords?

Google AdWords applies this term to words and phrases one doesn’t wish to trigger an ad impression. Let’s say, for example, you have a campaign to advertise your collectibles shop. You have set up ads to promote baseball cards, but don’t wish to attract people looking for other types of trading cards. Consequently, you don’t want to waste bid money on phrases that may bring up your ad when searched by people not looking for baseball cards. Setting your negative keywords can help prevent the unnecessary impressions.

So in your keyword list, you might add “-pokemon” or “-movie” to filter out searches for these kinds of trading cards.

Using Negative Keywords

Setting up negative keywords in your ad campaigns is quite simple. They may be included in each individual ad group, or set to affect the campaign as a whole. Depending on how you wish to see your ads perform, you may want to limit specific words to ad groups, so as to better manage performance. Google provides a tool within the AdWords program to assist you in determining which words are best to use.

By customizing your PPC advertising to filter out certain words and phrases, you provide for a more streamlined online ad campaign that can reduce the cost per click on your ads, and in turn raise the return on investment. You will attract visitors truly looking for the products and services you offer, and your bids won’t go to waste.

Kathryn Lively is a freelance writer specializing in articles on local PPC advertising and professional SEO writing services.