Save Money on Google AdWords Using Negative Keywords

Are You Leaving This Behind?

Google AdWords can be incredibly effective, but I often see businesses waste money by attracting unqualified traffic. Sometimes they are unaware that with a little more effort, their campaigns can be much more effective and cost less!  Remembering that the goal is to obtain a conversion, not a click-through is important. Using negative keywords is one way to do this.

What is a Negative Keyword?

A negative keyword is a term that businesses can use to filter out unwanted traffic. Google’s search platform has a section where we can list negative keywords, alerting Google to avoid serving ads when the query includes these terms.

How Do I Find Negative Keywords?

Negative keywords can be found in many ways. First, companies can start by thinking about the related, but undesirable terms that one could associate with their business. Next, a quick chat with employees may uncover untargeted terms used by clients and customers use. A good ole fashion web search can offer some insight into terms related to your target keywords, but won’t suit your business needs. Finally, sifting through your Pay Per Click campaign results to find unwanted search terms that triggered the display of your add is almost always productive.

Here’s a quick example to whet your appetite for using negative keywords to reduce unqualified traffic:

Negative Keyword Example: Auto Dealer

An upscale auto dealer selling Jaguar or Acura would regularly want to target keywords like “new car” and “new car shopping” but should avoid serving their ads to people uninterested in luxury brands. Serving irrelevant ads reduces the click-through rate and penalizes the advertiser by lowering the quality score. Therefore, the advertiser should use negative keywords to exclude searches that include terms like “cheap”  “affordable” or even “SUV.”

Negative Keyword Example: Lawyer

Attorneys specialize in many different fields of law, so it would be understandable for a law office to use negative keywords. Attorneys that specialize in a particular field can still use broad keywords like “lawyer Philadelphia,” “attorney Wilmington,” or “New Jersey attorney” while excluding areas in which they don’t practice. So attorneys that don’t practice DUI law should use negative keywords like “DUI,” “DWI” and “drunk” to eliminate untargeted traffic.

My Approach to Negative Keywords

So when I prepare a Pay-per-click campaign, I need to study as much as possible about a product or service, so I know what it is, and what it is not.  Some of the tools I use for negatives are:

• Google Analytics keyword log.  I look for terms that people have clicked that resulted in a bounce.  (users who leave after the first click).  Terms that have high bounce rates are candidates for negative keyword inclusion.
• Google Keyword Tool. I perform a keyword search for each campaign, scan the list for terms not relevant to the product/service I am promoting, and use those irrelevant terms for my negative keyword list
• My Brain and Common Sense. I regularly brainstorm based on product/service knowledge.  Many negative keywords are obvious and easily thought of.
• Competitive Ads.   For many keywords considered, I search for them on Google and review the ads that appear. Many times this gives insight on potential negatives.

Using negative keywords will improve your pay-per-click performance, increase profitability and make you look like a hero. It does require a little more research and set up time, but I think that it’s worth it.

Do you use negative keywords? Did I miss anything?

Paul Mosenson