Ways PPC Consultants Look for Negative Keywords

Continually monitoring your negative keywords is incredibly important in your Google Adwords accounts. Before getting into the details, it’s necessary to define what a negative keyword is.

Within your Google Adwords account, keywords are required to run any search ads. If you are already creating a Google Adwords campaign, you are familiar with this. You add your keywords to an account, and Google will start matching you with the relevant search terms. To be clear, the search terms are what the user actually types into Google search. Negative keywords allow you to block out certain searches. You can add searches in as negative keywords and not have to worry about paying for those clicks. Negatives keywords can use exact, phrase, and broad match. Each having a different use case.

You might think that if you create the perfect keyword lists, there would be no need for negative keywords. Unfortunately, this is not the case. With billions of searches conducted on Google each day, it is impossible to predict all of the ways your keywords will be searched. Even with the tools Google Adwords management agencies use to monitor searches, it’s still impossible to predict every search. And if you are only using Exact Match keywords, Google has introduced the new feature of “close variations.” This means for exact and phrase match keywords, Google can match you to variations, synonyms, and searches that have the same intent as your phrase. Most of the time, this is very helpful; Google is matching you to high quality traffic beyond the scope of your keywords. But this can also get a little too broad, matching you to searches that you do not want to pay for. Start expanding to broad match types, and your search query reports can start to look very messy.

How Google Adwords Management Services Find Negative Keywords

1. Look for Search Terms Without Conversions

Not every search term will always convert, and that’s fine. But as your campaigns acquire more and more data, watch out for terms that do not convert and have high volume. If the number one search term in your report has never converted, this means you’re spending most of the money on low-quality traffic. Keep a close eye on the search term report, set a limit on the acceptable range, and add the search terms in as negative keywords that exceed the limit.

2. Look for Keywords with Poor Google Analytics Metrics

If you have no conversion tracking in place, this is one of the better ways to analyze your search terms. Look for the terms with a high bounce rate and low average session duration. This commonly means that users are not getting what they are looking for on your website or are not in your target audience. If there are terms with a high cost and perform poorly in these areas, look to block them out.

3. Watch Out for Ambiguous Search Terms

Ambiguous search terms are those like “apple.” The user could be looking for images of the fruit, or it’s more likely they are looking up “Apple,” the tech giant. Watch your keywords and search terms and make sure that you have the correct user intent.

As you monitor your search campaign keep these 3 tips in mind. Using this, you will be able to find the unwanted search terms to block out of your account.