In this post, we will go over the 3 benefits of negative keyword management.

What Are Negative Keywords In Google Ads?

Negative keywords let businesses exclude search terms from their campaigns to promote the keywords that are highly relevant to their customers. In short, think of negative keywords as a filter. Implementing this process will effectively increase overall targeting, place ads in front of interested users, and increase ROI.

Before we dive in, let’s cover how to add negative keywords to your Google Ads account.

How To Add Negative Keywords To Your Google Ads

Step #1 Select the campaign you want to add your negative keywords to and click the negative keywords tab.

Step #2 Click the blue (+) to start adding 

Step # 3 Make sure you are adding the appropriate negative phrase match

For search campaigns, you can use broad match, phrase match, or exact match negative keywords. However, these negative match types work differently than their positive counterparts. The main difference is that you’ll need to add synonyms, singular or plural versions, misspellings, and other close variations if you want to exclude them.

3 Benefits Of Negative Keyword Management

Benefit #1 Increased Conversion Rate

Negative keywords ensure that your ads are showing from search queries that are highly relevant to the products and services that your business offers. It helps guarantee that you are not going to get any clicks for keywords that are irrelevant to your business. As a result, you’re going to see your conversion rates go up because it will effectively increase your targeting.

Benefit #2 Decrease Cost Per Conversion

As you increase your conversion rates, you’ll notice that a vast majority of the traffic you’re sending to your site is of higher quality. Because you are successfully targeting those who are looking for your products and services, you’re also going to see a decrease in your cost per conversion as you proceed to spend less to get a sale.

Benefit #3 Increased Click-Through Rate

Some search queries will not be relevant for your ad. You might be in the restoration business, and provide water damage services. But, if your ad shows up for “water damage iPhone”, it’s probably not relevant to the searcher. A negative keyword of “iPhone” can prevent your ads from showing up on all these searches. Adding negative keywords to your campaign can boost your click-through rate (CTR) and return on investment (ROI).

Campaign Level Negative Keywords vs. Ad Group Negative Keywords

Campaign level negative keywords apply to all the ad groups inside a campaign. When you add a negative keyword at a campaign level, none of the ads within the campaign will show if the negative keyword is part of a search query.

Ad group negative keywords will apply only to the ad group. Campaign level negative keywords are great for keeping irrelevant searches out of all ad groups associated with the campaign. Still, it is essential to add negative keywords at the ad group level, because, without them, you may direct the wrong traffic to the wrong ad group, resulting in wasted ad spend, which can cause problems that you may not notice when analyzing the entire campaign.

Wrapping It Up

It is crucial to add negative keywords to your campaign because they remove unqualified traffic. Campaigns with negative keywords can drive better-targeted traffic to your landing pages. These visitors are, therefore, more likely to convert when they land on your website, which boosts your return on investment. If you need any assistance with your Google Ads, contact us today, and we are more than happy to help you get started.

Resources For Research

1. Utilize Your Google Search Term Report
2. SEM RUSH: SEMrush puts all the essential Keyword Research tools you need in one place.
3. Ultimate Google Ads Training 2020: Profit with Pay Per Click