Importance of Negative Keywords
Many of the ‘homemade’ accounts that I see, make no use of negative keywords, which is a serious mistake. Here’s the deal, if you type in your keywords without quotation marks for phrase match, or square brackets for specific match. Then your keywords are all set for what Google calls ‘Broad Match’. This means that ANY search phrase containing your keyword phrase (in any order) will return your ad.
Example:
Your keyword listing for “ice cream” (without the quotation marks) will display your ad when the following phrases are searched on:
ice cream maker
ice cream franchise
ice cream recipe
ice cream flavor
ben and jerry ice cream
ice cream parlor
ice cream addiction
Assuming that you don’t offer all of these products/services on your website, you have a problem because your ad is less relevant, and will get a lower CTR – and that means a higher cost per click.
If your site sells ice cream makers, you should use word such as “franchise” and “parlor” as negative keywords, so that your listing would not appear for these search phrases.
How to use it:
Typically I add negative keywords at the Ad Group level, which is very simple. Click the “Edit Keywords” link and simply add your negative keywords to the bottom of your keyword list. They should be formatted with a minus sign and no spacing. Example: “-addiction” (without the quotation marks).
