Negative keywords neglect
We took on the management of a new AdWords account a few months ago. This Company were not new to AdWords, in fact they had been running AdWords campaigns on and off for over 10 years.
When we first got access to the account we went through our standard AdWords health check to get an understanding of where this account was in terms of performance.
We were shocked. Actually, we were flabbergasted to find that despite having multiple campaigns, each containing several ad groups and well over 300 keywords, with a healthy budget in excess of €100 per day, this client did not have a single negative keyword in their account.
There is only one scenario where this type of setup could work. This is where you only use [exact match] keywords. This certainly was not the case – this account contained keywords of different match types, without that is, the all-important negative keyword match type meaning the account was running wild.
Upon detailed review, we found the client was wasting over 20% of their spend per month on irrelevant, nuisance clicks
Quick recap – what are negative keywords?
So what a negative keyword? Essentially by adding a negative keyword to an ad group, will stop your adverts triggering if that term is included in the search.
For example, if you sell luxury leather handbags, you probably do not want your ad to trigger when someone searches on ‘cheap leather handbags’, so what you can do is add the keyword ‘cheap’ to your negative keyword list. Once done, going forward your adverts will never again show if someone includes the word ‘cheap’ in their search.
The negative keyword is, without question, one of your most effective and easy to use tools in your AdWords arsenal and the more attention you pay to negative keywords the sweeter your AdWords will sing.
The activity within your AdWords account will likely dictate how much time you, or the third party AdWords management company you retain, allocate to hands-on AdWords management. The addition of negative keywords however, should certainly form a key part of this.
There are two ways to identify negative keywords. The first is by using the search term report within the AdWords dashboard
Search terms in Google the Google AdWords dashboard
The search term report details the actual searches that people made that lead to keywords triggering your ads. Negative keywords can be added direct from the search term section within AdWords. Alternatively the search terms can be downloaded to excel and then reviewed more carefully, identifying the negative keywords to add to campaigns and then expanded on and refined as required.
The second way to use negatives is somewhat of a cheat! That is, there are many negative keywords that can be applied to most AdWords accounts across the board from when the account first goes live.
Below we have broken these down into different themes. Feel free to review these and if happy, include them in your AdWords campaigns as negative keywords.
Negative keywords by type
How global are you?
Perhaps you sell across the world, or maybe you don’t. Select the countries that you don’t want your ads to show on if they form part of a search (for ease I’ve grouped them by region)
| Afghanistan |
| Bangladesh |
| Bhutan |
| Brunei |
| Burma |
| Cambodia |
| China |
| East Timor |
| Hong Kong |
| India |
| Indonesia |
| Iran |
| Japan |
| Korea, North |
| Korea, South |
| Laos |
| Macau |
| Malaysia |
| Maldives |
| Mongolia |
| Nepal |
| Pakistan |
| Philippines |
| Singapore |
| Sri Lanka |
| Taiwan |
| Thailand |
| Vietnam |
| Estonia |
| Latvia |
| Lithuania |
| Armenia |
| Azerbaijan |
| Belarus |
| Georgia |
| Kazakhstan |
| Kyrgyzstan |
| Moldova |
| Russia |
| Tajikistan |
| Turkmenistan |
| Ukraine |
| Uzbekistan |
| Albania |
| Bosnia & Herzegovina |
| Bulgaria |
| Croatia |
| Czech Republic |
| Hungary |
| Macedonia |
| Poland |
| Romania |
| Serbia |
| Slovakia |
| Slovenia |
| Anguilla |
| Antigua & Barbuda |
| Argentina |
| Aruba |
| Bahamas, The |
| Barbados |
| Belize |
| Bolivia |
| Brazil |
| British Virgin Is. |
| Cayman Islands |
| Chile |
| Colombia |
| Costa Rica |
| Cuba |
| Dominica |
| Dominican Republic |
| Ecuador |
| El Salvador |
| French Guiana |
| Grenada |
| Guadeloupe |
| Guatemala |
| Guyana |
| Haiti |
| Honduras |
| Jamaica |
| Martinique |
| Mexico |
| Montserrat |
| Netherlands Antilles |
| Nicaragua |
| Panama |
| Paraguay |
| Peru |
| Puerto Rico |
| Saint Kitts & Nevis |
| Saint Lucia |
| Saint Vincent and the Grenadines |
| Suriname |
| Trinidad & Tobago |
| Turks & Caicos Is |
| Uruguay |
| Venezuela |
| Virgin Islands |
| Bahrain |
| Cyprus |
| Gaza Strip |
| Iraq |
| Israel |
| Jordan |
| Kuwait |
| Lebanon |
| Oman |
| Qatar |
| Saudi Arabia |
| Syria |
| Turkey |
| United Arab Emirates |
| West Bank |
| Yemen |
| Algeria |
| Egypt |
| Libya |
| Morocco |
| Tunisia |
| Western Sahara |
| Bermuda |
| Canada |
| Greenland |
| St Pierre & Miquelon |
| United States |
| American Samoa |
| Australia |
| Cook Islands |
| Fiji |
| French Polynesia |
| Guam |
| Kiribati |
| Marshall Islands |
| Micronesia, Fed. St. |
| Nauru |
| New Caledonia |
| New Zealand |
| N. Mariana Islands |
| Palau |
| Papua New Guinea |
| Samoa |
| Solomon Islands |
| Tonga |
| Tuvalu |
| Vanuatu |
| Wallis and Futuna |
| Angola |
| Benin |
| Botswana |
| Burkina Faso |
| Burundi |
| Cameroon |
| Cape Verde |
| Central African Rep. |
| Chad |
| Comoros |
| Congo, Dem. Rep. |
| Congo, Repub. of the |
| Cote d’Ivoire |
| Djibouti |
| Equatorial Guinea |
| Eritrea |
| Ethiopia |
| Gabon |
| Gambia, The |
| Ghana |
| Guinea |
| Guinea-Bissau |
| Kenya |
| Lesotho |
| Liberia |
| Madagascar |
| Malawi |
| Mali |
| Mauritania |
| Mauritius |
| Mayotte |
| Mozambique |
| Namibia |
| Niger |
| Nigeria |
| Reunion |
| Rwanda |
| Saint Helena |
| Sao Tome & Principe |
| Senegal |
| Seychelles |
| Sierra Leone |
| Somalia |
| South Africa |
| Sudan |
| Swaziland |
| Tanzania |
| Togo |
| Uganda |
| Zambia |
| Zimbabwe |
| Andorra |
| Austria |
| Belgium |
| Denmark |
| Faroe Islands |
| Finland |
| France |
| Germany |
| Gibraltar |
| Greece |
| Guernsey |
| Iceland |
| Ireland |
| Isle of Man |
| Italy |
| Jersey |
| Liechtenstein |
| Luxembourg |
| Malta |
| Monaco |
| Netherlands |
| Norway |
| Portugal |
| San Marino |
| Spain |
| Sweden |
| Switzerland |
| United Kingdom |
All of Ireland, some of Ireland, or just one county?
If you only sell goods or services in certain counties, you could add negative counties.
| Antrim |
| Armagh |
| Carlow |
| Cavan |
| Clare |
| Cork |
| Derry |
| Donegal |
| Down |
| Dublin |
| Fermanagh |
| Galway |
| Kerry |
| Kildare |
| Kilkenny |
| Laois |
| Leitrum |
| Limerick |
| Longford |
| Louth |
| Mayo |
| Meath |
| Monaghan |
| Offaly |
| Roscommon |
| Sligo |
| Tipperary |
| Tyrone |
| Waterford |
| Westmeath |
| Wexford |
| Wicklow |
Tech and software
| ajax |
| apple |
| burn |
| burner |
| c++ |
| cd |
| code |
| community |
| dbase |
| delphi |
| desktop |
| developer |
| developers |
| disk |
| DIY |
| do-it-yourself |
| download |
| downloads |
| dvd |
| error |
| excel |
| file |
| filemaker |
| files |
| flash |
| forum |
| fox |
| free |
| freeware |
| game |
| games |
| gnu |
| hack |
| hacks |
| java |
| libraries |
| library |
| linux |
| mac |
| macintosh |
| mdb |
| microsoft |
| microsoft |
| mysql |
| open source |
| os x |
| osx |
| php |
| public domain |
| retail |
| retailer |
| retailers |
| sample |
| schema |
| shareware |
| sheet |
| shortcut |
| shortcuts |
| source |
| spreadsheet |
| sql |
| template |
| templates |
| tip |
| tips |
| unix |
| vb |
| video |
| visual basic |
| windows |
| xls |
| xml |
| xsl |
Education & Learning
| book |
| books |
| class |
| classes |
| college |
| colleges |
| course |
| courses |
| learn |
| school |
| schools |
| textbook |
| textbooks |
| training |
| tutorial |
| tutorials |
| universities |
| university |
Research and Information
| about |
| article |
| articles |
| association |
| associations |
| book |
| books |
| case studies |
| case study |
| definition |
| diagram |
| example |
| examples |
| guide |
| guides |
| history |
| how do i |
| how to |
| info |
| information |
| journal |
| journals |
| magazine |
| magazines |
| map |
| maps |
| metrics |
| news |
| opinion |
| opinions |
| photo |
| photos |
| pics |
| picture |
| pictures |
| rating |
| ratings |
| research |
| review |
| reviews |
| sample |
| samples |
| statistics |
| stats |
| success stories |
| success story |
| tutorial |
| tutorials |
| what are |
| what i |
| what is |
| white paper |
| white papers |
Legal & regulations
| act |
| act |
| act of |
| act of |
| compliance |
| compliance |
| law |
| law |
| laws |
| laws |
| legal |
| legal |
| legislation |
| legislation |
| regarding |
| regulation |
| regulation |
| regulations |
| regulations |
Manufacturers & Industrial
| antique |
| consumer |
| export |
| exporter |
| exporters |
| hobby |
| import |
| importer |
| importers |
| measurement |
| model |
| models |
| regulations |
| rent |
| rental |
| repair |
| repairs |
| retail |
| retailer |
| retailers |
| rules |
| safety |
| specifications |
| specs |
| standards |
| store |
| toy |
| toys |
| used |
| vintage |
Products
| aluminum |
| ceramic |
| cotton |
| fabric |
| glass |
| gold |
| iron |
| leather |
| metal |
| paper |
| plastic |
| rubber |
| silver |
| stainless steel |
| steel |
| stone |
| vinyl |
| wood |
Do it yourself
| craft |
| crafts |
| create |
| creating |
| DIY |
| Do it yourself |
| hand made |
| handmade |
| home |
| homemade |
| how can |
| how do |
| how does |
| how to |
| make |
| making |
| when can |
| when i |
| where can |
Cheap & Bargain
| bargain |
| clearance |
| close out |
| close outs |
| closeout |
| closeouts |
| discount |
| discounted |
| free |
| freebie |
| freebsd |
| freeware |
| giveaway |
| gnu |
| gratis |
| gratuit |
| inexpensive |
| liquidation |
| no charge |
| no cost |
Adult
Add your own words here…….!
Which negative keyword match type should you use?
Like with normal keywords you have options in terms of match types:
Negative broad – this match type can filter out many variations of the selected word. Every word that you have in the negative keyword will need to appear in the query for the negative keyword to filter it out. For example if you have the negative broad match term blue suede shoes and someone searches, where do i buy shoes that are blue suede, your ads will not show. This is quit similar to how broad match modified keywords work.
Negative phrase – this match type (marked with quotation marks ” “) will filter out any phrases included within the quotation marks. For example, having “blue suede shoes” as a negative keyword will prevent your ads showing if someone’s search includes the phrase blue suede shoes, however, ads would show if someone searches for blue shoes.
Negative exact – this match type (marked with square brackets [ ]) will filter out exact searches. For example, if your negative is [blue suede shoes] and someone searches new blue suede shoes your ad will still appear as it does not match the negative term exactly.
Should negative keywords be added at the campaign or the ad group level?
The account structure, the set up of the campaigns and ad groups, and the actual negative keyword in question should be considered when deciding at what level to add a negative keyword. Adding keywords at ad group level gives you much more control however, requires more hands-on management. Like other aspects of AdWords the more time that can be devoted to management the better the results will be.
Summary
The regular addition of negative keywords should be one of your most important monthly AdWords management tasks. The examples of negative keywords provided above can be added to your own campaigns and ad groups, applying the appropriate match type. When adding them, take care to ensure all the keywords you select are negatives for you, otherwise you might find your ads not running when you want them to. When used properly, Negative keywords, will reduce wasted spend and make your account perform better.
Do you want to find out more about Negative keywords? Or are you looking to out source your Google AdWords Management? Drop us a line at SWOT Digital and we’d be happy to discuss how we can help you.
