Google Ads is a fantastic place for businesses to attract more customers and visitors and attract their proper attention online. However, ensuring the campaign is successful via Google Ads is more than just a matter of including good keywords but avoiding the wrong ones. This is where negative keywords come in.

Negative keywords are an excellent way to improve your Google Ads and ensure the ads reach the right people. This is crucial to make ad spending productive for Three Angle Marketing and gain the best ROI. In this article, we shall discuss negative keywords, why they are relevant, how they can be employed, and, most of all, how they can further improve your Google Ads campaigns.

What are Negative Keywords?

Negative keywords are those words or phrases that stop your visibility in searches that have nothing to do with your business. Negative keywords act as filters, preventing unwanted traffic entering your products, services, and goals. In a nutshell, negative keywords inform Google of searches you do not want your ads to appear for, so it spends your budget only on those who are interested.

For example, if you are marketing luxury designer handbags, you would probably want negative keywords such as “cheap handbags” or “budget handbags.” People typing those words will probably search for the cheaper varieties, not your target.

Why Negative Keywords Matter for Your Google Ads

1. To Reach The Right Audience

Negative keywords offer security that helps you ensure that the ads will only reach those who are very interested in your products. By targeting actual potential customers—those who are more likely to buy from you—the fewer irrelevant clicks you get on your ads, the more likely you are to serve them to people who resemble your ideal customer profile.

For example, if your digital marketing courses are charged, you can include “free” in the negative keywords to exclude people looking for free classes rather than paid courses.

2. Click-Through Rate (CTR) Improved

Negative keywords enhance your CTR, which indicates how relevant your ads are to users. The higher the CTR, the more suitable ads reach the target audience, improving the quality score. All these result in a high-quality score, reducing costs and getting you better ad placement.

Removing irrelevant search words prevents your ad from reaching people who would not be interested. As a result, more people click the ad, which increases your CTR.

3. Save Money

Ad budgets are typically limited; therefore, every penny spent must count. Negative keywords help avoid wasting your ad budget on clicks from people interested in virtually anything but purchasing your product or service. The better the precision of your keyword targeting is, the better your ad will be managed, which means that at a reduced cost, it will give you more ROI.

For example, an “eCommerce SEO service” provider might opt for the negative keyword “SEO jobs” for sale. The rationale is that ads will not be shown to people searching for those jobs since they are not potential clients.

4. More Conversion Potential

Your primary purpose for running a Google Ads campaign is to maximize conversion. Negative keywords increase the chances that you will present your ads to those users who are most interested in your product or service and, therefore, likely to convert. Filtering out low-interest users will ensure your landing page gets valuable traffic related to your goals.

Negative keywords operate as a filter that lets only the most relevant users reach your ads. Therefore, this would result in a higher conversion rate and better-quality customers.

Finding Negative Keywords for Your Campaign

1. Check the Search Terms Report

The Search Terms Report in Google Ads is beneficial for identifying negative keywords. It shows actual searches that drove your ads. Review this report regularly and identify words not related to the content you are presenting so you can add them to your negative keyword list.

For example, if you notice that your ads show up for the term “DIY website design” and you only build professional sites, “DIY” is an excellent negative keyword.

2. Keyword research tools 

Other tools that can help you get your possible negative keywords are SEMrush, Ahrefs, or Google Keyword Planner. In researching relevant keywords, you will pay attention to related searches that do not correspond to your business and add them as negative keywords.

3. Understand User Intent

Identify your keywords, which can then help you identify negative keywords. People search for diverse content for different purposes—for instance, to know, guide, or buy. Block keywords that do not support the company’s business model.

For example, when running ads for “luxury watches,” one should block “how to fix a watch.” This keyword is for those who intend to learn, not for those with a buying intent.

How to Use Negative Keywords in Your Google Ads Campaign

Add Negative Keywords at the Campaign or Ad Group Level

You can add negative keywords at the campaign and ad group level. You will add the negative keywords at the campaign level for all the ad groups. They will impact only certain ad groups when added at the ad group level.

Use Negative Keyword Lists

However, you can use negative keyword lists if multiple campaigns contain the exact negative keywords. You can apply them across various campaigns, saving time and ensuring your keywords remain the same.

For example, in an eCommerce site, if you are running different types of ads for various product categories, then a negative keyword list such as “free shipping,” “cheap,” and “DIY” can be assigned to campaigns for premium products.

Match Types for Negative Keywords

Negative keywords could be broad, phrase, or exact match types, just like regular keywords. Proper usage of the match type means that in all the millions of instances when your ad shows up for irrelevant searches, it serves the right prospective customer.

• Broad Match: This will block your ad from displaying for a search that includes the full negative keyword terms, regardless of order. Use broad match with care, as it blocks too many searches.
• Phrase Match: This will block ads for searches containing the exact keyword phrase. This helps you remove specific sets of words.
• Exact Match: It will keep your ad from showing for an exact match search on the negative keyword. Use this when you think a term is entirely irrelevant.

Mistakes in Negative Keywords to Avoid Commonly

1. Too Many Negative Keywords

Negative keywords are undoubtedly significant. However, only a few can minimize your ad’s reach. Be stingy and avoid unintentionally blocking relevant searches.

2. Not regularly reviewing Search Terms

Your negative keyword list must change and grow with your campaign. You must regularly view the search terms report to avoid an opportunity to add new negative keywords or remove unnecessary ones from your list of negatives, which will erroneously filter reasonable searches.

3. Incorrect Match Type

Not using the correct match type may result in missing impressions or, worse, prevent your ads from reaching the right target audience. Ensure you choose your campaign’s best and most appropriate match type to keep it practical.

Benefits of Negative Keywords

1. Cost-Per-Click Reduction

Negative keywords enable you to reduce the cost-per-click of your campaigns by reducing unwanted clicks. With fewer wasted clicks, you’re spending your budget on interested users; therefore, money is utilized efficiently.

2. Quality Score

If your ads are shown to a more relevant audience, ad relevance will increase, improving your click-through rate. This improves your quality score, which can decrease your CPC and improve the position of your ad.

3. Better ROI

Negative keywords ensure that your budget is used correctly, thus improving the performance of your campaign and increasing the ROI. With such, wasted spending or spending that adds up to nothing is minimized, and you get better value from your Google Ads investment.

Conclusion

Negative keywords are a powerful way to improve Google Ads campaigns. By using negative keywords, marketers can filter out irrelevant traffic, improve audience targeting, spend ad budgets more efficiently, and increase throughput and conversion rates. Negative keywords are essential for profitable results and Google Ads campaigns for Three Angle Marketing (TAM).

Remember to check your search terms report often, apply some keyword tools you can use on your account, and focus on user intent to build a robust list of negative keywords that will help boost your ad performance. Used well, negative keywords can ensure that the right people see your ads to achieve better results and more money.