more about negative keywords

summerbuzz · 04-28-2011, 08:05 AM

Negative keywords are a core component of a successful keyword list. I must say first that there is a common misconception that improving click through rate on broad and phrase match will improve quality score. The truth is, only exact match CTR will improve quality score. The reason to improve CTR on broad and phrase match is to improve on your bottom line or cost per aquisition (CPA).

You'll want to mine your logs (Google Analytics for example) for what phrases are working and what are not. Take the words in the phrases that are not working for you and put them on your negative keyword list. Remember, that you have to have all of the words in a phrase for AdWords to filter that phrase out. Somtimes you want to use negative phrase match or negative exact match in your campaigns. Say there is a title to a book or song or something that is not related to your website, you will want to put that title as a negative phrase match. Another example would be if you are doing well on a keyword like say "security guard uniforms" and Google starts showing the ad under just "security guard" you can use a negative exact match like this -[security guard].

You'll want to use negative keywords in three ways:

Filter for Ambiguity - The keyword has more than one definition like bottle caps vs. baseball caps

Filter for Relevency - It's the right definition, but not relevant to my specific business.

Filter for Profit - Some keywords and phrase just are not cost effective and should be filtered out.

All in all you should create a pretty healthy negative keyword list by mining your data files.

04-28-2011, 08:05 AM	#1
summerbuzz HyperActive Warrior Join Date: Apr 2011 Posts: 97 Thanks: 4 Thanked 7 Times in 7 Posts	more about negative keywords Negative keywords are a core component of a successful keyword list. I must say first that there is a common misconception that improving click through rate on broad and phrase match will improve quality score. The truth is, only exact match CTR will improve quality score. The reason to improve CTR on broad and phrase match is to improve on your bottom line or cost per aquisition (CPA). You'll want to mine your logs (Google Analytics for example) for what phrases are working and what are not. Take the words in the phrases that are not working for you and put them on your negative keyword list. Remember, that you have to have all of the words in a phrase for AdWords to filter that phrase out. Somtimes you want to use negative phrase match or negative exact match in your campaigns. Say there is a title to a book or song or something that is not related to your website, you will want to put that title as a negative phrase match. Another example would be if you are doing well on a keyword like say "security guard uniforms" and Google starts showing the ad under just "security guard" you can use a negative exact match like this -[security guard]. You'll want to use negative keywords in three ways: Filter for Ambiguity - The keyword has more than one definition like bottle caps vs. baseball caps Filter for Relevency - It's the right definition, but not relevant to my specific business. Filter for Profit - Some keywords and phrase just are not cost effective and should be filtered out. All in all you should create a pretty healthy negative keyword list by mining your data files.