Have you ever considered using negative keywords for Google ads campaigns to avoid your ads appearing in irrelevant searches or videos? With this comprehensive handbook, you will understand the importance and process to add negative keywords to Google Ads for better reach and outcomes.
In the growing world of digital marketing, paid campaigns play a crucial role in helping businesses reach their targeted audience.
Hence, it would be best to be precise when selecting keywords for Google Ads campaigns.
To fine-tune your campaigns, you can add negative keywords to Google Ads so they won’t appear in irrelevant search queries.
With this practice, you can benefit your ads campaign in the following ways:
- Reduces the campaign budget by appearing on relevant and conversational queries.
- Improves click-through-rate [CTR] by filtering out unwanted traffic and boosting quality score.
- Enhances target precision by excluding unrelated searches and aligning ads with relevant searches.
- Boosts conversion rate by reaching the target and potential audience to drive conversation rate.
- Improves return on investment [ROI] by minimizing irrelevant clicks and driving high-quality traffic.
When you add negative keywords to Google ads, you gain these advantages. This comprehensive guide will help you learn how to add them correctly, assisting you in improving your Google ads strategy and maximizing your ad performance.
Handbook to Add Negative Keywords to Google Ads
This comprehensive guidebook will help you fine-tune and optimize your Google ads campaign, delivering your message to potential audiences for improved CTR and ROI.
Identify Negative Keywords and their Types
The initial step in adding negative keywords to Google ads is identifying the right keywords for your paid campaign strategy.
This step lets you quickly determine the potential negative keyword of your ads-drive strategy.
Hence, we will help you understand the different negative keyword match types:
- Broad Match: It excludes your ad from any search query that holds the defined negative keyword in any form or order.
- Phrase Match: It excludes an ad for the search query that contains the exact phrase as the negative keyword.
- Exact Match: It excludes the ad for a search query that includes the exact keyword without any variation.
To understand more precisely, look at the table in which we have used “mountain bikes” as an example to help you explain which category will show your ads for different search queries.
| Match Type | Broad Match | Phrase Match | Exact Match |
|---|---|---|---|
| bike for kids | Ad Show | Ad Show | Ad Show |
| mountain bike | Ad Show | Ad Show | Ad Show |
| trek mountain bikes | Ad Block | Ad Block | Ad Show |
| bikes mountain | Ad Block | Ad Show | Ad Show |
| mountain bikes | Ad Block | Ad Block | Ad Block |
This keyword match type will help you define your negative keywords and specify the reach of your ad campaign.
It is one of the crucial factors you must consider when adding negative keywords to Google ads.
Research Potential Negative Keywords
After learning about the different types of negative keywords and campaign levels, the next step is to perform research to find potential negative keywords for ad campaigns.
You can efficiently research negative keywords for your website using the following ways.
- Google Auto-complete: One traditional method for finding potential and relevant keywords, understanding the search query, and maximizing the campaign’s reach.
- Google Keyword Planner: Another method is to use the keyword planner, which will give you many ideas for optimizing your negative keyword strategy.
- Google Ads Search Terms Report: With this method, you will find queries with their types for a better understanding. From here, you can directly add negative keywords to the list.
- SEO Tools: Premium products such as SEMrush, Ahrefs, etc, provide a list of all the keywords with search intent, search volume, CPC, and more for better understanding.
These are some of the most effective and efficient ways by which you can perform negative keyword research for Google ads campaigns.
Another proper method you can opt for is performing competitive analysis with the help of tools like SEMrush, which will provide you with a detailed and analytical report on your competitors’ positions and keywords.
Add Negative Keywords in Google Ads
After successfully researching negative keywords, it is time to add them to your Google Ads account so that you can use them more effectively.
In this step, we will add negative keywords to Google Ads database and define them adequately.
The database will automatically assist you in excluding the keywords whenever you add a new campaign.
Sign in to your Google Ads account and head towards the campaign dashboard.
Navigate to the left-hand side menu and click the “Negative Keywords” sub-heading under the “Keywords” heading.
Add Negative Keywords to Google Ads under different levels, such as “Ad Group,” “Campaign,” or “Ads Account,” accordingly to ensure a finer control.
After adding the keywords, hit the “Save” button. Your ads will no longer appear on negative keywords.
After adding negative keywords to Google ads, you can easily monitor your campaigns and review them to see if they work efficiently.
Use Negative Keywords List for Google Ads
If you run several campaigns and do not want to add negative keywords repeatedly, you can opt for a negative keywords list for Google Ads.
With these centralized lists, you don’t have to add negative keywords whenever you add a new campaign.
Follow these steps to create a negative keywords list:
Go to “Tools and Settings” and click the “Negative Keyword Lists” option.
Add your negative keywords, create a list for Google ads campaigns, and save the list.
Once the list is created, add it wherever needed to organize campaigns.
Adding negative keywords lists to Google ads can save time and efficiently organize your campaigns.
Optimize your Keyword Strategy Frequently
Once you add negative keywords to Google Ads, you can run your campaign efficiently within your budget while driving a higher click-through-rate and return on investment.
However, you must regularly check and update your search term reports with the latest keywords for better performance.
Also, ensure that you keep track of monthly searches and trends to understand the trending topics and identify new opportunities for your ad campaign.
Optimizing your negative keyword lists regularly will help you exclude irrelevant searches, fully utilize your budget, and maximize your potential reach.
Conclusion
Adding negative keywords to Google ads helps marketers improve their performance and reach more potential audiences.
This advanced technique can drive more relevant traffic, boost click-through rates, and get more return on investment.
To use this trick, you must constantly review and update your negative keyword list with user intent and the latest trends to stay aligned with your audiences.
By adding negative keywords to Google ads, you can improve your paid ad campaign strategy and expand your ad performance and budget efficiency.