Cut Ad Spend & Reach the Right Audience in Google Ads
When you’re running a PPC campaign you know that to keep driving conversions you need to optimise. Simply bidding on the keywords you want is not enough. That’s where negative keywords come in.
Negative keywords, put simply, are keywords that we specifically choose to exclude from our campaign. Adding negative keywords will help prevent your ads from showing up for irrelevant searches. This will help cut ad spend and reach our target audience.
Here are a few examples showcasing how you can use negative keywords to your advantage;
Broad Match Keywords:
Say you are running a search campaign for a coffee shop. And so you bid on the word “coffee” as a broad match keyword. You might start seeing that your ad will trigger for searches like ‘coffee maker’ or ‘coffee grinder’ or any other word that Google deems relevant to ‘coffee’. To counteract that, you can add the words “maker” or “grinder” into your negative keyword list. This will stop your ad from showing for those irrelevant searches.
Negative Keyword Lists:
It’s possible to add negative keywords to different levels of your account by using negative keyword lists. And coming up with ideas on what kinds of keywords to add might require some creativity.
Here are some ways to help give you some ideas on what to use as a negative keyword:
- Search Terms Report – The search terms show what people have searched for ads to be triggered. This report provides valuable insight into how people find your ads and might give you ideas for both positive and negative keyword strategies.
- Keyword Research – Using tools like the Google Keyword Planner, uber suggest, or many others will help you find related search terms that may be irrelevant to your business.
- Location Based Queries – If you target a specific location and no other locations. Then other cities or locations that you don’t service can also be added as a negative keyword.
Adding negative keywords is an ongoing process so make a note of checking the search terms report often so you can update your negative keyword list.
Summed up, using negative keywords is an essential strategy that you should be using as part of a larger optimisation strategy. Generally, by excluding irrelevant searches, we can focus on the right prospects in the first place, minimising wasted ad spend, and driving better results.
If you need help optimising ad spend using negative keywords, click here
