Search Marketing Blog
Paid Search Management: How to move beyond FREE, PORN, and XXX
By Lisa Peyton, Director of Paid Search, EngineWorks
In our Paid Search Marketing department at EngineWorks, we employ the important strategy of creating negative-matched keyword lists to improve the performance of our clients’ Paid Search Marketing campaigns. The purpose for this post is to provide insight into several advanced negative keyword strategies that go beyond the use of “free”, “porn”, and “xxx”.
What are negatives and when to use them?
Negative-matched keywords (a.k.a. “negatives”) are words contained in a search phrase that are perceived by the search engines to be non-relevant to targeted search queries. According to Google, “Negative-matched keywords prevent your ad from appearing when a search includes a keyword that isn’t relevant to your ad”.
For example, if you desire to cut down on unqualified traffic being driven to your site, you can include a negative such as “free” in your campaign to eliminate individuals searching for free merchandise. In addition, you can create even more comprehensive negative keyword lists, beyond just using “free”, that can take your Paid Search campaign to the next level.
Employing negatives can be a cure for low click-through rate (CTR), or PPC campaigns that have thousands of impressions and only a few clicks. Campaigns that have a high cost-per-conversion, or a large number of wasted clicks, can also greatly benefit from a well-formulated list of negative keywords.
Here are my top suggestions on how to expand and implement negative-matched keywords in both Google and Yahoo!.
1. Compile a Comprehensive List
Google’s Search Query Performance Report – This is my favorite tool for getting your hands on terms that are increasing the cost of a PPC campaign through wasted clicks. By running an All-Time report on the actual search queries that are triggering your ads, you can eliminate phrases that are irrelevant for that campaign. For example, I ran a query report recently that revealed that an advertiser selling high-end beachfront homes was showing for the popular phrase “beachfront rentals”. By eliminating traffic for the keyword “rentals,” I was able to mitigate a potential budget drain from useless clicks.
Related Search Terms – You can use the search engines to help you cut down on unwanted traffic by researching related searches for your root keyword. For example, when typing “beachfront homes” into Microsoft Live search, the following list of related and popular terms is displayed:
Beachfront Homes For Sale
Beachfront Home Plans
Beach Homes
Beachfront Home Mexico Sale
Beachfront Property
Beachfront Real Estate
Vacation Homes
Beachfront Homes Galveston TX
Through an analysis of this list, you can see that the term “vacation” could be identified as a negative-keyword match to improve the relevancy of this list.
Keyword Tools – Any tool used for finding relevant keywords can also be used to identify negatives or irrelevant phrases. Google’s free keyword tool within AdWords makes it very easy to aggregate popular, non-relevant terms for your campaigns with just the click of your mouse.
2.Implement Negatives Efficiently
Google – Negatives can be added quickly at both the ad group and campaign level, which provides control over where and when you can limit impressions. In order to add negative keywords at the campaign level, simply click on the campaign, and the click “Add” by “Campaign Negative Keywords”, (as depicted in the screenshot below).
At the Ad Group level, simply go to the Edit Keyword screen, and add the keywords to the list, preceded by the minus (“-“) symbol.
Yahoo! - Negatives can be added at the account level, campaign level, and ad group level within Yahoo!. In order to apply negatives to an entire account within Yahoo!, navigate to the Administration tab, and click on “Tactic Setting.” This will direct you to the screen where your list can be added (as shown in screenshot below).
At the campaign and ad group level, simply click on “Campaign Settings” or “Ad Group Settings”. Then, navigate to “Tactic Settings” to add the negative keywords.
3. Continue to Monitor and Update
Once the negative keywords have been added, allow time for the data to aggregate, and look for campaign improvements. As search trends change rapidly, I recommended that negative keyword lists be regularly optimized and expanded to continually improve the performance of your Paid Search campaign.
Additional Negatives Strategies
Now you should be aware that negatives can sometimes be positive! Let me know if you are using an effective negative-match strategy not mentioned in this post to deliver qualified visits through your PPC efforts.
*Taken from Google PowerPoint presentation on Negative keywords – Negatives Training.ppt
