Negative keywords is a very important technique in Google Ads. If you want to succeed with advertising on Google, then it’s crucial you get this concept right. So in today’s post I’m going to do my best to explain what negative keywords are and why you need to use them.
In a nut-shell, with Google Ads you say to Google ‘I want to show my ad for users who search for these keywords’ – and then you provide that list of keywords.
Having said that, depending on how you supply this list to Google (i.e. what ‘match types’ you use) you give Google differing degrees of lenience when it concerns matching your wanted key words to a user’s search.
This can lead to your ads showing for searches that aren’t really relevant to what you’re selling.
For example, you may like to advertise for ‘new home building’ since you manage a building firm.
Unfortunately, Google could presume that somebody looking ‘new home building jobs’ is a close enough match and show your ad.
Before you know it, an individual seeking a job is clicking on your ad (and you end up paying). This is not ideal.
This is where negative keywords come in to the equation. You say to Google ‘if a user’s search contains this word (or phrase) then don’t show my ad’.
So in that situation mentioned above, you ‘d add ‘job’ as a negative keyword to avoid your ad displaying for users expecting new home building jobs.
This concise video I created discusses the concept of negative keywords, match types, and why understanding this right is so crucial:
Hopefully you find it useful. If you’ve got any more questions about what negative keywords are in Google Ads, or how they work, then feel free to leave a comment below and I will do my best to help you out!