Everyone knows what keywords are. What about negative keywords? For what purpose are they used? What are the types of negative keywords? At what level should negative keywords be used? And how to find them? Let’s try to figure it out in order. So let’s get started.
What are negative keywords?
Negative keywords are words that block ads from showing for non-targeted queries that are not related to your type of activity. For example, if you’re selling women’s yoga leggings, then “casual leggings”/”kids’ leggings”/”fitness leggings” would be off-topic for you. Include the words “baby” / “fitness” / “casual” in your list of negative keywords. This will eliminate irrelevant traffic that does not lead to sales.
Negative keywords allow you to prevent ads from showing for search queries that are not related to your offers.
This will help you focus only on the keywords that are important to your customers.
What are the types of negative keywords?
In negative keywords, the following types are distinguished: broad, phrasal, precise. These types are also used in keywords, but the principle of operation is different.
Broad match type – display on request is blocked if such a word is present in the search query.
| Negative keyword | Search query | Will ads be shown |
| child | dress for baby | yes |
| watch child movie | no | |
| buy child book | no |
Phrase match type – fixes word order. On-demand display is blocked if a stop phrase with the same word order is used in the query. To set a phrase match type, the negative keyword is enclosed in quotation marks.
| Negative keyword | Search query | Will ads be shown |
| “buy child book” | dress for baby | yes |
| watch child movie | yes | |
| buy child book | no |
Exact match type – highlighted in square brackets. The principle of operation is simple: if [negative keyword] = search query, the ad will not be shown.
| Negative keyword | Search query | Will ads be shown |
| [buy child book] | dress for baby | yes |
| watch child movie | yes | |
| buy child book | no |
The main difference is the need to add synonyms, singular and plural forms, misspelled words and other options that need to be excluded.
At what level should negative keywords be used?
- There are three levels of negative keyword customization in Google Ads:
- At the ad group level. Words are selected that take into account the discrepancies between the product you offer and user requests. Or you do cross-reference at the ad group level.
- At the level of an advertising campaign. Usually include words that do not reflect the intent of users to place an order. Or cross-background at the campaign level.
- At the account level. We recommend minus keywords for low-quality traffic, as well as information and DIY queries: “cheap”, “freebie”, “free”, “do it yourself”, “how to do it”, “free”, “reviews”, etc.
You can use ready-made lists of negative keywords that can be found on the Internet. They include requests that are non-targeted for almost all campaigns. But we recommend that you study this list to make sure it suits you.
Cross-minus is internal minus words. They are used to exclude displays of intersecting words. For example, the user types the query “buy bus bus”. Words from your different groups will compete with each other: “buy a bus” and “buy a bus second hand”.
How to find negative keywords?
- By browsing the search terms tab in your account.
- When collecting the semantic core using the Scheduler.
- Look for ready-made lists on the Internet.