What You Need to Know About Negative Keywords in PPC Ads – Part 1

There are few digital marketing strategies that are as effective as pay-per-click ads like Google Ads. They skyrocket your listing to the top of search results and help you build your web presence even if your site is a newcomer. When most people craft their PPC campaigns, though, they put all their focus into the keyword list. Too many business owners forget about an essential piece of the puzzle: negative keywords.

What Are Negative Keywords?

You already know that the keywords you list for your PPC campaigns are the search terms that trigger your ad to appear. Negative keywords are the exact opposite. If someone’s search term includes one of your negative keywords, it will prevent your ad from appearing. In most cases, this is useful for terms that are close to your target keywords but aren’t relevant to your business.

Why Do You Need Negative Keywords?

The biggest advantage to negative keywords is that they keep your budget more focused. Every time Google shows your ad, there’s a chance the user will click on it by accident or without realizing what your company is. If they do, you’re paying for a click that won’t bring you any revenue. If your ad is only appearing for truly relevant searches, you take away that risk.

You might be thinking, “If they don’t click on it there’s no harm, right?” Unfortunately, an unclicked ad is also a problem. Every time Google shows your ad and the user doesn’t click on it, it lowers your click-through rate (or CTR). At first glance, a low CTR might make you assume that you need to rewrite your ads to make them more appealing. In reality, the problem is that the ads are appearing for people who aren’t actually looking for services like yours. This misunderstanding could lead you to spend valuable time rewriting ads unnecessarily.

Understanding negative keywords and how they work is just the first step to using negative keywords to your advantage in your PPC campaign. Finding the right negative keywords and tweaking your list is an art that’s always changing, and it requires specialized training and experience that our team of professionals can apply to any PPC budget. To get started, call our marketing experts at our metro Atlanta office.