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Being Negative is Good for Search

September 7, 2008 | Filed Under Google, PPC, SEM, Yahoo! SM 

One of the most common mistakes I have seen over the past two years when taking over an Adwords or Yahoo! Search marketing account is the lack of negative keywords. Negative keywords do the same thing in PPC marketing that they do in the search box.

One major source of negative keywords is other industries that share the use of very broad terms. Usually both industries use some sort of qualifying term; the other industries term makes a great negative keyword.

Negative keywords can be used at different levels in the campaign structure as well. In both Google Adwords and Yahoo! Search marketing negative keywords can be added at both the campaign level and the ad group level.

Using negative keywords helps eliminate junk impressions that would most likely not click on your ad, and definitely not convert into a customer. By eliminating junk impressions we are able to increase the click-through-rate, helping to increase the Quality Score assigned to the keyword or ad copy, ultimately driving up the conversion rate and ROI. Developing a good negative keyword list takes semantic judgement to discern what phrases will make sure those who may click but not convert never even get a chance to see your ad.

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