Beginners Guide to Negative Keywords For Google Ads in 2021

beginners guide to negative keywords for google ads in 2021

Find out if your company is losing money with Augurian’s Beginners Guide to Negative Keywords For Google Ads in 2021!

Whether if it’s for a client or your own company, the marketing budget is precious. Many companies question marketing initiatives and wonder if there will be a positive return on investment.

Let’s say a company has never used Google Ads before, but you know it will help improve targeting to audiences, cost control, being able to manage campaigns and measure the success of the marketing investment. Great idea! However there are money wasters in Google Ads which can hinder the success of your campaign which you will learn more about in our Beginners Guide to Negative Keywords For Google Ads in 2021.

Do you know about Negative KeyWords?

If you don’t then you are in the right place with our Beginners Guide to Negative Keywords For Google Ads in 2021! To make the most of your investment in Google Ads, one must know what Negative Keywords are and how to track them in campaigns.

 

what are negative keywords?

 

Google defines “Negative Keywords” as a type of keyword that prevents your ad from being triggered by a certain word or phrase. Your ads will not be shown to anyone who is searching for that phrase.

If a term is irrelevant to the company or service they are looking to provide, it would detract from keywords that would bring the customer to their correct service, so this would be a Negative Keyword.

 

example of negative keywords

 

For example, a Lincoln car dealership is trying to attract customers to buy their new line of luxury vehicles.  Their dealership just showed up for the term how to buy used cars. You could argue that they would still want to show up for this term because you are reaching potential customers in the market for a vehicle, but then you look at the data of this term:

100 Impressions-each time your ad appears on Google, it’s counted as one impression.

2 Clicks-When someone clicks your ad, like on the blue headline or phone number of a text ad, Google Ads counts that as a click.

$20 Cost 

0 Conversions– conversion in Google Ads is when a user performs some specified action after clicking an ad or viewing a display ad, such as purchasing a product, installing a mobile app, or signing up for an email list.

Definitions by Google 

The term “how to buy used cars” is not a conversion and is irrelevant to the goal of the campaign, so you would add this as a Negative Keyword. Also the audience searching for this term would not be a good fit due to your goal of attracting customers looking to buy a new luxury vehicle. If you add this term- “how to buy used cars”, the Lincoln dealership will not show up for this phrase.  Another option would be to add “used” as a Negative Keyword because this dealership does not sell used vehicles and do not want to show up under that term as well.

 

negative keyword guide

 

Here is a guide created by Augurian’s Negative Keyword Hunter, Arin Arpinar, to better spot Negative Keywords in your campaign.

negative keywords should be added due to a few different reason’s:
  • Low Relevance-High Impression Volume with low or no click total.
  • Off Base-Search term might be driving clicks, but not converting. It’s worth reviewing to see if it’s off base for what your client’s business offers.
  • $ Waster-Search term has spent over a target amount in budget as specified by our math based on account data.
  • High CPA(Cost Per Action)-CPA is over the top end of the CPA as specified by our math based on account data.

 

Now you know more about what Negative Keywords are and how to identify them in your campaigns with our Beginners Guide to Negative Keywords For Google Ads in 2021.

 

Do you think your company has been spending money on Negative Keywords in Google Ads and potentially wasting money?

 

If so, we can help at Augurian! We have an automation tool that can save time by automating negative keyword research, while also being mindful of Google’s account structure best practices. Our tool cuts down on time and has saved clients thousands of dollars on wasteful terms. Let us help your marketing dollar be more effective and go farther.

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