There is a fine line between running ads for enough keywords in your paid search account to generate sufficient traffic and running so many that you generate junk traffic. Unless you only use exact match (or the equivalent). But there are so many variations of keywords or themes that if you only run exact match ads, you are likely to miss a lot of relevant traffic. But there is another way to fine tune the traffic your ad draws without missing relevant searches.
It’s done by using negative keywords.
Negative keywords are keywords you specify that should not be included in search queries that trigger your ad. A common example is the word “free”. If you sell a product but you do not want ads for your product being displayed to those looking for something free, then you could set a negative keyword of “free” to prevent it.
For example, let’s say you sell an ebook about dog training. You might run paid search ads for search phrases like “dog training”, “how to train a dog”, “dog training information”, etc. But if you don’t want your ad to be displayed for a search of “free dog training information”, then you would set a negative keyword of “free”.
You can probably think of some negative keywords at the start that make sense, but as you run your campaign, it really helps to know what keywords people are actually using that trigger your ad at inappropriate times. In Google, you can generate a search query report that will show you exactly what phrases have triggered clicks to your site. As you look through the report, if you see keywords that are not appropriate, then those are keywords that you should add to your account as negative keywords.
Using negative keywords is a way for you to fine-tune the traffic that you drive to your web site via paid search without limiting yourself by using exact match ads. It is a strategy we definitely recommend you look into.
If you need help fine tuning your paid search campaign, contact Work Media at 888-299-4837 or email Info@WorkMedia.net.