Using Negative Keywords To Improve PPC Performance

Negative keywords provide an excellent method to avoid less targeted or undesirable traffic in your PPC advertising campaigns. The fact is that even using highly targeted keywords, there will always be a degree of inactivity from visitors. The use of certain additions to your specific keywords can result in visitors that are highly unlikely to make a purchase or perform any other desired actions. By adding these additional keywords as negative keywords, your PPC ad will not be displayed when those keywords are used.

Obvious words such as “free” will not typically lead to a sale, no matter how remarkable you believe your conversion tactics to be. People that are searching for free items or information will usually either find them or find something similar offered freely. If your site is displayed under the sponsored listings when a searcher uses the term free then they will naturally and understandably check your web page to determine whether you offer what they are looking for. As a result you end up paying the click cost with very little or no chance of making a sale.

Some keywords may have ambiguous meanings. Apple or Windows, as very basic examples, have at least two distinct meanings that people may search for and because some searchers only look at the title or the highlighted keywords before they click, qualifying your product or service in the body of the PPC ad will not usually be enough to deter some visitors from costing you a click. Adding a list of negative keywords and phrases can help avoid this.