How to Reduce Google Ads Cost using Negative Keywords

In the digital marketing industry, there are many strategies and online platforms to promote your services or products. Google Ads is known as a great digital marketing strategy as it can reach a wide audience and convert them into potential paying customers. However, it’s important to learn about the best practices so that you can run effective Google Ads campaigns. Negative keywords are one of the tips on how to ensure you run successful ads without spending a large budget. So if you wish to learn more about what are negative keywords in Google Ads, read on to find out: 

What is Google Ads? 

Google Ads was developed by Google and is known as a popular online advertising platform. Businesses can make use of Google Ads and promote their service or products through images, text, or videos. It’s based on a pay-per-click model whereby you only need to pay if a customer clicks on your ad. 

What are negative keywords? 

Negative keywords are a set of keywords used to prevent your ads from appearing to customers who are not your target audience as well as those who aren’t searching for your product or service. 

Negative keywords consist of a wide range of terms that can be separated into three categories: board, phrase, and exact. 

Broad Negative Keywords

Broad negative keywords mean that your ad will not appear for search terms even if the terms don’t match exactly. For example, if you include ‘cleaning services’ as your broad negative keyword, your ad will not appear even for terms such as ‘where to find cleaning services’. 

Phrase Negative Keywords

Phrase negative keywords involve search terms which include the exact search term. For example, if you include the negative keyword ‘cleaning services’, your ad will not appear for search terms such as ‘affordable cleaning services ‘ but may appear for ‘best services for cleaning’. 

Exact Negative Keywords

Exact negative keywords are more strict as your ad will not appear for the exact negative keyword that matches it. For example, if ‘cleaning services’ is your exact negative keyword, your ad will not appear for those who search for ‘cleaning services’. 

Why are negative keywords important in Google Ads? 

You might wonder why should you even bother with negative keywords. Well, here are some of the benefits of using negative keywords for your Google Ads campaign: 

1. Maintain a low-budget 

With negative keywords, you can ensure that you don’t go over budget by spending a large sum of money on your ads. Negative keywords are like a golden nugget where you can prevent potential losses on clicks that are irrelevant. 

For example, if you offer cleaning services but a customer who is searching for plumbing services clicks on your link, then you’ll be paying for that click which doesn’t benefit your business.

2. Boost click-through-rates (CTR) 

Having a good click-through-rate (CTR) is one of the factors that contribute to your success with Google Ads. Negative keywords allow you to prevent users from viewing your ad and not clicking it, which will reduce your CTR. If your ad only appears for search terms that are more likely to convert, then it will increase your CTR as customers will click on it rather than just ignoring it. 

3. Increase overall quality scores 

The quality score of your Google Ads is also the main factor for the success of your Google Ads campaign. If your quality score is high, Google is more likely to display your ad in higher positions on search engines or websites. Negative keywords help to improve the relevancy of your ad, thus increasing your quality score. 

Account-Level vs. Campaign-Level vs. Ad Group-Level Keywords Group

A Google Ads campaign structure consists of three levels: account, campaigns and ad groups. You may add the negative keywords at any of these levels. For account-level, the negative keywords will be applied to all Google Ads campaign within the account. This will be ideal if you wish to save time instead of adding it one by one. 

As for the campaign-level, the negative keywords only apply to the Google Ads within a specific campaign. On the other hand, for ad group-level, the negative keywords only apply to the specific ad groups found within one Google Ads campaign. This will be ideal if you have separate ads target different product or service. 

How to find negative keywords for Google Ads? 

Choosing the right negative keywords to ensure the success of your Google Ads campaign is important. Here are some ways on how to find them: 

1. Observe competitor’s keywords

The keywords used by your competitors are more likely to be the keywords you shouldn’t use for your campaigns. Spy on your competitors and find out their keywords list to gain ideas on what to include in your negative keywords list. 

You can use various keyword tools such as SEMRush or Ahrefs to look at the keywords your competitors are bidding for. 

2. View Google Ads Search Terms report

Another of the best ways to look for negative keywords would be the Google Ads Search Terms report. The report will show the search terms your ad is appearing for. This helps you to find out the irrelevant search terms that are leading to wasted clicks and include them in your negative keywords list. 

3. Manual keyword research 

You can also perform keyword research on your own and find out the keywords related to your product or service. It also helps you to identify the keywords that are irrelevant to your business and add them to your negative keyword list. Consider using keyword tools such as Google Keyword Planner or SEMRush to identify potential keywords. 

How can using negative keywords reduce Google ads costs? 

After learning about what are negative keywords in Google Ads, you might want to know how it helps to reduce the overall costs for the campaigns. Here are some of the reasons why negative keywords help to reduce the cost:

1. Prevent money spent on irrelevant clicks 

The main reason why negative keywords are useful in Google Ads campaigns is how you can save money and avoid paying for irrelevant clicks. Since negative keywords help to prevent your ad from appearing for irrelevant keywords, you can prevent clicks from customers who aren’t looking for your product or service. 

2. Able to optimize overall budget 

Negative keywords also help to optimize the budget by ensuring money is well-spent on clicks that matter. Your budget will only be used for potential conversions rather than being wasted on customers who won’t convert. 

3. Decrease bounce rate and increase click-through-rates 

Since your ad will only appear for keywords that are relevant, you can increase your click through rate and reduce bounce rate. The customers who view your ad will be actively looking for your service or product and are more likely to click on your ad. 

4. Boost conversion rates 

By narrowing down your target audience and only allowing your ad to appear for relevant keywords, it will boost your conversion rate. This is because the customers who view your ad are ready to engage with your specific service or product. Hence, leading to a higher conversion rate as the clicks or leads will convert into paying customers. 

Best Practices for using Negative Keywords

To ensure maximum success of your Google Ads campaign, consider implementing these best practices when using negative keywords: 

1. Use symbols carefully 

Google consider several symbols different although some represent the same meaning. For instance, ‘&’ and ‘and’ are not considered the same negative keyword. Hence, you should be aware and use the correct symbols for your negative keywords. 

2. Don’t forget to add both plural and singular words 

To get the most out of your ads, it’s best to include plural and singular words in your negative keywords list. For instance, you should add both ‘keyboard’ and ‘keyboards’ as part of the negative keywords. 

3. Get rid of low-performing keywords 

Under your ‘Search terms’ report, you can spot keywords which aren’t performing well but are getting plenty of impressions. This will bring down the click-through-rate as Google will suggest several irrelevant keywords. 

For instance, if you wish to rank for cleaning service, Google will auto set the keywords as ‘What is cleaning services’. This isn’t a suitable keyword as it is an informative keyword, not a transactional keyword, which is what businesses should be aiming for to promote their services. Thus, leading to low conversion rates.

It will also produce low Quality Scores, which will affect your overall Google Ads campaign success. You can add these keywords into your negative keywords list. 

4. Play around with the different keyword match types

Since not all keyword match types work for every campaign, it’s best to experiment and try out different match types to make the most out of your campaign. 

How to add to Negative Keywords List

Here’s a simple guide on adding negative keywords to your list: 

Step 1: Navigate to keyword planner

Head over to Google Keyword Planner on your Google account.

Step 2: Add a keyword 

Then, enter your desired keyword that you wish to include in your negative keyword list. 

Step 3: Select keywords you want to include into negative keyword list

After you’ve entered your keywords, go through the list and select the keywords on the left that you wish to add as negative keywords. 

Step 4: Click ‘More’ > ‘Add as negative keywords’ > ‘Broad match’ , ‘Phrase match’ , ‘Exact match’

After you’ve selected the keywords, click ‘More’ and then select ‘Add as negative keywords’. From there, you can choose the match type of the negative keyword. 

Conclusion 

All in all, negative keywords are important for Google Ads campaign as it could help to boost your sales without breaking the bank. So after knowing what are negative keywords in Google Ads, you can get started to make the most out of your campaigns and reduce the overall cost by making your money’s worth. Increase your knowledge by learning about the differences between organic and paid search to see which digital marketing strategy works best for your business.