What Are Negative Keywords?

Negative keywords are added to your list of keywords to prevent your ad from showing. So if someone performs a search query that contains one of your negative keywords, your ad will not be served. In essence they serve as a filtering mechanism. Think of it in terms like panning for gold. You shake the pan to filter the dirt so the gold nuggets become exposed. Negative keywords are "your pan" and when properly used, the targeted user will filter through.

So how do you find a negative keyword? During your keyword research, if you stumble across a keyword that does not quite fit your product description, then BINGO you just found a negative keyword. You then add that keyword to your list with a little minus sign in front of it. By placing a minus sign in front of a keyword, it prohibits that keyword from triggering your ad. A negative keyword looks like this: -keyword

Using negative keywords not only helps you increase control over the serving of your ad but it will also help to increase your click through rate (CTR) and that in turn will also increase your quality score with Google. Your conversion rates will go up because your ads will only be served for relevant queries. A word of caution though; be sure not to limit your exposure too much by the use of negative matches.

Its important to note that should you discover your click through rate is NOT increasing and/or your conversion rate decreasing, then you need to review your negative keyword list immediately and make the proper adjustments.

JoAnn Zarick is a certified Google AdWords Professional and Owner of PPC by Design, a search marketing firm specializing in pay per click management services for small companies who do not have the internal resources, skills, or time necessary to effectively manage an online advertising campaign themselves. For more information on her services, visit her at http://www.ppcbydesign.com or visit her blog at http://www.joannzarick.com for more valuable tips and advice on pay per click advertising.

Copyright 2007 JoAnn Zarick

This article may be reprinted provided no part thereof is edited in any way and this resource box is included.

Learning the PPC Tool the Easy Way
When one indulges into using the Pay-Per- Click as a tool to promote his or her company or to generate higher purchase rates, he must remember some few guidelines before plunging into this type of an advertising tool. I have enlisted below some of these tips to remember to better understand Pay- Per-Click and eventually explore its incomparable st...

Google Adwords - Manipulating Keywords For Success
As you probably know, Google Adwords is a pay-per-click solution offered by Google. As with other PPCs, you are given the ability to place your small advertisement on various platforms controlled by Google. While the platform provides you with a large audience, you must manipulate your keywords to generate success.Matching OptionsWhen running an Ad...

Keyword Prices Decline 3.0% in the First Quarter of 2005
An analysis of webs most popular 20,000 keywords by TopPayingKeywords.com, found that keyword prices dropped 3.0% from January 2005 to April 2005 from an average bid price of 58.9 cents to an average bid price of 57.1 cents. The 20,000 most popular keywords are distributed in pricing as follows:Keyword Price# of Keywords$20.00-$49.9920 $10.00 - $...

Picking The Right Keywords For A PPC Campaign
Running a pay-per-click advertising campaign can be very expensive if picking the wrong keywords. I was setting up a new PPC campaign the other day and were struggling to find the right keywords. I was promoting an affiliate program in this case. To convert the click (on my ad) to a sale the user had to submit his/her zip code only. The actual offe...

Top 5 Google AdWords Tips - Pay-Per-Click Advertising Made Easy
Google AdWords is the lead provider of pay-per-click advertising for webmasters to promote their website, products or for affiliate marketers to promote products that they do not own. There are many misconceptions and miscues regarding proper methods of using AdWords to drive traffic to your website so that you may earn revenue. Below are 5 tips th...

Marketing Your Website with Google Adwords
Why would you choose Google for marketing your website, unless for good reasons? Not only is using Google a good reason, but its an excellent one. Google generates more than a third of the searches all the search engines combined make. It also has a say in the results listed on AOL and Netscape and others thus increasing your websites exposure fr...

AdWord Secrets
Ok, most people know what AdWords is. If not it is the name that Google uses for their PPC (Pay Per Click) system. People all over the world are making very good money from using AdWords. However, alot more are losing alot more money because alot of people do not now how to use PPC or AdWords properly. Here are a few tips to get your AdWords campai...