Everyone knows what keywords are. What about negative words? For what purpose are they used? What are the types of negative words? At what level should negative words be used? And how to find them? Let's try to figure it out in order. So, let's begin.
What are minus words?
Minus words are words that block the display of ads for non-targeted queries that are not related to your type of activity. For example, if you sell women's yoga leggings, the terms "casual leggings"/"kids leggings"/"fitness leggings" won't be relevant to you. Add the words "kids" / "fitness" / "casual" to your list of negative words. This will eliminate irrelevant traffic that doesn't lead to sales.
Negative keywords allow you to prevent your ads from appearing on searches that aren't related to your offers.
This will help you focus only on the keywords that are important to your customers.
What are the types of negative words?
The following types are distinguished in negative words: broad, phrasal, precise. These types are also used in keywords, but the principle is different.
Broad match - display on request is blocked if this word is in the search query.
| Minus word | Search query | Whether to show ads |
| child | a dress for a child | yes |
| watch a children's movie | no | |
| buy a children's book | no |
Phrase Match Type - fixes word order. On-demand display is blocked if a stop phrase with word order is used in the request. To specify the match type of the phrase, the negative word is enclosed in quotation marks.
| Minus word | Search query | Whether to show ads |
| "buy a children's book" | a dress for a child | yes |
| watch a children's movie | yes | |
| buy a children's book | no |
Exact Match Type - is highlighted in square brackets. The principle of operation is simple: if [minus word] = search query, the ad will not be displayed.
| Minus word | Search query | Whether to show ads |
| [buy children's book] | a dress for a child | yes |
| watch a children's movie | yes | |
| buy a children's book | no |
The main difference is the need to add synonyms, singular and plural forms, misspelled words, and other options to exclude.
At what level should negative words be used?
Google Ads has three levels of negative keyword settings:
At the ad group level. Words are selected that take into account the discrepancies between the product you offer and user requests. Or you cross-link at the ad group level.
At the campaign level. Usually contain words that do not reflect the intention of users to place an order. Or crossover past at the campaign level.
At the account level. We recommend negative keywords for low-quality traffic as well as informational and DIY queries: "cheap", "free", "free", "do it yourself", "how to", "free", "reviews", etc.
You can use ready-made lists of negative words that can be found on the Internet. They contain queries that are not targeted for almost all campaigns. But we encourage you to study this list to make sure it's right for you.
Minus - internal minus words. They are used to exclude common words from being displayed. For example, the user types the request "buy bus bus". Words from your different groups will compete with each other: "buy a bus" and "buy a used bus".
How to find negative words?
While viewing the search terms tab in your account.
When collecting the semantic core using the Scheduler.
Search for ready-made lists on the Internet.
