Using Negative Keywords To Increase CTR

One overlooked aspect of setting up a campaign is using negative keywords. If you're not using negatives keywords you are most likely paying for unwanted or untargetted clicks.

Having negative keywords in your adgroups or campaigns can also increase your CTR exponentially since you are getting rid of some of those unwanted impressions. When you set a negative keyword you are telling Google not to show your ad for certain keywords.

Some negative keywords you might want to use are listed below along with the searchers who you want to elliminate.

1. To hide your ads from freeloaders:

• -free
• -crack
• -torrent
• -keygen
• -p2p

2. Hide your ads from researchers:

• -picture
• -wikipedia
• -jpeg
• -image
• -pics
• -video
• -youtube

3. Hide your ad from other marketers:

• -forum
• -forums
• -affiliate or "affiliate program"
• -blogs

You might also want to hide your ad from being displayed on the broad term although Google is up on its game and would usually stay very relevant. For example if you're advertising 'Chow Mutt German shepherd dog food' you could take out the broad term 'dog food' by using the negative keyword for the exact phrase -[dog food].

Also its a good idea to go to the keyword tool and do a search for your base keyword. Any irrelevant words used with your base keyword could be used as a negative.

Check your hosting logs too. You'll probably find some there too.

Add your keywords to the campaign if you aren't going to use them at all or add them to the adgroup if you'd like to use them in another adgroup but not that one. You'll see your impressions dropping way down and because you'll only have relevant searches even if you get the same amount of clicks you normally get then you'll have a better ctr which will give you a better quality score and as a result lower cpc.

The Buying Cycle

Who are you targetting?

Are your keywords bringing you any revenue? If not then you may be targetting the wrong searchers in the buying cycle.

So what is the buying cycle? Basically there are three types of searchers. There is a fourth aspect of the buying cycle but lets focus on the three types of searchers.

Searcher #1 - The researcher - The researcher is very early in the buying cycle. He may not even make a purchase or have the means to do so. He is looking for information on how his problem can be solved and would use very broad keywords.

For example if he might have heard about people making money on the internet using Google.

His searches may be "make money on the internet", "make money with Google", "google make money". With these searches, you may be getting clicks on your ads without him making a purchase because he is just looking for information.

You can take advantage of the researcher if you set up an opt in and offer a free 7 day course, a free sample, a free guide or newsletter or something of use to the researcher.

Searcher #2 - The Informed - Searcher #2 used to be a researcher and has found what he is looking for - the information he came online to get in the first place. The interest is now building up and he is now an informed searcher. He is getting closer to the end of the buying cycle but may not even buy (might be a cheapo).

His searches using the above example, would be keywords like "adwords guides", "best adwords ebook", "google adwords coupon" and so on.

Again it might be possible to get him to your website and turn him into searcher #3 but why not spend your money on searcher #3 instead.

Searcher #3 - The Buyer - The buyer's interest has been peaked and he has his credit card in hand or has logged into his paypal account already. He is looking for reasons to buy (or not to buy) something that could solve his problem. He definitely is going to spend money.

His searches using the above example are now very targetted. He has seen some adwords guides and has heard suggestions on 'best adwords ebooks' and has singled out one. He searches for "Beating Adwords review", "buy beating adwords", "beating adwords + bonus". If you advertised on "buyer type" keywords your conversions are going to be much higher.

Buyer type keywords contain words like 'review', 'buy', 'purchase', 'bonus', 'coupon' etc and the brand name.