List of Negative Keywords for Google PPC ads is important! why? Paid advertising between businesses often costs between $2 and $3 per click. At that price point, it’s imperative that your ads reach only the most highly targeted users. While most marketers spend considerable time researching appropriate keywords, it is as important to ensure that your ads are not being displayed to the incorrect demographic.
This is where the use of adverbial or negative keywords comes in. All PPC marketers need to incorporate negative keywords into their ad groups and campaigns.
GOOGLE ADS PROMO CODE
The Definition of “negative” Keywords:
Instead of wanting people to identify your brand with certain phrases, you might use “negative keywords” to steer them away from that association (see Google Ads blog for some high-level information about negative keywords). When you utilize negative keywords in your pay-per-click campaigns, your ads will not appear when the user searches for those terms.
What’s the Deal with Negative Keywords in B2B PPC?
In addition to reducing the amount of money you waste on irrelevant clicks, this will also increase the CTR of your keywords and ads, which will boost your ad quality scores across search engines like Google, Yahoo, and MSN. You can bid less than a competitor (who is not as knowledgeable, skilled, bright, talented, or sophisticated as you are) and still keep your ads in prominent positions on search results pages if you focus on increasing your quality score.
Because of my extensive experience managing PPC ads, I have compiled a comprehensive list of negative keywords that may be applied to both consumer and business-to-business PPC endeavors.
No doubt, this is not an entire list, and different companies occupy different niches in the industry. Don’t throw around this collection of negative keywords! The following is a list of B2B negative keywords that might serve as a starting point for you as you consider which terms to avoid using in your advertising ads.
As a final caveat before we get to the list, negative keywords will not work for close versions. If you don’t want your ad to appear for searches that include the word “course,” for instance, you can still have it appear for searches that include the phrase “free courses.” This means that you must choose the terms for your list of negative keywords with care.
Keeping away from job-seekers:
Do you want to hide your adverts from those who are looking for work or careers? Include the following in your list of negative keywords:
- career
- careers
- CV
- contractors
- employment
- freelancers
- freelance
- hiring
- independent contractors
- intern
- interns
- internship
- internships
- job
- jobs
- positions
- recruiter
- recruiting
- resume
- resumes
- salaries
- salary
Related Search keywords:
Spending on traffic seeking information that is tangentially relevant to your business’ offerings or industry is a waste of resources.
- about
- case studies
- definition
- diagram
- example
- examples
- history
- image
- images
- map
- maps
- sample
- samples
- what are
- what is
No Research & Stats:
When funds are tight, it’s best to forego hiring research staff. Make sure your advertising budget is bringing in revenue and serious leads only by selecting these “negative keywords.”
- association
- associations
- book
- books
- case studies
- case study
- guide
- guides
- journal
- journals
- magazine
- magazines
- metrics
- news
- research
- review
- reviews
- statistics
- stats
- success stories
- success story
- tutorial
- tutorials
- white paper
- white papers
We Don’t Offer Education or Classes:
Even if training and education are part of your TOFU plan, you probably don’t want your PPC advertising shown to those who are seeking for training and education. Those are the types of negative keywords you should use if that describes your company
- class
- classes
- college
- colleges
- course
- courses
- coursera
- education
- FAQ
- khan academy
- lynda
- masterclass
- school
- schools
- skillshare
- training
- universities
- university
- udemy
Say No To Deal Seekers:
If you want to be seen as a quality provider, using these negative keywords will help. Create a new campaign or ad group dedicated to discount-related keyword concepts and place bids on keywords containing these words if you want to attract visitors searching for them. Then, in the campaigns and ad groups that don’t go for the sale demographic, include the following negative keywords:
- bargain
- cheap
- clearance
- close out
- close outs
- closeout
- closeouts
- coupon
- coupon code
- discount
- discounted
- free
- inexpensive
- liquidation
- odd lots
- overstock
- remainder
- remainders
Avoiding Price Shoppers:
If you don’t want potential customers who are only interested in price to find your site, you can use the following terms as negative keywords to filter out such search results.
- cost
- plans
- price
- prices
- pricing
- quote
- quotes
Keeping away from Do-It-Yourself- DIY:
People who want to learn the ins and outs of a certain field in order to “do it themselves” (also known as “hobbyists”) do this in a wide variety of fields. If your company does not serve this demographic of customers, a filtering out process is in order.
- craft
- crafts
- create
- creating
- DIY
- hand made
- handmade
- home
- homemade
- how to
- make
- making
Commercial Software for Sale:
This is a bit of a conundrum. If you run a business that sells commercial or enterprise software, you probably don’t want to attract the attention of the thousands of software developers who are actively searching for free resources, and you definitely don’t want to confuse your customers who are searching for tools and home-use products. Don’t only rely on this list, though; go outside the box and make use of keyword suggestion tools to come up with a more targeted set of negative keywords for your particular software niche.
- code
- community
- desktop
- developer
- developers
- disk
- download (if you don’t have one)
- downloads (if you don’t have any)
- dvd
- error
- file
- files
- forum
- free
- freeware
- game
- games
- gnu
- hack
- hacks
- libraries
- library
- Microsoft
- open source
- public domain
- retail
- retail
- retailer
- retailers
- shareware
- shortcut
- shortcuts
- template
- templates
- tip
- tips
- video
- windows
Ignore People In search of Industrial and Manufacturing:
This extensive glossary includes a wide range of ideas relevant to the industrial and manufacturing sectors. Make use of this list as a jumping off point for thinking of more industry- and product-specific negative keywords. Of course, you should avoid using these terms if you do, in fact, cater to these clients.
- antique
- consumer
- export
- exporter
- exporters
- hobby
- import
- importer
- importers
- manual
- manuals
- measurement
- model
- models
- product guide
- regulations
- rent
- rental
- repair
- repairs
- retail
- retailer
- retailers
- rules
- safety
- specifications
- specs
- standards
- store
- toy
- toys
- used
- user guide
- vintage
Components of a Product:
It is obvious that not all of this content is relevant to a single company. In order to help you avoid wasting time on irrelevant product searches, I compiled this inventory of raw ingredients. You may be wondering if it’s acceptable to not screen for these in the hopes that a customer will do a search for one sort of product but be persuaded to purchase a different type once they see what’s on offer.
If you’re a B2B marketer with a limited PPC budget, targeting only people who don’t have a ready alternative to your products is a good strategy.
- aluminum
- ceramic
- cotton
- fabric
- glass
- gold
- iron
- leather
- metal
- paper
- plastic
- rubber
- silver
- stainless steel
- steel
- stone
- vinyl
- wood
List of Negative Keywords for Legal/Law:
It’s probably a good idea to block users who are researching laws and regulations from seeing your adverts. It’s possible that this won’t always be the case, especially if your product or service helps with something like compliance or regulation (and if you have a landing page on your site that speaks to the legal issue AND provides a conversion action right there on the page.) Add these negative adversative keywords to your list:
- act
- act of
- compliance
- law
- laws
- lawyer
- legal
- legislation
- regulation
- regulations
B2B Marketers Should Also Think About These Other List of Negative Keywords:
Some other terms that appear in B2B search advertising campaigns but may not be appropriate for your company are listed below.
- agency
- book
- books
- club
- clubs
- college
- consultants
- consulting
- craigslist
- data
- definition
- game
- games
- gift
- gifts
- logo
- logos
- map
- maps
- online
- photo
- photograph
- photographs
- picture
- pictures
- send
- sending
- trial
- video
Some Closing Remarks on ” List of Negative Keywords” in B2B:
Keep in mind that the aforementioned is not an exhaustive list, nor does it apply to all B2B PPC advertisers. Look over the recommendations and pick the one(s) that make the most sense for your brand. Finally, if your brand name sounds similar to one in a different industry, you might want to include that brand name or related words to your list of negative keywords. If your brand is “Triple-A Air Conditioning Supply,” but there is also “Triple-A Air Conditioning Service,” you may want to include “service” to your negative keyword list so that you don’t get found for searches that aren’t relevant to your business.
