If you’re using broad match keywords (which you should be using, as I explained in my last tip) then it’s important to have a negative keyword list that eliminates irrelevant searches.

One thing Google does to help fill their ad space inventory is shorten your broad match keywords. For example, they may take a broad match keyword like “junk removal” and display your ad if someone simply types in “junk.” They may even take the keyword “mls listing” and show your ad when someone searches “real estate.”

These substitutes are just too broad to be effective. They will lower your click-through-rates, which will cause your quality scores to decrease. The overall effect on your campaign can be very damaging. (In the example above, “real estate” had a CTR of 0.39%, while “mls listing” had a CTR of 5.19% from the same ad.)

The way to prevent this is with exact match negative keywords. Simply add a negative keyword that looks like this:

[junk]

Your ad will still show for “junk removal” searches, and it will no longer show up when someone simply searches “junk.”

This week's ClickReport.com Click Tip provided by:

Kyle Sulerud
Pay-Per-Click Account Manager
AdLeg
https://adleg.com