How to choose negative keywords
Once you have a list of search terms, it’s time to pick the keywords you want to exclude.
There are various perspectives depending on the situation, but it is recommended that you first hold down the following two perspectives.
Is there any wasteful expense?
Is it against the will of the advertiser?
For example, when you create an ad of luxury sweets, and you find out that “sweets cheap” also appeared in your search term list. The search term “sweets cheap” cost a lot, but no conversions have been made. So it shall be added to the negative keyword list.
However, it is not realistic to check all search terms because the types and number of search terms are enormous depending on the service or product. I think there are various perspectives when checking the content, but it is best to look at the following perspectives:
- Sort costs (total costs) in descending order to see if there are no conversions, or if there are few conversions and the cost is too high.
- Sort in descending order of clicks, and use the filter function of the spreadsheet software to narrow down the search terms that have 0 conversions and 1 or more clicks to check if there are any search terms that do not suit the advertiser’s intention.
- Sort by the number of impressions in descending order, and use the filter function of the spreadsheet software to narrow down the search terms to 0 clicks and check.
Even if it is a negative keyword, it cannot be said that it is good just by mechanically excluding it. It is important to make an accurate decision by considering the impact on conversion and sales, budget, goals, achievements, relevance to products so there will be no loss of opportunity.
