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This is the 11th post in the SEM Intermediate Series, a collection of posts intended for search engine marketing professionals looking for guidance in monitoring and adjusting the key performance indicators (KPIs) that determine the success of a PPC campaign. This series is a continuation of the SEM Beginner Series.
If you haven't already read the SEM Beginner Series on negative keywords, negative keywords are specific words or phrases that help prevent your ad from being displayed to customers who are unlikely to click your ad. They help filter out irrelevant traffic and, in turn, increase click through rate (CTR), position and cost per click (CPC).
Researching negative keywords
Before getting started, you'll need to determine which keywords you'd like to focus on, such as keywords that are driving high impressions with low clicks or keywords that are not meeting your performance goals. You can generate this list of keywords by running a keyword performance report in adCenter for any given time period.
After you determine which keywords are underperforming and could benefit from negative keywords, use one, or a combination, of the following methods to generate a list of negative keywords:
1) Microsoft Ad Intelligence
Microsoft Advertising Intelligence is a great resource to view keywords and phrases that may show up in search queries but are unrelated to your website content. To create a list of negative keywords, I recommend using the Related Search tool. This tool can be found in the Keyword Suggestion drop-down: The Related Search tool generates a list of related search terms from Bing and MSN networks. Plus, it's quick and easy to use!
Microsoft Advertising Intelligence is a great resource to view keywords and phrases that may show up in search queries but are unrelated to your website content.
To create a list of negative keywords, I recommend using the Related Search tool. This tool can be found in the Keyword Suggestion drop-down:
The Related Search tool generates a list of related search terms from Bing and MSN networks. Plus, it's quick and easy to use!
First, enter a keyword or phrase into an Excel field. Then, simply click on the Related Search button and the tool will generate a list of related high volume search terms, and may include the keywords containing your original term. Lastly, remove the head term and keep the terms that are not related to your site's content. Voila! You will have a list of negatives for the original term that you entered.
2) Microsoft adCenter Research
Microsoft adCenter offers tools that can help you conduct keyword research and build a more effective keyword list. You can use this tool to easily help you build or expand your negative keyword list to filter out unwanted traffic. To generate a list of negative keywords, sign into Microsoft adCenter and click on the Tools tab found in the blue navigation bar along the top of your interface. Next, click on the Research Keywords link. This will bring up a page that allows you to enter a specific keyword in the Keyword field. Clicking Search will generate a list of general keywords and related terms. All that's left to do is determine which keywords are driving irrelevant searches and add them to your negative keyword list by checking the box to the left of each keyword and clicking Add >.
Microsoft adCenter offers tools that can help you conduct keyword research and build a more effective keyword list. You can use this tool to easily help you build or expand your negative keyword list to filter out unwanted traffic.
To generate a list of negative keywords, sign into Microsoft adCenter and click on the Tools tab found in the blue navigation bar along the top of your interface. Next, click on the Research Keywords link.
This will bring up a page that allows you to enter a specific keyword in the Keyword field. Clicking Search will generate a list of general keywords and related terms.
All that's left to do is determine which keywords are driving irrelevant searches and add them to your negative keyword list by checking the box to the left of each keyword and clicking Add >.
3) Search Query Performance Report
You can leverage the Search query performance report in adCenter to learn what keywords are causing your ads to display. This report displays performance metrics for search queries that resulted in impressions AND clicks for your ads. It's a great way to refine your keyword list and research applicable negative keywords. To run this report in adCenter, simply log into adCenter and go directly to the Reports tab. Then drop down the report type under Basic Settings and select Search query performance. Select the timeframe that you would like to view and set specific advanced settings, if needed. Once the report is generated, review the search query terms and add any irrelevant searches to your negative keyword list. Please note that this report only displays search queries that have received at least one click.
You can leverage the Search query performance report in adCenter to learn what keywords are causing your ads to display. This report displays performance metrics for search queries that resulted in impressions AND clicks for your ads. It's a great way to refine your keyword list and research applicable negative keywords.
To run this report in adCenter, simply log into adCenter and go directly to the Reports tab. Then drop down the report type under Basic Settings and select Search query performance. Select the timeframe that you would like to view and set specific advanced settings, if needed.
Once the report is generated, review the search query terms and add any irrelevant searches to your negative keyword list. Please note that this report only displays search queries that have received at least one click.
Good luck researching negative keywords for your adCenter campaigns. Stay turned for an upcoming post on how to implement negative keywords across your campaigns. If you have any questions, please leave a comment below.
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