From day one you’ve been told to “pick the right keywords for your target audience.” We’ve even written a few posts on top strategies to selecting top keywords and how to use them strategically in your marketing to increase your positive results. What if I told you that you can create additional positives for your property by incorporating negative keywords into your campaign?
It’s true! Though oftentimes overlooked by marketers, there are several benefits to using negative keywords in your Google Ads campaign. For starters, they can help direct more quality traffic to your website and save you some dinero in the long term by removing those irrelevant search queries from activating your ads.
Take a look.
What are negative keywords?
By definition, negative keywords are simply those terms which prevent your ad from being triggered by a certain word or phrase. While they operate the same way as your standard keywords, when used properly, negative keywords prevent your Google Ads from being shown to anyone who is searching for that specific phrase. So, in practice, if you were to incorporate the term “costly” into your campaign’s negative keyword list, you’re essentially telling Google Ads not to present your ad in any search with the term “costly.”
How can they boost performance?
Oftentimes, we tend to focus on the exact word combinations that will attract our audiences to our website and don’t usually consider the similar terms used by those who are uninterested in our property–this is where negative keywords can come in handy. In these scenarios, negative keywords can serve as a filter; thus, ultimately improving performance, ROI and website traffic.
Cost savings
Your standard keywords encourage users to click on your ad, and then you are charged for these clicks, despite if these users convert or not. Negative keywords are in place to prevent unnecessary click-throughs, thus saving you money on wasted searches.
Increased conversions
Negative keywords can serve as a filter, removing the opportunities for those uninterested parties. This means that your ad is not going to appear for those designated terms, leading to an increased conversion rate.
How to pick the right negative keywords
The Google Ads Keyword Planner is a great first step to determining which negative keywords to use. This feature allows you to view data on user queries, like how often certain words are searched and how these searches have altered over a period of time. You’ll want to search terms related to your property and look for those search terms that have no correlation to your property in your related keyword list; then, consider using these terms as negative keywords.
If you already have Google Ads established, you can also analyze the search terms report to see exactly which searches prompted your specific ad. Once these results are segmented by conversions and click-through rates, you’re able to see which terms outperformed the others and can add the poor performing terms to your negative keywords list.
Last but not least, you can also determine which negative keywords to use by taking it back to the basics–a simple Google search. Try searching your standard keyword terms and pay close attention to the first few pages of results. These are the terms deemed most relevant to that designated search term. In the event you see results that are unrelated to your property, go ahead and add these to your list as well.
All in all, when choosing your negative keywords, you’ll certainly want to do your research. Whether you decide to leverage the keyword planner, delve deeper into your search terms report or stick to the basics using Google search, you’ll need to dedicate time and effort into creating your list in order for the strategy to be effective.
Rentbot can help.
With each of our Rentbot websites, you get a strategic SEO partner by your side. We’re trained by leading SEO firms and have over a decade of experience improving clients’ apartment SEO-driven traffic. And because Rentbot specializes only in multifamily clients, we know the industry like the back of our hand. Through our advanced SEO services, we find and analyze target keywords and phrases based on your property’s location, type, and class. Then, we’ll create a customized SEO strategy plan that gets your website more of the qualified, local visitors you want and less of those you don’t want. Learn more about our advanced SEO and Google Ads services and we can score you the results you’re looking for.
About the Author
Jonsette Calloway joined the Rentbot team in 2015. With a background in public relations, advertising and copywriting, she has helped a multitude of clients achieve their marketing and communications goals within various fields, but she particularly enjoys working with the apartment industry.