My Google Ads budget is being drained by searches that are completely unrelated to my business. I offer premium consulting, but I’m getting clicks for "free templates" and "jobs." I know I need to use negative keywords, but is there a way to manage this at scale across multiple campaigns without manually adding words every single day? What are the best practices for list management?
3 answers
Managing negative keywords at scale is best done through "Negative Keyword Lists" found in the Shared Library. Instead of adding words to individual campaigns, create a master list for "Junk Terms" (like free, cheap, torrent, jobs) and apply it to every campaign in your account. You should also create a "Competitor List" if you want to avoid bidding on rival brand names. Every week, review your Search Terms Report and look for patterns. If you see a recurring theme that isn't relevant, add the "root" word to your master list to prevent similar future queries from triggering your ads.
Do you find that using Broad Match negatives is too aggressive, or do you prefer using Phrase Match for your negative lists?
Using the Shared Library for negative lists saved me 5 hours a week. It’s the only way to stay sane when managing high-volume accounts.
Linda is spot on. Once you have a solid master list, you can just "set it and forget it" for new campaigns, which keeps the lead quality high from day one.
Brian, that's a tricky balance to strike. Personally, I use Broad Match for very obvious "trash" words like "porn" or "free" because I never want to show up for them in any context. However, for words that might be relevant in a different order, I stick to Phrase Match. For example, if I sell "luxury watches," I might negative phrase match "repair" but keep "watch" open. This prevents my ads from appearing for "watch repair" while still allowing them to show for "luxury gold watch" searches.