What Negative Keywords Are and Why You Should Utilize Them

Jan 20, 2020

Search engine optimization is something that every business needs to do well to survive in today’s online marketplace. While there are many facets to a successful SEO strategy, one particular aspect of SEO often overlooked is the use of negative keywords. Negative keywords are keywords within website content or online search phrases that you want to exclude your advertisements from being placed with. In effect, they work in the exact opposite way that traditional keywords do. Here’s why using and keeping track of negative keywords is great for your marketing efforts.

Higher ROI

Negative keywords can help you to ensure that your advertising dollars are being used as effectively as possible. Even a small improvement in your advertising ROI can translate to huge savings over time. Never again wasting money on an improperly placed advertisement can become a reality if you can manage to properly utilize negative keywords.

Better User Experience

You don’t want people who aren’t genuinely interested in what you have to offer to visit your website, as poor quality traffic can be detrimental to your SEO. When your page is visited by a search engine user who is not truly in need of your products and services, that visitor will become frustrated and leave your website quickly, which is something that search engines track as they determine rankings in the future. This makes using negative keywords a critical part of creating a positive user experience on your website that will benefit both your business and search engine users.

Attract Buyers

By tracking your advertisements closely, you can locate keyword phrases that tend to get steady clicks but under-perform in terms of sales. This helps you allocate your resources only to keywords that are regularly leading to new sales and to reach eager buyers more efficiently and affordably. Another added benefit to this is that your customer base will grow more quickly, which leads to more repeat sales over time.

Cheaper Clicks

Advertising networks reward lower costs per click to advertisers with consistently high click-through rates. Because of their capability to increase click-throughs, negative keywords can save your business money by lowering the cost you’re paying per click. As you continue to monitor, look for and utilize negative keywords in your campaigns, your click-through rates will only continue to improve, leading to clicks that keep getting cheaper.

These are just a few of the many ways that using negative keywords can benefit your business. By attracting eager buyers, reducing click costs and improving the experience of your visitors, negative keywords offer the perfect opportunity to increase your marketing ROI and make more sales.