Negative Keywords

In 2014, Ebay spent $4.2 million per month on paid search advertising.

Who spends $50 million a year if they aren’t making a killing? Apparently eBay.

At first glance it looked like if eBay spent $1, they’d get $40 back but that’s not really true because they didn’t do the math the right way. They didn’t factor in what would’ve happened without the ads. 

So they tested it and what they found was surprising. 

The ads only influenced new shoppers. But most of the ad money was being spent on regular customers who would’ve bought anyway. The ROI was actually -61% instead of +4000% like they thought.

They were wasting money talking to people who were already listening. In plain terms, most of their ad traffic came from their brand name keywords (ex: electronics ebay, ebay shoes, etc) where users would’ve found their site regardless if they saw ads or not. 

They knew ads were profitable to attract new customers but didn’t want to waste ad money on customers who already knew who they were. 

So they got creative.

They added their brand name (eBay) as a negative keyword in their paid search program. 

A negative keyword is a word or phrase you tell Google Ads to exclude, so your ad doesn't show up when people search for things that aren’t a good fit.

To help you understand better, negative keyword examples a roofing company might use: 

• ‘DIY Roof Repair’ - someone wants to fix it themselves, not hire a roofer
• ‘Jobs’ - if you want to avoid ad spend on people looking for employment
• ‘Materials’ or ‘Supplies’ - if you don’t sell roofing products
• ‘Commercial Roofer’ - if you only do residential 
• ‘Asphalt Roofing’ - if you only do metal roofs

Adding their brand name to the negative keywords list ensured only new customers saw their ads.

If you own a small business you should do the same thing. 

Add your business name as a negative keyword to your Google Ad campaign. 

There are two types of people who search the internet. People who know a company that can help them and people who don’t. 

The customers who don’t know a company already (or are unsatisfied with their current provider) are up for grabs.

All of your marketing spend should focus on getting in front of these searches. If you want your ad campaign to be profitable that is. 

Ads only work if the right eyes catch them. It’s not just who sees your ads, but who doesn’t that makes the difference.

Add brand names as negative keywords to your Google Ad campaign. And don’t stop at just yours. Add your competitors too. Most people aren’t going to click on an ad for a business that’s not what they’re looking for.