Google AdWords™ For Dummies®, 3rd Edition

Deploying Negative Keywords

As we'll repeat long after you're sick of hearing it, the big problem with phrase- and broad-match types is unwanted traffic. Think of Google as a very enthusiastic puppy playing fetch. You throw the exact match ball, and Google returns with that same ball — or nothing at all. Throw the phrase match ball, and Google might return with that ball, a foam football, a hacky sack — pretty much anything round and smaller than the puppy's mouth. But chuck the broad match ball, and there's no telling what Google's coming back with: a ball, a stick, your neighbor's yoga pants from the washing line. Could be pretty much anything. Negative keywords tell the Google puppy, “Everything you think is relevant, except this. And this. And this.”

Let's go to the movies again for a different negative keyword metaphor. In The Verdict, Paul Newman plays Frank Galvin, an outgunned lawyer representing an injured client in a medical malpractice lawsuit. When Galvin realizes that the defendant is hiding incriminating evidence, he requests delivery of the damning documents. The defendant delivers the evidence in a way that ensures (he hopes) it won't be found before trial — buried somewhere in truckloads of meaningless paper. Your AdWords traffic is the same — there are a few gems (your future customers and referrers) buried in a giant stream of nonbuyers. Negative keywords are your first line of defense: a filtration system that keeps the wrong folks away while letting the right ...