The use of PPC (pay per click) negative keywords, sometimes called excluded keywords, is an easy way to avoid unqualified traffic that drive up your overhead costs. A PPC (pay per click) campaign drives qualified traffic to your website for the purpose of increased visibility and sales. The list of specific keywords targets only those searchers who are looking for your specific product. However, you can always count on a broad match keyword bringing up your ad on the search engine even though the query is not a match for your product. If the searcher then clicks on your ad, you will incur a charge for an irrelevant click. Creating a list of PPC negative keywords will lower the chance of this type of occurrence and refine the positive keywords for web spiders.

The best time to create a PPC negative keyword list is at the outset of a PPC campaign. Every search engine may have a different format for PPC negative keyword listings but a common format is the use of the negative symbol. Once you have created a negative keyword list, you will also find that it applies to several campaigns across the board. It is wise to review and update the list as your product or website changes.

The PPC negative keyword list should include basic obvious words, such as “free”, along with general terms and phrases. If you find yourself stymied with the negative keyword list, there are keyword selector tools available. Use the tool to determine the most common terms searched for your product type and use the terms in that search that do not apply to your specific product as negative keywords.