You’ve seen that option when selecting Manual CPC as your chosen bid strategy:

“Help increase conversions with Enhanced CPC”

And you may have wondered if this is something you should be using?

Enhanced CPC is a setting in Google Ads that’s been around for a number of years. However, there is still some confusion amongst some advertisers and account mangers, about what Enhanced CPC actually does, and when it should be used.

What Does Enhanced CPC Do?

When an advertiser opts to use Enhanced CPC, they’re giving over partial control of their keyword bids to Google. Google will increase bids within auctions where there is a perceived increased probability of a conversion occurring.

In this way, Enhanced CPC acts as a middle-ground between Manual CPC bidding, and an automated bidding strategy.

When Google’s calculations, based on its wealth of user behaviour data, indicates that there is an increased chance of a conversion, Google can take control of the bidding. And conversely, in cases where Google’s data is perhaps more limited, the bids that the advertiser has manually set can be used.

When To Use Enhanced CPC

Campaigns Tracking Conversions

Enhanced CPC is designed to help advertisers generate more conversions. Therefore before using this bidding strategy, advertisers should have conversion tracking setup for their campaign.

It should be noted that although Google will try to adjust bids in order to increase the number of conversions generated by a campaign; additional conversions are not guaranteed.

Low Volume of Conversion Data

Enhanced CPC can be very useful in instances where advertises have some conversion data tracked within their campaign, but not a sufficient level of conversion data to use one of the smart bidding strategies.

The smart or automated bidding strategies such as Target CPA, require advertisers to have at least 30 conversions within the last 30 days tracked within their campaign. This is at a bare minimum, and to be truly effective these bidding strategies should ideally have an even larger volume of data than this.

This is because the smart bidding strategies make their calculations based on the accumulated data, and therefore the larger the volume of data, the more accurate and more effective those calculations will be.

Therefore for campaigns which have a low volume of conversion data, Enhanced CPC can act as a temporary gateway, allows advertisers to dabble in the use of a partially automated bidding strategy before they have generated the volume of data sufficient to move onto one of the smart bidding strategies.

Therefore for campaigns which have a low volume of conversion data, Enhanced CPC can act as a temporary gateway, allow advertisers to dabble in the use of a partially automated bidding strategy before they have generated the volume of data sufficient to move onto one of the smart bidding strategies.

When Not To Use Enhanced CPC

High Volume of Conversion Data

As mentioned above, accounts with at least 30 or more conversions within the last 30 days can make use of smart bidding strategies.

The smart bidding strategies such as Target CPA or Target ROAS, will generally be far more effective with regard to achieving an advertisers campaign objectives, than Enhanced CPC.

Therefore if a campaign has a sufficient volume of conversion data, then the advertiser should look to upgrade to one of the more effective bidding strategies, rather than opting for Enhanced CPC.

A Control Over Bids and Costs Is Needed

In cases where advertisers require strict control over their keyword bids and their campaign costs, Enhanced CPC should not be used.

When using Enhanced CPC, advertisers are effectively giving up full control of their keyword bids to Google. Whether their manual bids, or a higher bid is used is at Google’s discretion.

Advertisers may significant increases to their keyword’s CPC, and potentially to the daily spend of their campaign within any given day. There is also no guarantee that increases in cost will translate into increases in the number of conversions.

For this reason, advertisers who wish to retain control over their keyword bids and campaign costs, should avoid using Enhanced CPC.

Conclusion

Enhanced CPC can be very useful for advertisers, especially in situations where campaigns do not yet have sufficient conversion data to use one of the smart bidding strategies such as Target CPA.

Advertisers should be aware that they may see significant increases to their keywords average CPC, and that there are no guarantees of increased conversions.

The success or failure of a Google Ads search campaign hinges on the effectiveness of the search terms being targeted.

Despite this, when reviewing new Google Ads accounts for clients, one of the main contributors we find for low levels of profitability for campaigns, is non-relevant search terms being targeted.

These are terms being used by people who have no interest in the products or services being marketed by the campaign, and are therefore a waste of the campaign’s budget.

Within this article you’ll learn how to quickly identify these terms, and remove them from the targeting of your campaign, in order to save money and increase your campaign’s profitability.

Finding Your Search Term Report

The first step is to navigate to the search term report for your campaign by selecting ‘Keywords’ tab from the left menu, and then selecting ‘Search Terms’ in the top menu.

Ensure that you have set the date range in the top right hand corner to the time frame you would like to review.

Filters to Use Within The Search Term Report

Before starting to review the terms, you can save time by using a number of filters:

1. Added/Excluded: None – This ensures you’re not reviewing terms you’ve already taken an action for)
2. Conversions: <1 – This way you’re only reviewing the terms which are potentially wasting ad spend.
3. Match Type: Select all except ‘Exact match’ – This way you’re not reviewing terms which you are already targeting as keywords.

Identifying Non-Relevant Search Terms

Within the search term report, you should review each of the terms and try to gauge the intent.

The key to identifying non-relevant search terms, is putting yourself in the shoes of the person using the search query.

Ask yourself ‘what would I be looking for if I used this search term’?

Would you be looking to purchase the product or service being marketed by the campaign in question? If the answer is no, then it is very likely that you have found a non-relevant search term.

For example, if the campaign in question is marketing solicitors services, and the search term in question is “solicitors average salary”; it is clear that the person using this term is not looking to hire a solicitor, but rather is doing research on the salaries of solicitors.

Blocking Non-Relevant Search Terms

Once you have identified a non-relevant search term, it is time to add a negative keyword to the campaign in order to block that search term.

This can be done very simply and quickly within the search term report by selecting the checkbox next to the search term in question, and then clicking the ‘Add as negative keyword’ option at the top of the report.

However, there are several ways we can be far more effective with our negative keywords:

1. Instead of adding the full term as a negative keyword, e.g. “solicitors average salary”, we can isolate the salient non-relevant part of the term “salary” and add this as a negative keyword.
2. Use the Phrase Match type, which is indicated by the use of quotes. So our negative keyword in the example would be “salary”, rather than [salary]. This ensures that we will be blocking any search term which contains the word ‘salary’, which is a wider spectrum of terms.
3. We can also add other related terms as negative keywords, to preemptively block these from ever being targeted. Words like “salaries”, “wages”, “hourly rate” etc. These can be added within a negative keyword list.

Using Negative Keyword Lists

The search term report can also give you ideas about other terms which you may want to add as negative keywords, to block them from ever being targeted by your campaign in the first place.

These new negative keywords can be applied directly to the campaign, but they can also be added to a negative keyword list. This can be quicker to do and will mean that these negative keywords can conveniently be applied to any campaign within your account.

You can create negative keyword lists by selecting “Tools & Settings” in the top right hand corner of your account, and then “Negative keyword lists” from the menu.

We’ve created a list of over 13,500 common negative keywords that we would like to share with you.

Using these bulk negative keyword lists can help to avoid ad spend being wasted on non-relevant terms and improve the profitability of your campaigns.

Need Help With Your Google Ads Account?

If you feel your campaigns are not working as effectively as they could, and would like an expert to review your account, then feel free to get in contact with us and we’ll have one of our specialists get in contact with you.

Within Google Ads there are a number of different bidding strategies to choose from, and it can sometimes be quite unclear which is the best bidding strategy to choose for your individual campaign.

You may have been wondering the following:

1. Which is the best bidding strategy for meeting my business objectives?
2. When should I start using the bidding strategy?
3. How do I set up the bidding strategy?

This article and accompanying videos will answer each of these questions.

Looking for the Short Answer?

Now if you want the short answer as to what the best bidding strategies in Google Ads are, in this section I’ll quickly explain which bid strategies are the best to use in the majority of cases, and when and how to set them up.

For a more comprehensive answer, continue reading below this section.

The majority of clients we work with are looking to maximise the number of leads, or product sales that are generated within their monthly budget, and continue to grow their campaigns at a profitable rate.

In order to accomplish this we do the following:

1. At the time the newly set up campaign begins running, we use either the Manual CPC, or Maximise Clicks bidding strategies.
2. As performance data begins to accumulate we begin to see which forms of targeting are working most effectively, and using Manual CPC, we are able to adjust the bids to focus ad spend on the areas of the campaign which are generating the most value.
3. Once the account has a sufficient level of conversion data (30 or more conversions within a 30 day period) we then select either the Target CPA bidding strategy, or the Target ROAS bidding strategy (ideal for conversions that have revenue data pertaining to them).

Selecting a Bidding Strategy for Your Objectives

Target CPA

Your Objective

Generate conversions at a specific pricer per conversion.

How it Works

With the Target CPA bidding strategy, you specify the price or CPA (cost-per-acquisition) that you would like to pay on average for a conversion. For example, if a conversion on your website is a prospective client fill out the contact form, and you would like to pay £25 on average for each lead, then this is what you would set as your target CPA.

Google’s system will then automatically manage your bids, using the user behaviour data within your campaign, in order to try to achieve this average price per conversion.

The more conversion data your campaign has, the more accurate the system will be in selecting the optimal bid. It is recommended that your campaign have at least 30 conversions within the last 30 days before opting to use this bid strategy.

Any manual bids you had previously set will be removed.

When To Use It

Target CPA should ideally be used when all of your conversions have the same or a similar value for your business. This is because the system will treat all conversions with equal weighting, including both macro (high value) and micro (low value) conversions.

If you have multiple conversion types, all with very different values, e.g. different product types, then you’re better off using a Target ROAS strategy.

Target ROAS

Your Objective

Generate conversion value, for a specific % return on your ad spend.

How it Works

The target ROAS bidding strategy works in much the same way as the Target CPA strategy, except instead of optimising your bids to achieve a particular CPA price for conversions, the bids are optmised to achieve a particular Return-On-Ad-Spend.

For example, if you’d like your campaign to generate £40,000 in revenue from £10,000 in ad spend, then your target ROAS would be 400%.

The system will then automatically adjust your bids in order to try to achieve this ROAS throughout the course of the month.

When To Use It

Target ROAS is the ideal bidding strategy when you have multiple conversion types with different conversion values. This is typically the case with e-commerce/online stores with multiple product skews.

To make use of the bidding strategy, the value of each conversion must be tracked within Google Ads.

Maximise Conversions

Your Objective

Generate as many conversions as possible within your chosen budget.

How it Works

With the Maximise Conversions bidding strategy, there is no need to set a target. Instead Google’s system will adjust your bids in order to try to generate as many conversions, or as much conversion value, as possible within your daily/monthly budget.

When To Use It

The Maximise Conversions strategy can be useful if you are not sure how much you would like to pay for conversions, or what you would like your return to be (and therefore can’t specify a target CPA or ROAS), but you are sure about how much you would like to spend on clicks each month.

However, if possible we would recommend using the Target CPA/ROAS bidding strategies instead of the Maximise Conversions strategy. This is because we have consistently seen the Target CPA and Target ROAS bidding strategies outperform the Maximise Conversions strategy.

If you are unsure about what target to set, you can periodically tweak your target CPA or ROAS in order to test which target generates you the highest volume of conversions or conversion value within your monthly budget.

Maximise Conversion Value

Your Objective

Generate the highest amount of conversion value as possible, within your chosen budget.

How it Works

With the Maximise Conversion Value bidding strategy, there is no need to set a target ROAS. Instead Google’s system will adjust your bids in order to try to generate the highest conversion value possible within your daily/monthly budget.

When To Use It

This bidding strategy is ideal when you are tracking conversion value within your campaigns, and would like to maximise the amount of revenue generated within your budget.

You’re not sure what Target ROAS you would like to set, but you know how much you would like to spend within Google Ads, and would like to aim for the best possible return.

Maximise Clicks

Your Objective

Generate as much traffic as possible, within your chosen budget.

How it Works

With the Maximise Clicks bidding strategy, Google’s system will adjust your bids in order to help generate as many clicks as possible within your daily/monthly budget.

Clicks from all keywords will be weighted the same, and you therefore may see a greater number of clicks from less competitive keywords with a lower average cost-per-click.

Make sure to place a cap on the max CPC/bid when setting up this strategy, as this will ensure that the system will not exceed a bid amount that you are comfortable with.

When To Use It

The Maximise Clicks bidding strategy is ideal when your main objective is to generate traffic.

The strategy can be useful for generating an optimal volume of traffic within your budget, so that you can then generate conversion data to be used for one of the conversion based bidding strategies.

Manual CPC With Enhanced CPC

Your Objective

Maximise the volume of conversions / conversion value, within your budget.

How it Works

When using the Manual CPC bidding strategy, with Enhanced CPC activated, Google’s system will adjust your chosen keyword bids, either higher or lower, for each auction.

Google makes use of user data to determine which auctions are most likely to result in a conversion, and will then focus your ad spend on these auctions.

For auctions that have a higher probability of resulting in a conversion, Google will raise your bid above the maximum CPC you’ve set.

And for auctions that have a lower probability of resulting in a conversion, Google will decrease your bid to an amount lower than the maximum CPC you’ve set.

When To Use It

This bid strategy is ideal when your campaign has not yet had time to build up a substantial volume of conversion data.

For those auctions where Google’s system lacks enough information to make an effective bidding decision, the Max CPC that you’ve set can stand. But for those auctions where Google has adequate information, the bidding strategy can step in and adjust the bid higher or lower to help increase your campaign’s overall performance.

Important Considerations

Setting Realistic Targets

It’s important to note that in order for your chosen target to be achievable, for either the Target CPA or ROAS bidding strategies, it needs to be a realistic target. If the target CPA or ROAS you set is substantially lower than what your campaign has achieved using manual bids, the system may set your bids too low, and your campaign may not generate any impressions or clicks at all.

Monitor the Performance

Although automated bidding strategies take over the management of your bids, they are not ‘fire and forget’ processes. It is still your responsibility to monitor the performance of your campaigns and ensure that you are on track to meet your targets.

There can be unintended effects from the use of bidding strategies. The Maximise Clicks bidding strategy for example, can have a habit of consistently reaching the daily budget cap of your campaign (currently 2x the daily budget you have set). So it’s important to review the impact of using any bidding strategy, and adjust accordingly.

Test Different Strategies

Every Google Ads campaign is different, and while one bidding strategy may be the most effective for one campaign, another bidding strategy may be more effective for another campaign.

For this reason it is essential that you test the different bidding strategies that are appropriate to your business objectives, to identify the one that garners the best performance.

Setting Up Bid Strategies

Individual Campaign Bidding Strategies

In order to update your campaign’s bidding strategy, navigate to the Settings tab, and Select Bidding. You will then have a selection of all of the available bidding strategies within the drop down menu.

Portfolio Bidding Strategy

Using a Portfolio Bidding Strategy allows you to use a single strategy for multiple campaigns and combine the data for those campaigns.

More data there is available, the effective bidding strategies can be, so using a Portfolio Bidding Strategy is a great option if you have multiple campaigns which share the same business objectives.

To create a Portfolio Bidding Strategy, click on Tools & Settings in the top right hand corner of your Google Ads account, and under Shared Library, select Bid Strategies.

From here you can click the blue plus symbol, selecting the bidding strategy you would like to use, and also apply it to the appropriate campaigns.

Need Help With Your Google Ads Account?

If you feel your campaigns are not working as effectively as they could, and would like an expert to review your account, then feel free to get in contact with us and we’ll have one of our specialists get in contact with you.

Since their introduction in early 2018, Responsive Search Ads have received a mixed reception.

Being the new kid on the ad format block, many advertisers were wary of incorporating RSA into their ad groups.

However, heading into 2020, it is clear that Responsive Search Ads are not going anywhere; and if anything, they’re taking over.

So here’s why you need to be using RSA in 2020, along with some considerations for attaining the best performance with this ad format.

Click-Through-Rates Are Generally Higher with Responsive Search Ads

Google has stated that Responsive Search Ads on average have a 5 to 15% proportionally better click-through-rate (CTR) when compared to their Expanded Text Ad counterpart.

Initially when RSA were used, many advertisers complained that they were seeing a lower CTR with RSA versus ETA.

However as time has gone on, the algorithm being used for the RSA seems to have improved drastically, and CTR’s seem to have improved dramatically for RSA.

You Can Test A Lot More!

With Responsive Search Ads, you can test up to 15 different headlines and up to four different descriptions within a single ad.

These headlines and descriptions will be combined to form a multitude of unique variants which would have otherwise required dozens and dozens of Expanded Text Ads in order to test.

This underpins the power of Responsive Search Ads, and why they’re an improvement on Expanded Text Ads.

Responsive Search Ads May Replace Expanded Text Ads

Google often phase out the old features of their platform, such as the old Standard Text Ads that were phased out by Expanded Text Ads.

It’s not inconceivable, and is actually quite probable, that ETA’s will be phased out by RSA’s.

For this reason it is essential to begin testing RSA’s now, and ensuring that all of your ad groups are utilising RSA’s, in anticipation for the moment when they are removed from the platform.

You Cannot Review All of The Performance Data for Your Responsive Search Ads

One downside of using Responsive Search Ads at the moment, is that we don’t have access to all of the performance data for each of the different combinations of headlines and descriptions being used.

Without this data we cannot ascertain which variants of each ad are helping us to generate more clicks and conversions.

Google is keeping this valuable data hidden, almost like a secret recipe.

RSA Do Not Always Perform Better Than ETA

Responsive Search Ads will not always perform better than Expanded Text Ads.

Testing both ad types is essential to discover which format will deliver the highest click-through-rate, and the highest conversion-per-impression within each of your ad groups.

Tips for Testing Responsive Search Ads and Expanded Text Ads

• When Testing RSA and ETA:
  Ensure that there are no duplicate headlines or descriptions within your RSA ad copy.
• Pin headlines to the headline 1, and description line 1. This helps to ensure that your ad will make sense.
• Use one RSA per ad group.
• Use three ETA per ad group.

Free Responsive Search Ads builder

Gain access to our free Responsive Search Ads builder, which will allow you to quickly and easily create new ads to be imported into your Google Ads campaigns.

>>>> Click Here to Access The Free Google Sheet Template <<<<

Need Help With Your Google Ads Account?

If you need help with setting up and getting the best performance from your Responsive Search Ads, and would like an expert to review your account, then feel free to get in contact with us and we’ll have one of our specialists get in contact with you.

One of the most important variables which determines the success of a Google Ads campaign, is the landing page.

The campaign settings, targeting and ads generate the traffic; but ultimately that traffic must be converted into a lead or sale by the landing page.

You can have an extremely well set up Google’s Ad campaign that attracts customers who are dying for your product or service, but if you don’t engage those visitors once they’re on your website, and entice them into a sale, then they’ll simply leave and buy from another website.

Through our experience reviewing Google Ads campaigns, we’ve seen which landing pages convert, and which do not, and based on this we’ve compiled a list of 10 Top Tips that you need for a high landing page conversion rate.

1. Fast Page Speed

The speed at which your landing page loads is one of the most important factors for determining its conversion rate.

People these days want everything to load instantly and will have very little patience for a page that’s taking more than two or three seconds to load.

If your page is taking more than three seconds to load for either desktop or mobile, then this is certainly an area you should be committing attention to.

Any time you can shave off of your page load speed is going to translate directly into a higher conversion rate, and ultimately more money in yours or your client’s bank account.

Luckily there are some great tools for assessing your landing page’s load speed and identifying areas where improvements can be made:

GTMetrix
Google Page Speed Insights

2. Strong Call to Action

There needs to be a clear indication of what visitors need to do once they land on your page.

Visitors don’t want to spend time digging around and hunting for the next step they need to take in order to buy your product or service.

If the visitor needs to be fill out a form in order to place their order, this needs to be clearly stated, and this is achieved with a call-to-action. For example a big “Order Now” button on the form, gives a clear indication.

A call-to-action needs to be bold, and stand out by contrasting with the colour scheme of the page so that the visitor’s eyes lock onto it straight away.

3. Responsiveness

Is your page responsive and easy to navigate on mobile and tablet devices? As more and more people are choosing to browse the web on their smartphones, it’s becoming increasingly important for your website to perform well and look good on mobile.

4. Limit Linking to Other Pages

Having links to other pages on your own or other websites can pull visitors away from your landing page, and the specific action you would like them to take.

Limiting the number of links you have on your landing page can help channel visitors towards the action that will ultimately generate revenue for your business.

5. Great Content Above the Fold

Is there valuable information above the fold of your page? Many visitors won’t scroll past the top of your landing page. Again, visitors are impatient, and want quick answers to their queries.

It helps to place information about your product or service’s main features and benefits in bullet-point format above the fold, along with a clear call-to-action to give you the best chance of converting visitors within the first few seconds of them landing on the page.

6. Excellent Brand Messaging

Do you have a strong brand that exudes authority, and integrity within your sector? Visitors pay a lot of attention to the feeling and vibe they get from your website’s branding.

This includes your domain name!

We’ve performed tests with landing pages, where the only change we have made is to the domain name, and we’ve seen a proportional difference of conversion rate of 25%.

7. Credibility & Transparency

It’s important to come across as legitimate, credible, and trustworthy. People want to do business and buy from people that they can trust.

Make sure it’s easy for visitors to access your terms, privacy policy, contact information, and details of how you will secure their information.

8. Unique Product or Service

Is the product or service that you’re offering unique or differentiated from your competitors in any way? And if not, are you presenting service in a different way from your competitors?

If you’re offering the same thing as all of the other advertisers, then why what will make prospective customers choose you?

Without a competitive edge, any marketing campaign being run may struggle to produce results.

9. No Spammy Content and Features

Does your site have any annoying pop-ups? Is it full of ads? Are there multiple email optin forms. These types of features can reduce your page’s overall conversion rate.

10. A/B Testing

No landing page is perfect, and you can always find ways of squeezing more conversions out of your visitors.

Split or A/B testing, gives you experiment with new ideas and to identify new layouts, content, and call-to-actions which generate higher conversion rates.

Need Help With Your Google Ads Account?

If you think your landing page conversion rates are not as high as they should be, and would like an expert to review your page, then feel free to get in contact with us and we’ll have one of our specialists get in contact with you.

The Google Ads landing page experience is an important component of each of your keyword’s Quality Scores.

Why Does Google Place an Importance On Your Landing Page Experience?

One of Google’s main objectives is to ensure that their users are served with the best possible results for their search query.

If people were consistently linked with content that they do not find useful, or a website that gave them a bad experience, then they would eventually stop using Google search.

For this reason, use a ranking system to compare the websites of the various advertisers bidding on a given keyword.

How Is Landing Page Experience Assessed

Your landing page will be assessed by both bots that automatically crawl your site, and staff who will carry out a manual review.

Together these assessments will be used to categorise your landing page as either

• Above Average: The experience on your landing page is excellent compared to other advertisers for the keyword in question.
• Average: The experience on your landing page is OK, but it has room for improvement.
• Below Average: The experience on your landing page doesn’t meet the standard, and needs improvement.

How to Review Your Keyword’s Landing Page Experience

To view the Landing Page Experience for your keywords:

1. Navigate to the Keywords section of your account
2. Select ‘Columns’ and ensure that the ‘Landing Page Experience’ column has been added
3. Review the rating, which will be either “Below Average”, “Average”, “Above Average”, or “-” if there is not yet sufficient data
4. If your rating is “Average” or “Below Average” – then there’s room for improvement

How to Improve Your ‘Landing Page Experience’

When it comes to ‘Landing Page Experience, there is a set criteria Google users to categorise pages as either above or below average.

The more of these criteria you meet, compared to your competitors, the better your rating will be.

It’s important to understand however, that some of these criteria are quite vague, or subjective.

Whether you meet the criteria or not will be down to the opinion of the individual manul reviewer reviewing your page.

Here is a full break-down of the criteria offered by Google.

Well-Defined Criteria

• Speed: Does it load quickly, or does it keep the user waiting around for 3 or more seconds? Test your site’s mobile speed here.
• Information: Does your page offer an adequate level of information for visitors to make a decision? We’ve found that having at least 500-1000 words is a good amount to aim for.
• Responsive: Is your page responsive and easy to navigate on mobile and tablet devices? Google places heavy emphasis on how well your website performs on mobile.
• Above the fold: Is there valuable information above the fold? We’ve found that pages that have limited content, or just a form or an image above the fold, tend to find it harder to get a good rating.

Intuitive Criteria

• Brand Meets Expectations: Do you have a strong brand that exudes authority, and integrity within your sector? Of course this is very subjective, and this will mean something different for each industry. A tattoo parlour’s website is going to require a completely different colour scheme and brand in order to appear authentic, compared to a law firm.
• Transparency: It’s important to come across as legitimate, credible, and trustworthy. Make sure it’s easy for visitors to access your terms, privacy policy, contact information, and details of how you will secure their information.
• Unique Content: Are you offering something new that allows you to differentiate yourself from your competitors, or are you offering the same thing as all of the other advertisers?
• Spammy Content and Features: Does your site have any annoying pop-ups? Is it full of ads? Are there multiple email optin forms. These can be viewed as detrimental to the overall user experience.

An Above Average ‘Landing Page Experience’ Can Be Elusive, But Keep Trying!

Achieving an ‘Above Average’ rating can at times, seem to be very elusive.

But the important thing is to ensure that you meet as many of the criteria possible, to give your page the best chance of getting an above average rating.

A side effect of doing this is that the experience for your visitors should improve by doing this, which should improve your retention of those visitors, and possibly increase the percentage of visitors who become customers.

So there is no down-side to improving your landing page. Even if you don’t see an above average rating, it’s still worth making the adjustments.

Need Help With Your Google Ads Account?

If you’re struggling to achieve an Above Average rating for your keyword’s Landing Page Experience, and would like an expert to review your account, then feel free to get in contact with us and we’ll have one of our specialists get in contact with you.

Why Are Negative Keywords so Important?

As opposed to the keywords that you bid on, with negative keywords, you select which words you want to prevent your ads from showing for.

Your list of negative keywords should be made up of commonly terms which are not relevant to the purchasing of the product or service that you offer.

For example if you’re advertising your services as a solicitor, you don’t want to be bidding on a term such as “solicitors salary”, as this keyword is being used by someone doing research about solicitor salaries not a customer.

Adding “salary” as a negative keyword would therefore help to prevent wasted ad spend on non-relevant keywords.

Simply put, using a long list of negative keywords will help put more money in yours or your client’s bank account.

Despite this, negative keyword lists are typically under-utilised within the accounts that we review.

For this reason we’ve created a comprehensive list of common negative keywords that you can use to save ad spend, along with a guide to help you get the most from your negative keyword lists:

Quick Links to Negative Keyword Categories

Discount
Education
Jobs
Legal
Financial
Manufacture
Materials
Media
Price
Property
Questions
Research
Social Media
Software
Support
Website
Colours
Numbers
Downloads
DIY
Charity
Languages
Animals
Global Big Brands & Authority Sites
Adult
Male First Names
Female First Names 1/2
Female First Names 2/2

Discount

Download Phrase Match txt file

bargain
cheap
clearance
close out
close outs
closeout
closeouts
discount
discounted
free
inexpensive
liquidation
odd lots
overstock
remainder
remainders

Download Phrase Match txt file

class
classes
college
colleges
course work
course
courses
curriculum
education
essay
essays
learn
manual
material
materials
module
modules
pdf
program
programs
pupil
qualification
qualifications
qualified
report
reports
resource
resources
ringtones
school
schools
seminar
seminars
textbook
textbooks
thesis
training
universities
university
workbook

Download Phrase Match txt file

agencies
agency
association
associations
career
careers
consultants
consulting
curriculum vitae
cv
direct hire
direct placement
employ
employer
employer
employers
employment
employment
firm
firms
freelance
freelancer
freelancers
freelancing
frys
full time
full-time
head hunter
hire
hiring
house
household
independent contractors
intern
interns
internship
internships
job
job
jobs
jobs
occupation
occupations
part time
part-time
pay
personal
recruiter
recruiters
recruiting
recruitment
resume
resumes
salaries
salary
staff
vacancies
vacancy
work

Download Phrase Match txt file

act of
act
compliance
law
laws
legal
legislation
registry
regulation
agent
agreement
allegation
appointeeship
dispute
resolution
arbitration
bankrupt
barrister
beneficiary
claimant
compensation
conciliation
conditions
contract
counsel
courts
court
culpable
damages
disbursment
evidence
fraud
indemnity
intellectual property
appeal
arrest
attorney
solicitor
judge
jury
liable
laundering
scam
scams
scamming

Download Phrase Match txt file

bank
economy
loan
rate
rates
capital
cash
outflow
cash flow
revenue
profit
loss
recession
debt
collateral
mortgage
interest
expenses
expense
credit
overdraft
over draft
shares
stocks
rally
market
markets

Download Phrase Match txt file

antique
consumer
export
exporter
exporters
hobby
import
importer
importers
measurement
model
models
regulations
rent
rental
repair
repairs
rules
specs
store
toy
toys
used
vintage

Download Phrase Match txt file

aluminum
ceramic
cotton
fabric
glass
gold
iron
leather
metal
paper
plastic
rubber
silver
stainless steel
steel
stone
vinyl
wood

Download Phrase Match txt file

advisory
bbc
blog
blogs
bulletin
bulletins
certification
channel
channel
club
clubs
conference
conferences
daily telegraph
FAQ
forums
foundations
head-lines
headlines
image
images
institute
institutes
itv
learn about
logo
logos
meaning of
music video
music
news letter
newsletter
newsletter
newsletters
newsletters
newspaper
newspapers
photograph
photographs
picture
the gaurdian
the independent
the sun
the times
video
videos

Download Phrase Match txt file

afford
charge
charges
cost
costs
estimate
estimates
fee
fees
price
prices
pricing
quote
quotes

Download Phrase Match txt file

abandoned
apartment
architecture
condo
disused
homes
real estate
buy to let
btl
conveyancing
conveyancer
deposit
equity
freehold
leasehold
gazumping
rent
landlord
land lord
tenant
lease

Download Phrase Match txt file

How
What
When
Where
Who

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&
about
address
advantage
advantages
analysis
article
articles
avatar
avatars
become a
become
book
books
calculator
case studies
case study
chart
check list
checker
checklist
code
compare
comparison
cons
contact number
could
critique
critiques
define
definition
diagram
difference
differences
disadvantage
disadvantages
estimate
example
examples
expectation
expectations
explain
explained
graph
guide
guides
history
hours
how do i
how to
icon
icons
incentives
index
info
information
instruction
instructions
instructions
itinerary
journal
journals
magazine
magazines
map
maps
mean
meaning
means
metrics
news
number
opening
opinion
opinions
phone number
phone
photo
photos
pics
picture
pictures
post code
postcode
process
processes
profile
profiles
pros
question
question
questionnaire
questions
questions
rating
ratings
reason
reasons
recommend
recommended
research
resource
resources
results
review
reviews
risk
risks
safety
sample
samples
should
specifications
standards
statistics
stats
success stories
success story
survey
surveys
test
tests
theories
theory
trend
trends
tutorial
tutorials
type
types
typical
what are
what i
what is
what’s
whats
white paper
white papers
would
zip

Download Phrase Match txt file

face book
facebook
instagram
linked in
linkedin
my space
pinterest
twitter
whatsapp
wechat
qzone
tumblr
skype
viber
snapchat
telegram
reddit
myspace

Download Phrase Match txt file

burn
burner
cd
code
community
desktop
developer
developers
disk
download
downloads
dvd
error
file
files
forum
freeware
game
games
gnu
hack
hacks
libraries
library
microsoft
open source
public domain
retail
retailer
retailers
shareware
shortcut
shortcuts
template
templates
video
windows

Download Phrase Match txt file

advice
compainer
complain
complaining
complaints
dispute
disputes
help
tip
tips
workshop
workshops

Download Phrase Match txt file

check out
checkout
contact
contacts
credentials
log in
logging in
logi n
login
login
online
pass word
password
user name
user
web
back end
front end
www
http
https
url
server
hosting
html
css
php
javascript
code
developer

Download Phrase Match txt file

White
Yellow
Blue
Red
Green
Black
Brown
Azure
Ivory
Teal
Silver
Purple
Navy blue
Pea green
Gray
Orange
Maroon
Charcoal
Aquamarine
Coral
Fuchsia
Wheat
Lime
Crimson
Khaki
Hot pink
Magenta
Olden
Plum
Olive
Cyan

Download Phrase Match txt file

0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

Download Phrase Match txt file

download
down load
downloading
downloads
torrent
torrents
torrentz
file sharing

Download Phrase Match txt file

crafts
create
creating
hand made
handmade
home
homemade
how can
how does
make
making

Download Phrase Match txt file

charities
charity
charitable
volunteer
volunteers
donate
donations
donating

Download Phrase Match txt file

Abkhaz
Adyghe
Afrikaans
Akan
Albanian
Amharic
Arabic
Aragonese
Aramaic
Armenian
Assamese
Aymara
Balinese
Basque
Betawi
Bosnian
Breton
Bulgarian
Cantonese
Catalan
Cherokee
Chickasaw
Chinese
Coptic
Cornish
Corsican
Crimean Tatar
Croatian
Czech
Danish
Dutch
Dawro
Esperanto
Estonian
Ewe
Fiji Hindi
Filipino
Finnish
French
Galician
Georgian
German
Greek
Ancient Greek
Greenlandic
Haitian Creole
Hawaiian
Hebrew
Hindi
Hungarian
Icelandic
Indonesian
Inuktitut
Interlingua
Irish
Italian
Japanese
Javanese
Kabardian
Kalasha
Kannada
Kashubian
Khmer
Kinyarwanda
Korean
Kurdish/Kurdî
Ladin
Latgalian
Latin
Lingala
Livonian
Lojban
Sorbian
Macedonian
Malay
Malayalam
Mandarin
Manx
Maori
Mauritian Creole
Min Nan
Mongolian
Norwegian
Oriya
Pangasinan
Papiamentu
Pashto
Persian
Pitjantjatjara
Polish
Portuguese
Proto-Slavic
Quenya
Rajasthani
Rapa Nui
Romanian
Russian
Sanskrit
Scots
Scottish Gaelic
Semai
Serbian
Serbo-Croatian
Slovak
Slovene
Spanish
Sinhalese
Swahili
Swedish
Tagalog
Tajik
Tamil
Tarantino
Telugu
Thai
Tok Pisin
Turkish
Twi
Ukrainian
Urdu
Uyghur
Uzbek
Venetian
Vietnamese
Vilamovian
Welsh
Xhosa
Yiddish
Zazaki
Zulu

Download Phrase Match txt file

alligator
ant
bear
bee
bird
camel
cat
cheetah
chicken
chimpanzee
cow
crocodile
deer
dog
dolphin
duck
eagle
elephant
fish
fly
fox
frog
giraffe
goat
goldfish
hamster
hippopotamus
horse
kangaroo
kitten
lion
lobster
monkey
octopus
owl
panda
pig
puppy
rabbit
rat
scorpion
seal
shark
sheep
snail
snake
spider
squirrel
tiger
turtle
wolf
zebra

Download list of global brands.

Download adult terms.

Download 4709 most common male first names.

Download list 1/2 of the most common female first names (5000 names).

Download list 2/2 of the most common female first names (2834 names).

How to Get The Most from Your Negative Keywords Lists

Doing Your Own Research

Using Google’s free Keyword Research Tool can be a great way to find non-relevant terms to negative match for your specific product or service.

You can start by entering words related to your service and then browsing through the results.

Try to think about what the intent of the searcher using each of the queries, are they looking to buy your product or service? If not, then you’ve likely found a good candidate for a negative keyword.

Negative Keyword Match Types

The same match types that can be used for normal keywords can also be used for negative keywords.

All of the negative keywords within the lists provided on this page, by default are using the Phrase Match Type (indicated by the quotes), as opposed to Exact, or Broad Match.

This is because we recommend using Phrase Match almost exclusively for your negative keywords, and is to save you time when copying and pasting these negative keywords into your account.

Phrase Match is recommended because it gives you the best of both worlds: it allows you to block all of the search terms that could possibly contain that negative keyword; while also allowing you to retain control over how wide the spectrum of terms you’ll be blocking will be.

Take Care When Adding Negative Keywords

When adding in negative keyword lists, you should always take care to ensure that the keywords you are negative matching are not keywords that you would want to target for your product or service.

Google Ads will automatically detect when keywords that are targeted directly within your campaigns are unable to serve due to a negative keyword, however this issue will often only be flagged after a number of hours or days.

For this reason it is important to eye-ball every negative keyword that you add within your account.

Be sure to manually check every negative keyword that you add within yours or a client’s account. It is your responsibility to ensure that the negative keywords that you add will not be blocking any of your targeted keywords, or have an adverse effect on the performance of your campaigns.

Negative Keyword Limits

• 20 shared negative keyword lists per account
• 5,000 keywords per negative keyword list
• 10,000 negative keywords per campaign

So the maximum number of negative keywords you can assign within a given campaign is 110,000

https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/6372658?hl=en-GB

Account Level Negative Keyword Lists

This is a bit of a hack, allowing to create list within your MCC account once and apply it to campaigns in multiple accounts.

To do this, when logged into your Google Ads MCC account (not a client’s child account) click on ‘Tools & Settings’ in the top right hand corner and select “Negative Keyword Lists”.

Any lists that you create within this section can be used across all the client accounts managed within your MCC.

Need Help With Your Google Ads Account?

If you feel your campaigns are not working as effectively as they could, and would like an expert to review your account, then feel free to get in contact with us and we’ll have one of our specialists get in contact with you.