Negative keywords is a tool you can’t afford to ignore in your Google AdWords campaign. Negative keywords cause an ad to not be shown if any of the keywords are in the search phrase.

This is important for a few reasons. First, because the ad will not be shown for keyword phrases that are not relevant, there will be fewer click throughs that do not convert to sales. Second, the overall CTR (click through rate) will be higher because there will be fewer instances of searchers viewing the ad but not clicking. The higher CTR will cause the ad to attain a higher position without requiring a higher CPC (cost per click).

Out of the 4 keyword matching options, broad matching can be used in conjunction with a few negative keywords in most cases for the desired effect. Thinking about what keywords need to be avoided requires a bit of thought and creativity. You can start with no negative keywords and later on add them looking at the “Search Query Report” of the campaign.