Content Network - Negatives

[SEMblahblah]

how do negatives work in a content network ad group? should i add irrelevant themes as negatives to my ad group? also, the commonly used negative terms like 'free' - do they work in the content network as well? Can some one elaborate on this?

also, when structuring content network ad groups, if i intend to add themes like review sites, forums, blogs, etc - do i place them in the same ad group? or is it ideal to have all of these placed in unique ad groups - would it make a difference?

Thanks in advance!

[RhinoFish]

regarding the negatives...

good stuff here:
[webmasterworld.com...]

read the whole thing, the info's somewhat spread out over several posts, but you answer's in there.

[SEMblahblah]

Thanks RhinoFish!

There is reference to content network negatives at the very end of that thread. But I'd still like it if some one could elaborate on this topic. I'm well verse with how negatives work on search in different match types. I have an idea of how they would impact a content network ad group but still need some clarity.
So is it something like this -
if i want my ads to not show on any 'download' related sites, I add 'download' as a negative. Again, do I need to create a 'theme' of negatives here? Would match types in negatives make a difference in this case?

Also, regarding my second question..any thoughts?forums, reviews, articles, blogs, etc can form one theme or should I use unique ad groups for each. I've noticed that on creating individual themes for such pages "which may be very similar", its difficult to achieve too many impressions for each of those ad groups..which is why I've started clubbing them together..Whats the more idealistic approach?

Thanks!

[smallcompany]

if i want my ads to not show on any 'download' related sites, I add 'download' as a negative

That is what always bugged me about optimizing content campaigns.

If you don't want it on download related sites - fine. But in the software example, most of today is bought in download form. So, you can expect that download term will always go with it.

Or, I was thinking about (again in software example) negatives like crack, key, keygen, activation code and so on.
Well, what about legitimate articles that talk about software piracy and similar stuff? All these keywords could be mentioned anywhere.

Or, talking about services, i.e. sort of communications. Words like complaints, customer service, legal action, stock, modem, remote, phone, etc.
All that still may belong to well rounded article, site, whatever that can still convert.

As OP has already mentioned, do you, and I ask, how to create a theme of negatives that would not have negative impact on your conversion?

Thanks