Finding negative words techniques

How to?

[silverbytes]

I'd like to know how do you actually find your negative words for your campaigns.
I try to guess some and then search for most popular terms, then pick up some others.

What about you?

[JollyK]

There are some that I know I don't want such as "free" and "kostenlos" and so forth (unless it is free!). Sometimes, I don't want "cheap." The suggestions that Google gives you for other related keyword phrases are good as well: sometimes they'll come up with something like "no cost widgets" and you'll think, "Oh, yeah, I'd better include "no cost" as a negative. Or maybe "strong widgets" and you're only selling "weak widgets."

"Reviews" is another keyword that I exclude most of the time. I want people to be looking for the product, not reviews of it.

I check my server log analysis for search strings, and if I find people coming to my site after searching for things I don't want, I put those in. (I find that my server logs and Google's suggestions for additional keyphrases are incredibly helpful.)

I also use Overture's keyword tool that tells you how many searches were done on, e.g., "widgets." I start with just "widgets" and look down the list of what they come up with, and often find good negative keywords there.

That's about all I've got. :-)

JK

[TerriGW]

I use Google's suggestions, and I also use the Keyword Tool and click "get more keywords" then I read through the list and when I see words that would not work for us, I ad them as negatives.

Besides the word "review" I also use "definition" and "define" as negative keywords also.

We have used a word tracking program, but I have found it is not worth the subscription price, I get the same results using the Google Keyword Tool.

[jcmoon]

I use hitslink, go into latest visitors and see what search terms are getting me clicks. If they have nothing to do with my website, I add them to my list of negative keywords.

[Potosi]

Type in your keyword on Google and scan through the first two or three pages of SERP results.

Jot down any words from the META titles/ META descriptions in those SERPS that look completely off topic for your site, and add them to your negatives list.

[eWhisper]

This technique has been refined and had additional steps added to it over the past two year, but the advice in this thread is still quite valid for finding negative keywords:

[webmasterworld.com...]

[silverbytes]

Good tips all of you!

I ..., go into latest visitors and see what search terms are getting me clicks. If they have nothing to do with my website, I add them to my list of negative keywords.

Isn't dropping that traffic a loose?
I mean perhaps those "unrelated" words still are visitors that browse your website and maybe buy something...

The idea is to filter words that don't drive traffic and you are paying for...

[mike_ppc]

silverbytes, are you talking about "site targeting"? otherwise, ppc obviously means that you pay only when you get traffic..

[silverbytes]

I mean you should first noticing if unrelated terms still browse and convert before dumping those just because looks unrelated. I'm talking about cpc.

[JollyK]

I mean perhaps those "unrelated" words still are visitors that browse your website and maybe buy something...

For what it's worth, I've generally found that people who come to my site looking for "free widgets" or "cheap widgets" or "discount widgets" just don't convert, and if they do convert, turn into customer support nightmares. This is just one example, but when I say "unrelated" I do mean "free widgets" if I sell "expensive widgets."

I do try to analyze a bit whether or not the unrelated searches convert, and another thing I've done is to see if there's an affiliate program for things I get unrelated searches on. If so, then I'll do something like, "Oops, you came here for red widgets, but all we have is blue widgets. For red widgets, go here," and link them to the affiliate deal.

That way I get the possibility of a buy from the affiliate link. (That's kind of off-topic, though. Sorry.)

JK