Optimize your keyword list

You've already created a keyword list, and now you'd like some tips on how to make it perform better. Learn more about how to add, edit, and remove keywords.

This article explains some advanced ways you can optimize your keyword list.

Improve your click-through rate with negative keywords

In some cases, you'll want to prevent your ad from showing for terms that aren't relevant to your product or service. Try adding negative keywords to help you reduce costs and make your ad appear only for the search terms you want.

Example

Let's say the running shoe store you own sells only men's shoes. You might consider adding women and girls as negative keywords to prevent your ad from showing when people search for women's shoes or girls' shoes.

Use keyword match types to better control who sees your ads

Keyword match types give you greater control over who sees your ads.

For example, with the exact match option, you can specify an exact keyword, which also includes close variations of that keyword such as misspellings, plural forms, abbreviations, reordered words, and other variations with the same meaning.

Example

If you want to show your ad only to people interested in buying men’s running shoes, you might want to add a term like men’s running shoes as an exact match keyword.

That way, your ad will be eligible to show when people search for that exact term or a close variation such as running shoes for men. Your ad won’t show when people search for terms like best running shoes for men because that phrase includes the term “best,” which isn’t an exact part of your keyword or close variations of it.

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