PPC issues with Negative Keywords

[J.D. Landscaping]

Hi Folks,

I have various negative keywords applied to an Ad campaign I am running with google, yet I am still being charged for click throughs.

Negative keyword: Job

Search term : gardening jobs in lancashire

These are set as a " Phrase Match " and I have applied these using Googles own interface.

These are applied at ad & campaign level.


What's that all about ?

Many Thanks

Dave

[J.D. Landscaping]

Anyone got any ideas ?

[admagic]

Hi Folks,

I have various negative keywords applied to an Ad campaign I am running with google, yet I am still being charged for click throughs.

Negative keyword: Job

Search term : gardening jobs in lancashire

These are set as a " Phrase Match " and I have applied these using Googles own interface.


These are applied at ad & campaign level.


What's that all about ?

Many Thanks

Dave

You should include plurals in negatives both job and jobs.

And if you did it is yet one more case of google screwing people.

I no longer use broad match at all, because some of the stuff is so far west of reasonable - in the last 12 months they have opened the flood gates to drown unobservant people, and I neither have the time nor inclination to weed out the rubbish.

BTW youdont make it clear what the phrase you entered was, I presume the "gardening jobs in" was simply something that matched. What was the phrase?

[J.D. Landscaping]

Sorry ADmagic I'm not sure what you mean by this ?

"BTW youdont make it clear what the phrase you entered was, I presume the "gardening jobs in" was simply something that matched. What was the phrase?"

Many Thanks

[J.D. Landscaping]

You should include plurals in negatives both job and jobs.

I do use plurals.



And if you did it is yet one more case of google screwing people.

I no longer use broad match at all, because some of the stuff is so far west of reasonable - in the last 12 months they have opened the flood gates to drown unobservant people, and I neither have the time nor inclination to weed out the rubbish.


I have changed to phrase match now, is this the correct action ?

[SteveGibson]

You should include plurals in negatives both job and jobs.

Yes, you should have

-job
-jobs

not just -job

I no longer use broad match at all, because some of the stuff is so far west of reasonable - in the last 12 months they have opened the flood gates to drown unobservant people, and I neither have the time nor inclination to weed out the rubbish.

Yes, it got a lot worse in 2009. I saw things generating "matches" that didn't in 2007-8.

(same keywords, campaigns and ad groups - so it was a change in policy at google)

I've got some theories about what's going on and I expect it to get worse and worse as time goes on.

However... I have lots of clients who make a lot of money from broad match.

So, as imperfect as it is, it can still be very profitable when properly managed.

Steve

[admagic]

However... I have lots of clients who make a lot of money from broad match.

So, as imperfect as it is, it can still be very profitable when properly managed.

Steve

I dont doubt it steve, but it is not universal that broad can work, and is getting tobe too much of a pain. I like an easier life these days...

In many markets it increases the number of landing pages to cope with the broader range of mindset, which makes the conversion tracking, negative keywords so on so forth a lot more painful to do, and it needs a lot more monitoring too, certainly in the early phases, since it is mostly longtail low volume searches. There is a pareto here - 20% of the profit - even in the situations where broad is possible - can easily start costing more than 80% of the work, and then you only ever know if you put the work in first to try.

That said - every serious turnover business should try it , but if they do....do proper conversion testing day 1 - which costs money. You cannot leave it to chance.

[J.D. Landscaping]

Yes, you should have

-job
-jobs

not just -job




I do use plurals.

Is "phrase match" better suited to campaigns of this type ?

[SteveGibson]

I dont doubt it steve, but it is not universal that broad can work, and is getting tobe too much of a pain. I like an easier life these days....

I understand that.

I just wanted to give people another side of the story. For businesses with high volume traffic and good profitability using phrase & exact, adding broad match can often more than double their adwords profits.

Of course, as you say, it's important to manage it closely and track conversions/ROI.

Steve

[admagic]

Sorry ADmagic I'm not sure what you mean by this ?

"BTW youdont make it clear what the phrase you entered was, I presume the "gardening jobs in" was simply something that matched. What was the phrase?"

Many Thanks

I assumed that what you meant was...

Google had allowed a click through for phrase:
gardening jobs in lancashire
When you had a negative keyword -job

But that doesnt tell me what keyword or keyphrase that click had come from

Have I misunderstood?
Think steve and me read it the same way.
Maybe if you explained the problem again?

[J.D. Landscaping]

I assumed that what you meant was...

Google had allowed a click through for phrase:
gardening jobs in lancashire
When you had a negative keyword -job

But that doesnt tell me what keyword or keyphrase that click had come from



That is corredt Admagic

Amateur alert.:|

How do I find out which keyword or phrase it came from.


Sorry.