Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
Adwords negative keywords / keyword lists conflicting?
-
Does any of you had any experience on large 5k+ shared negative keyword lists impacting normal campaign negative keywords in Adwords even if they are not selected on these campaigns?
And a second question; does anyone know how selected negative keyword lists can be removed from a campaign? I seem to be able to add them but not to remove them...
Cheers!
-
Thanks for all responses.
Here is an official Google reply on negative keyword types:
Negative exact would only not show when the exact term is the entire query. Negative phrase would not show anytime the term showed anywhere in the query in that order. Negative would not show anytime the entire term showed anywhere in the search query in any order.
Say you had the keyword "blue mercedes car" on broad match. Here's how the different versions of the negative keyword "fast blue" would affect this ad.
-
-fast blue (Negative)
POSSIBLE SEARCHES:
blue mercedes car - WOULD SHOW
blue fast mercedes car - WOULD NOT SHOW
mercedes fast car - WOULD SHOW
car blue mercedes fast - WOULD NOT SHOW
fast blue - WOULD NOT SHOW
blue fast - WOULD NOT SHOW
fast blue mercedes car - WOULD NOT SHOW -
-"fast blue" (Negative Phrase)
POSSIBLE SEARCHES:
blue mercedes car - WOULD SHOW
blue fast mercedes car - WOULD SHOW
mercedes fast car - WOULD SHOW
car blue mercedes fast - WOULD SHOW
fast blue - WOULD NOT SHOW
blue fast - WOULD SHOW
fast blue mercedes car - WOULD NOT SHOW -
-[fast blue] (Negative Exact)
POSSIBLE SEARCHES:
blue mercedes car - WOULD SHOW
blue fast mercedes car - WOULD SHOW
mercedes fast car - WOULD SHOW
car blue mercedes fast - WOULD SHOW
fast blue - WOULD NOT SHOW
blue fast - WOULD SHOW
fast blue mercedes car - WOULD SHOW
Note that we do not expand to synonyms, singular or plural, and other variations as in the case of expanded broad match. So, the negative keyword "Air" wouldn't block the term "Airbnb" since it is one word, but would block the phrase "Air Mattress" because it contains the word "Air".
I hope this helps

-
-
I'm not familiar with any way that a shared library will be able to affect campaigns that it's not assigned to.
To remove them from campaigns, click on the name of the negative KW list, then scroll to the bottom and remove the campaigns you don't want. It's a little hidden from the normal way but it will still work!

-
Remember the following points while adding the negative keywords in your campaigns :
- Negative broad keywords won’t match on synonyms or similar words like they can for regular keywords.
- Negative keywords, even on broad match, won’t match on close variations or plurals.
- For single-word negative keywords, there is no difference between broad and phrase match.
-
The broad match may not necessarily cover the phrase match. With negative keywords, synonyms and plural versions of the keyword can still show up when a user searches with the term.
-
I agree, but wouldn't it make sense if you have a broad match negative keyword on a campaign level and the same on a shared list bus as a negative phrase match. The broad match would have covered the phrase match...
What are the thoughts on that?
-
Hi hellemans,
Make sure that your shared negative keyword list is not conflicting with your campaign level negative keyword list at the shared library level.
You can add a list of negative keywords at the campaign level or through the Shared Library - the SL is where your conflict may be happening.
To remove a negative keyword from your campaign, you'll need to manage it at the campaign level.
Campaign > Keyword > Scroll to the bottom of the campaign > Add/Remove negative keywords at the ad group/campaign level
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
How to know competitors keywords for adwords
I want to run google campaign for adwords and I want to target keywords that my competitor is ranking for. How can I know what are the keywords that are helping my competitors the most. Is there some way so that I can know what my competitor is bidding for those keywords. I heard it also depends on the landing page quality. Please suggest the best strategy to run adwords at lower cost and yet perform well. I am willing to run campaign for this website . It is basically meant to connect manufacturers representatives and independent sales reps to businesses. Any suggestions are welcome.
Paid Search Marketing | | HelloWorld20200 -
PPC: how to get rid of an ad appearing on a keyword we don't want?
Hi, Our ad on Google Ads is appearing for a search we don't want. it isn't in our search keywords and when i try and ad it to our negative ones, we get the error " You cannot exclude keywords that are targeted " which i assume means that google thinks we are bidding on it? We have a selection of broad phrase matches so i can only think that this is where it's coming from? Do you have any tips on tracking down which keyword is generating this ad and how we can turn it off? (we don't want to pay for clicks on this search if possible!) Btw - i have turned off each keyword in turn to test it = nothing. have then paused the whole campaign = gets rid of the ad (but this is our most successful campaign so i can't just turn it off). Any advice super super welcome. thank you!
Paid Search Marketing | | Fubra1 -
Will pausing my AdWords PPC campaigns impact my organic rankings?
Over 95% of my revenue comes from organic search; less than 5% comes from AdWords PPC (all other sources account for about 1-2%). My ROI on AdWords is roughly zero. It's negative if you include opportunity costs. My question is: if I pause all of my AdWords campaigns, is there ANY chance that my organic rankings (and organic click-through rates) will suffer? This is really two questions. First, could Google retaliate to my reduced ad spending by dropping my rankings? Second, will searchers think differently about my organic link if they don't also see the accompanying paid link on the SERP?
Paid Search Marketing | | ahirai2 -
Using multiple domains in one Adwords account
Hi, I am currently setting up an Adwords account and wanted to know if you can run multiple websites through one account. We have 2 domains each promoting a different one of our brands and i was wondering the best way to run the account. Regards Ben
Paid Search Marketing | | benjmoz0 -
OK to have a modal pop-up on an AdWords landing page?
We're about to launch an AdWords campaign targeting users who are searching for hand-crafted furniture. The website we're sending users to has a large inventory of furniture, and all if it is hand-crafted. But there currently is no page on the site specifically communicating that all the furniture on the site is hand-crafted. So, rather than dump the user right into browsing the inventory, we want to put an intermediate step in place to say, in essence, "Hey, welcome, yes, we have lots of handcrafted furniture. In fact, all of it is hand-crafted. Here, have a look around." The art director on the project is suggesting that a modal pop-up would be perfect for this scenario. It would greet the user, who could then dismiss the pop-up and move into the site. I have two concerns about using a modal, though: Does a modal violate Google's policy against pop-ups that open new windows? Assuming we trigger the modal using Javascript, will AdsBot have any trouble crawling the content of the modal, such that it could hurt the landing page component of our quality score?
Paid Search Marketing | | ydop0 -
World Localities in AdWords?
If I target the topic "World Localities>San Antonio", what type of sites my ads will be display? Are they sites about San Antonio, like tourism guides or event listings? Or are they related to San Antonio, like a university or flower shop in San Antonio?
Paid Search Marketing | | howlusa0 -
Arabic Keyword Research
Hi All, Can anyone recommend good SEOs who specialise in Arabic? I've had my client's website translated into Arabic but the translation company do not specialise in local keyword research. They've translated literally I think (obviously not being an Arabic speaker, I can't confirm this). I need someone to review the translated site (only 4 pages so far), with a marketing head on, and ensure it includes the relevant local keywords used in UAE countries. Will also require deeper keyword research for a Google.ae PPC campaign and Ad copy written in Arabic. If I fail to find someone here in the moz community I'll head over to oDesk, where I'll find everyone and their mother-in-law proclaiming to be the worlds best Arabic SEO 😕
Paid Search Marketing | | seowoody
I like recommendations! Thanks, Woody 🙂0 -
AdWords Sitelinks Disapproved
Hello,
Paid Search Marketing | | Instabill
I cannot find a justifiable reason as to why Google AdWords has disapproved my sitelinks. 1. My link text is descriptive of each page. For instance, I use the link text "Merchant Accounts" for the URL http://www.instabill.com/services/merchant-accounts/ 2. I have four extensions within one campaign. Each have 5 sitelinks with all the same link text and destination URLs. However, only two of the "Merchant Accounts" sitelinks were disapproved from two out of the four extensions. Two "High Risk Accounts" linking to our High Risk Merchant Accounts page were disapproved out of my four extensions, one "Industries We Serve" to our eCommerce Industries page was disapproved, and one "Offshore Accounts to our Offshore Merchant Accounts page was disapproved. Why are some disapproved and not all? 3. I use Daddy Analytics to generate my destination URLs for tracking purposes, but I do not see this as being an issue since the URL still begins with the URL in bullet point 1. After reading a few threads within the AdWords community and reading the AdWords Sitelinks Guidelines, I feel as if I have followed the guidelines. Any helpful advice would be appreciated.0