Google Ads is a powerful tool for digital marketers, but to maximize its potential, you need to understand how to use inclusions, exclusions, and negative keywords effectively. This guide will walk you through the basics, best practices, and strategies to optimize your campaigns.

Introduction to Inclusions and Exclusions

In Google Ads, inclusion and exclusion lists help you control which brands or terms are associated with your campaigns. These lists are particularly useful for brand safety and ensuring your ads appear in the right contexts.

How to Create a Brand Inclusion or Exclusion List:

1. Navigate to Tools in the Google Ads dashboard.
2. Go to the Brand Lists tab.
3. Create a new list, apply it to campaigns, or deselect it from existing campaigns.

Understanding Negative Keywords

Negative keywords are essential for optimizing ad performance. They prevent your ads from showing up for irrelevant or harmful search terms, ensuring your budget is spent on the most relevant queries.

Types of Negative Keywords:

1. Account-Level Negatives:
   • Applied across all campaigns and ad groups in your account.
   • Ideal for blocking harmful terms universally.
2. Sculpting Negatives:
   • Applied at the ad group level.
   • Used to direct specific search queries to the most relevant ad copy.

Example of Sculpting Negatives:

Imagine you’re running a promotion on New Balance sneakers. You want ads for this promotion to show up when someone searches for “New Balance sneakers,” but not when they search for generic terms like “men’s sneakers.” To achieve this:

• Add New Balance as a negative keyword in the ad group for generic sneakers.
• This ensures the search query triggers the ad group with the New Balance-specific ad copy.

Philosophy and Framework of Negative Keywords

When using negative keywords, it’s important to categorize search terms into three groups:

1. Harmful Terms:
   • Terms you absolutely don’t want triggering your ads.
   • Example: If you don’t sell on Amazon, add Amazon as a negative keyword.
2. Beneficial Terms:
   • Terms you want to trigger your ads.
   • Example: Specific product names or promotions.
3. Subjective Terms:
   • Terms you’re unsure about.
   • Example: The word free might be subjective depending on your business model.

Best Practices for Negative Keywords

1. Search Query Data Mining:

• Regularly review search term performance using n-gram analysis.
• Identify harmful terms and add them as account-level negatives.

2. Monitoring and Adjustments:

• Keep an eye on your search term report.
• Adjust negative keyword lists based on campaign performance and maturity.

3. Using Data Trends:

• Monitor trends using tools like Google Trends.
• Adjust negative keywords based on seasonal or trending terms.

Pro Tip:

• You don’t need to add every variant of a misspelled negative keyword. Adding the correctly spelled version will block all misspellings.

Example Walkthrough: Negative Keywords in Action

Let’s look at an example campaign for a bike retailer:

Campaign Structure:

• Ad Groups:
  1. Adult Bikes
  2. Kids Bikes
  3. Electric Bikes
  4. Mountain Bikes

Search Query:

• Bikes for kids under $125

Negative Keywords:

• In the Mountain Bikes ad group, add boys, girls, and kids as negative keywords.
• In the Kids Bikes ad group, add adult, men, women, electric, and mountain as negative keywords.

Why This Works:

• Ensures the search query triggers the most relevant ad group (Kids Bikes).
• Prevents irrelevant ad groups from showing up for the query.

Targeted Keywords for Your Campaigns

Here are some targeted keywords you can use for different ad groups:

Ad Group	Targeted Keywords
Adult Bikes	adult bikes, bikes for men, bikes for women, city bikes, hybrid bikes
Kids Bikes	bikes for kids, kids bicycles, children’s bikes, bikes for boys, bikes for girls
Electric Bikes	electric bikes, e-bikes, electric mountain bikes, electric city bikes
Mountain Bikes	mountain bikes, off-road bikes, trail bikes, mountain bicycles

Conclusion

Mastering inclusions, exclusions, and negative keywords in Google Ads is crucial for optimizing your campaigns. By categorizing search terms, regularly monitoring performance, and using data trends, you can ensure your ads reach the right audience while avoiding irrelevant or harmful queries. Use the example walkthrough and targeted keywords provided to refine your campaigns and achieve better results.

Key Takeaways:

• Use account-level negatives for harmful terms.
• Use sculpting negatives to direct queries to the most relevant ad groups.
• Regularly mine search query data and adjust negative keywords based on performance.
• Monitor data trends to stay ahead of seasonal or trending terms.

By following these strategies, you’ll be well on your way to running more efficient and effective Google Ads campaigns.