negative keywords

Most previous TopSide blog posts cover technical features of search engine marketing or measuring of phone calls from web traffic. Although one idea in this blog came from a technical tool we use in online ads, negative keywords, you’ll find today’s post different. Rather than a technical article, today’s post is a combination of observations and predictions about information overload, the web, and products and services in general.

The stage on which we operate today

Recently we rebuilt and launched a PPC account for an Austin client that had over 3,000 negative keywords. In our 5+ years of search marketing, this was a record at TopSide. The research and collaboration with our client on negative keywords was very productive, and took about as many days as all the other components combined.

In this posting, when we use “keywords”, it relates to search terms, also known as “queries”, which computer users type in the search box when searching online. The term “keywords” is also used elsewhere: regarding page code (“meta tag keywords”); and in describing content on web pages (“keyword density”). A computer user’s query with keywords simultaneously triggers a search engine results page (SERP) containing both natural/organic results in the center of the page and ads on the top and side of the page. This fact usually compounds the confusion in those new to search marketing.