We've recently addressed how organic search should be a priority in your online growth strategy. But there's no doubt that paid search campaigns are important in your plan to increase web traffic. That raises the question, "How can I run an effective paid search campaign?" There are many answers to that question, but negative keywords are some of the lesser-known keys to paid search campaigns. Let's dig in if you're ready to improve your search engine marketing game. 

Negative keywords are search terms that you opt out of in your paid search campaigns. This tells the search engine not to display your ads to web users who include those keywords in their searches. For instance, as a small workwear company that sells heavy-duty work boots, you may want to select 'hiking boot' as a negative keyword because your company does not offer a product that satisfies the searcher's intent.   

There are a couple of ways in which you will benefit from using keywords in a paid search campaign: reducing wasted budget and avoiding unhappy website visitors. 

One of the chief concerns in running a paid search campaign is wasted budget. As an advertiser, you pay for each click you receive. That means you are wasting money when someone who isn't looking for a product or service that you offer clicks on an ad for your website. It pays to look into your campaign data and weed out keywords that people use that are irrelevant to your product.  

The first reason to avoid unhappy web visitors is not to drive away potential customers. Just because someone isn't currently looking for your products and services doesn't mean they never will. If someone clicks on your ad and feels misled, it may sour them on your business altogether. That could cost you a future customer down the road. 

It's essential to your search engine marketing and overall web performance to maximize the time people spend on your web pages. Search engines like Google track your website's engagement. If search engines record a high bounce rate on the pages that your ads lead to, it may damage your search engine optimization. So, it's important to ensure your ads accurately reflect the content on your website. If you are receiving traffic from irrelevant search terms, it will help to isolate those terms and add them to your campaign as negative keywords.