Words like cheap, free, and discount are often used as negative keywords in Google Ads campaigns, especially when we’re promoting high-end products.
This helps us save money on ads and target more relevant and intent-driven searches, ultimately leading to better results.
However, sometimes, we unintentionally miss similar keywords. For instance, if we exclude ‘cheap,’ our ad might still show up for terms like affordable, sale, economical, and budget-friendly. This happens when Google Ads is given broad match liberty.
To avoid this, here’s how I prevent close variants from triggering our ads:
1) Create a list of potential negative keywords manually. Spending some time on this is crucial because no tool can understand your audience better than a human brain.
2) Ask ChatGPT to suggest synonyms for those keywords you want to exclude.
3) Let ChatGPT work its magic.
I remember the days when close variants weren’t a concern in tightly controlled keyword campaigns.
However, I definitely don’t miss the days of constantly managing close variants as negatives.