Negative Keywords Archives

What We Push Back On When We Set Up a Google Ads Campaign

Mock Google Ads interface showing six campaign settings flagged as Default: Bidding Strategy, Networks, Location Targeting, Negative Keyword Lists, Audiences and Signals, and AI Max

You've been running one or two generalist Google Ads campaigns for a while, maybe a Shopping campaign and a Search campaign, or a single Performance…

Andrew Flicker In Google Ads, SEM

Weekly Reports Catch Fires. They Don’t Find Dry Rot.

Dual monitors displaying healthy Google Ads performance dashboards with upward-trending green metrics, set on a desk above crumbling dry-rotted wooden support beams and a warning sign, illustrating the gap between a clean weekly report and hidden account structure problems.

Most merchants evaluate their paid search agency through the weekly or monthly report. Spend, revenue, ROAS, conversions, week-over-week movement. The report either reassures the merchant…

Mike Jelley In Google Ads, SEM

How Negative Keyword Lists Work (And Why They Age Badly)

Google Ads dashboard showing a negative keyword list audit, with outdated terms like free and jobs flagged for removal and potential growth opportunities including wholesale and subscription identified as candidates for un-negation

Negative lists hold the negative keywords you attach to multiple campaigns because the related search terms are so damaging to ROAS, so full of wasted…

Mike Jelley In Google Ads, SEM