Negative keywords
Yandex Direct displays your ads when users enter search queries that contain your complete keyword.
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Let's say you sell trips to the moon. An ad with the keyword trip to the moon will be triggered by the query buy a trip to the moon, but also for less relevant queries such as books about trips to the moon and the first trip to the moon.
To prevent Yandex Direct from serving ads for non-relevant searches, add negative keywords.
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| Video tutorial. Negative keywords Watch video |
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| Video tutorial. Negative keywords Watch video |
How it works
Negative keywords are words or phrases that you do not want to trigger your ads.
Negative keywords can only be added to keywords. For example, if you add the negative keyword books to the keyword trip to the moon, your ad won't be shown to users who search for books about trips to the moon.
If there is an entire phrase that you don't want triggering your ads, add negative keywords on the level of a campaign or ad group. Ads will not be served in response to search queries that only contain negative keywords. However, an ad can be served for search queries that only contain some of the words in the negative keyword.
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For example, if one of your keywords is trip, and you add the negative keyword Aquarius constellation to the ad group, then ads will still be triggered if a user searches for trip to Taurus constellation.
When negative keywords are completely included in a keyword (i.e., completely overlap), the negative keywords are ignored.
- For example, the keyword buy a pink elephant and the negative keyword buy elephant completely overlap because the keyword includes all the words in the negative keyword. The negative keyword will be ignored and ads will be triggered by the search query buy a pink elephant.
The keyword buy a pink elephant and the negative keyword buy cheap overlap partially (only by the word buy). No ads will be triggered by the search query buy a pink elephant cheap.
If the negative keywords that are part of the keyword query use the " ", +, !, [ ] operators, negative keywords are not ignored during impressions.
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For example, the keyword buy pink elephants and the negative keyword buy !elephant fully overlap only in one word form which needs to be excluded from impressions. The query buy pink elephants features a negative keyword, so the ad won't be served.
The query pink elephant buy, on the other hand, does not feature a negative keyword, meaning the the ad will be served.
Other operators follow the same logic.
How to add negative keywords
You can add negative keywords to keywords, and add negative keyword-phrases to ad groups or campaigns.
- Negative keywords added to keywords
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On the Keywords tab, specify a negative keyword after a keyword with the
-operator.
You can also set up negative keywords on the group edit page under Related terms in the Keyword field.
- Negative keywords for ad groups
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On the ad group edit page under Related terms, in the Negative keywords field, enter negative keywords separated by commas or
-. Maximum of 7 words per negative keyword. The maximum number of characters (excluding spaces) is 4096.
- Negative keyword in the Campaign Wizard
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When advertising a mobile app in the Campaign Wizard, the number of keywords per group can't exceed 200. When advertising a site, the maximum number of characters (excluding spaces) is 20,000.
- Negative keywords for campaigns
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Enter comma-separated negative keywords in the Negative keywords section on the campaign settings page. Maximum of 7 words per negative keyword. The maximum number of characters (excluding spaces) is 20,000.
Negative keywords at the keyword level work together with negative keywords at the ad group or campaign level. They do not replace each other. If negative keywords are set at the keyword level as well as at the ad group and campaign levels, they are all applied to the keyword together, so there won't be impressions triggered by any of the negative keywords.
To add negative keywords to multiple ads at once, use XLS/XLSX files, bulk actions with ad groups, Direct Commander, or the Yandex Direct API.
Negative keywords when serving ads in ad networks
In ad networks, keywords determine the site content and user interests that can trigger an ad. Add negative keywords to make sure your ads won't be served on unsuitable sites (such as sites where keywords and negative keywords appear next to one another). This option is not available for smart banners and product ads in unified performance campaigns.
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For example, let's say you sell new laptops and place ads in Yandex Direct. If you add the negative keyword repair to the keyword laptops, your ad won't be served on forum pages where users discuss laptop repair (because on such pages, the word laptop is used alongside repair). However, this ad may be served on other forum pages about laptops where users discuss how to repair keyboards or choose a new laptop.
Additionally, negative keywords allow you to specify your ad's subject so that it is not served to users who are not interested in your product or service. Only use negative keywords if you are certain that you are not cutting out your target audience.
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For example, a lot of people look up reviews before purchasing a laptop and check out sites with related content. If you want these people to see your ad, you shouldn't add negative keywords like forum, review, or feedback.
We recommend creating a separate ad campaign to get the most out of your ad placements in networks.
Use operators in negative keywords
Negative keywords support the following operators: " ", [], !, and +.
| Keyword | Negative keyword for ad group | Ads that will/will not display |
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| |  radio-controlled toy car |
| |  radio-controlled toy car |
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| Keyword | Negative keyword for ad group | Ads that will/will not display |
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| | radio-controlled toy car |
| | radio-controlled toy car |
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