Stop paying for searches that were never jobs

Search terms are not your keywords

A keyword is what you add to your campaign. A search term is what a person actually typed. Google can show your ad for searches that only loosely match your keywords, so the search terms report is where you see what you paid for. Google notes that some low-volume searches are left out of that report for privacy, so it never shows every search.

CrewBuddy reads the search terms for the last 7 or 30 days, sorted by spend, with clicks, calls and conversions beside each one. That turns a long report into a short list of the searches costing the most money.

Common searches that are not jobs

For most trades the same groups show up. Job seekers: jobs, hiring, salary, apprentice. Do-it-yourself: how to, DIY, tutorial, video. Supplies: store, sale, rental, supplies. The wrong service, like car painting for a house painter or carpet for a hardwood installer. And towns you do not serve.

Think before blocking a word that a real customer might use. “Cheap” or “cost” can come from someone ready to hire. Look at what the search led to, then decide. CrewBuddy suggests negatives and explains why. You pick which ones to add.

For towns, location settings come first. CrewBuddy’s drafts show ads to people in the places you choose, but someone inside your area can still search for a town you do not serve. Adding that town name as a negative keyword keeps those clicks out.

How negatives match

Google has three negative match types. A negative broad keyword blocks searches that contain all of its words in any order. Negative phrase blocks searches that contain the words in that order. Negative exact blocks only that exact search. Google also says negative keywords do not match close variants, so add plurals and common misspellings yourself.

CrewBuddy adds the negative keywords you choose to the campaign you name. Negatives only stop your ads from showing on those searches, so adding them never raises your spend. Check the report again the next week to see what is left. For the bigger picture, see Google Ads for the slow season.

A new campaign usually needs a few weeks of this before the junk settles down. Keep a running list of blocked words for your trade. When you start the next campaign, CrewBuddy can add the list on day one. The junk search cleanup recipe shows the exact messages.