DIGITAL MARKETING / A PRACTICAL ANSWER
What should a paid-search negative keyword brief cover?
The short answer
A negative keyword brief should explain which search intentions are unsuitable for a paid-search campaign and why. It is a guardrail for relevance, not a list to copy blindly. Exclusions must fit the actual offer, and their implementation should follow the platform's current matching behaviour.
What to define
Start with terms that signal a different job: employment, training, free resources or an unrelated product where those do not match the campaign. Review real search-query evidence and ambiguous language. Document the reason for an exclusion so another manager can maintain it.
How to evaluate it
Check that an exclusion does not remove useful demand or conflict with another campaign. Test and review changes with the responsible account operator. A term that is unsuitable for one offer may be essential to another service the same business sells.
ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLE / NOT A CLIENT RESULT
Make it concrete.
A web-design commissioning campaign might exclude course-seeking queries if it does not sell training. That rule should not automatically be copied into a separate business that genuinely offers professional education.
Before you commission
- Document unsuitable intent and its reason.
- Use actual query evidence where available.
- Review conflicts and current matching rules.
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Further reading
FROM THE QUESTION TO THE WORK
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