Create a negative keyword template for ad groups

When you add terms as negative keywords, your ads won't show to people searching for those terms. For example, the negative keyword cruise tells the engine  to not show your ads for any search containing the term cruise.

An inventory plan can generate negative keywords at the ad group level. If you want negative keywords at the campaign level, you can create them manually in each generated campaign. Negative keywords at the campaign level apply to all ads in the campaign, while negative keywords at the ad group level prevent specific ad groups from showing ads for specific queries.

A negative keyword template generates a negative keyword and optional variations for each unique value or combination of values in the inventory data selected by an ad group. The value or value combination you specify is called the keyword multiplier. As with regular keywords, you can also enter a static list of negative keywords to create in an ad group.

You can reuse a negative keyword template in any ad group template throughout the inventory plan. If you plan to reuse a template, make sure that the data you need to generate negative keywords will be available in the various ad groups.

Create a negative keyword template

Here's an overview of creating a negative keyword template (the details are below):

1. Specify the negative keyword multiplier and optional filters.
2. Enter formulas for negative keyword settings. 
3. Preview some of the negative keywords that will be generated.

If you've already created a negative keyword template for another ad group template in the current plan, you can reuse the template.

1. Specify the negative keyword multiplier and optional filters

To specify multipliers and filters for a new negative keyword template:

1. Navigate to an advertiser.

   Steps for navigating to an advertiser

   1. Click the navigation bar to display navigation options.

   2. In the "Agency" list, click on the agency that contains the advertiser. You can search for an agency by name or scroll through the list.

   3. In the "Advertiser" list, click on the advertiser.

   4. Click Apply or press the Enter key.

   Search Ads 360 displays the advertiser page, which contains data for all of the advertiser’s engine accounts.

2. In the left navigation panel, click Templates.
3. Click the Inventory management tab and click the name of an inventory plan.
4. In a row that contains an ad group template, click + and select Ad group negative keyword.
   
5. Enter a name for the template. The name appears in the reporting table for the inventory plan. 
6. Under Multiplier, click +Feed column and select a column from your feed that uniquely identifies each product or group of products that you want to generate negative keywords for. The list contains all of the product attributes defined in the inventory feed you selected for the inventory plan.
   
   For example, to generate negative keywords for each type of product in an ad group, select the Item title column.
   
   To generate negative keywords from a unique combination of values,  click +Feed column and select another column.
7. Optionally enter a filter to generate negative keywords only for specific types of items in your inventory feed. For example, use a filter to generate negative keywords only for "leather", "suede", "canvas", or "mesh" loafers in each ad group.
   
   To enter a filter:
   1. Under Feed filters click + Attribute or metric and select an attribute from the inventory feed.
      The list contains all of the product attributes defined in the inventory feed you selected for the inventory plan.
   2. Select an operator, such as Equals or Starts with.
      If you need complex filters, you can use regular expressions in the filter.
   3. Enter a value to match. 
   4. You can specify additional filters. Negative keywords will generate only for those items that match all of the attributes.

      For example, if you add Price Greater than $50 to the filter in the previous step, the template will only generate negative keywords for items that cost more than $50.

   5. To remove a filter, click the X that appears at the end of the line.

8. Click the Preview button to see the list of products that match the filter.
9. Specify criteria for removing and pausing negative keywords.
10. When you've selected the multipliers and filters you want, click Next.
    The editor for negative keyword settings appears.

Status settings for negative keywords

By default negative keywords are created in the active state, and Search Ads 360 removes a negative keyword when all of its inventory items no longer appear in the feed. In the Status section, choose any of the following settings:

• When items are no longer found in the feed, set the status to:
  • Removed: Search Ads 360 removes a negative keyword when all of its inventory items no longer appear in the feed. For example, if you use the Product ID inventory attribute as the multiplier and Price Greater than $50 as a filter, and then you later remove a specific product that costs more than $50 from the feed, the negative keyword and variations that were generated for the removed product will be removed.
    
    When at least one inventory item matching the multiplier and filters is returned to the feed, Search Ads 360 generates a new negative keyword and variations.
  • Paused: Search Ads 360 pauses a negative keyword and its variations when all of its inventory items no longer appear in the feed. For example, if you use the Product ID inventory attribute as the multiplier and Price Greater than $50 as a filter, and then you later remove a specific product that costs more than $50 from the feed, the negative keyword and variations that were generated for the removed product will be paused.

    When at least one inventory item matching the negative keyword multiplier and filters is returned to the feed, Search Ads 360 resumes the negative keywords.

  • Current status: Search Ads 360 doesn't change the negative keyword's status, even if all of its inventory items no longer appear in the feed.
• Pause negative keywords when a condition is met: Pauses negative keywords when an update to your inventory data matches conditions you specify in a formula. For example, you can pause negative keywords when the availability of related inventory items falls below a quantity threshold you specify. Search Ads 360 resumes the negative keywords if your inventory data no longer matches the conditions.

If you're using a negative keyword template in more than one ad group template, be aware that these status settings apply to all negative keywords generated by the template across all ad groups and campaigns.

2. Enter negative keyword settings

To enter negative keyword settings:

1. After you specify the multiplier and optional filters, Search Ads 360 displays a table for negative keyword settings. 
   
   Enter negative keyword settings in at least one row. To generate variations of negative keywords, enter each variation on a separate row.

2. Copy, paste, and edit rows instead of manually repeating information.

3. Click Next. 

Negative keyword settings

Here are the columns needed to create negative keywords:

• Keyword template: Double click in the table cell, then specify a function, inventory attribute, or formula column for the negative keyword text. You can also specify static text for all or part of the negative keyword.

• Action: Select Create. (The other values in this column are used to edit or remove an existing row.)

• Match type: Select a match type for the negative keywords generated by this row.

The requirements for the settings are the same as requirements for negative keyword settings in a manual campaign.

The value of the Keyword ID column is automatically generated and maintained by Search Ads 360. It uniquely identifies a row and is used to keep track if you copy and paste the row or insert new rows.

3. Preview negative keywords

1. After you enter negative keyword settings, in the last step before saving your template, Search Ads 360 shows up to 50 negative keywords that will be generated with the current template and inventory data. If you specified multiple rows in the settings table, Search Ads 360 shows examples of negative keywords from each row.
2. Look through the list to make sure your formulas create the negativekeywords that you expect.
3. You can click the Previous button, adjust your formulas as needed, and return to the preview. 
4. When you're satisfied with the preview, click Save template.

Search Ads 360 saves the template and pauses it. The template won't be applied to the plan's inventory data until you change its status to Active.

Next steps

Change the plan's status to active. If you've already created one of these templates in the current plan, you can use the existing template instead of creating a new one.

Edit or remove negative keyword settings

You can edit or remove variations in an existing negative keyword template. 

To edit a negative keyword variation:

1. Open the template and click Keyword settings.
2. In the keyword table, find the variation you want to change and set the Action column to Edit.
3. Change data in any of the negative keyword's columns. 
4. You can also click + Columns just above the table, add more columns, and enter new data in the newly added columns.
5. Click Save template.

Search Ads 360 saves the template. The updated template will be applied the next time Search Ads 360 evaluates the inventory plan. The negative keywords that were generated with the old settings will be removed.

To remove a negative keyword variation:

1. Open the template and click Keyword settings.
2. In the keyword table, find the variation you want to change and set the Action column to Remove.
3. Click Save template.

Search Ads 360 saves the template. The negative keywords generated from the removed variation will be removed the next time Search Ads 360 evaluates the inventory plan.

Reuse an existing negative keyword template

If you've already created a negative keyword template for an ad group template in the current plan, do the following to reuse the template in another ad group template:

1. Navigate to an advertiser.

   Steps for navigating to an advertiser

   1. Click the navigation bar to display navigation options.

   2. In the "Agency" list, click on the agency that contains the advertiser. You can search for an agency by name or scroll through the list.

   3. In the "Advertiser" list, click on the advertiser.

   4. Click Apply or press the Enter key.

   Search Ads 360 displays the advertiser page, which contains data for all of the advertiser’s engine accounts.

2. In the left navigation panel, click Templates.
3. Click the Inventory plans tab and click the name of an inventory plan.
4. In the reporting table, click  (gear icon) next to the keyword template.

   If the template isn't visible in the table, click ▶ next to the campaign template in which you originally created the ad group template, then click ▶ next to the ad group template.

   
5. From the Use in ad group template list, select one or more additional campaign templates in inventory plan.
6. Click Save template.

If the template is active, and if the newly selected ad group is active, Search Ads 360 automatically applies the template the next time it evaluates inventory data.