Negative keywords
Negative keywords are search terms an advertiser excludes from a Google Ads campaign so that ads do not show for searches that are unlikely to produce a customer, such as job seekers, spare-parts queries, or competitor-brand research.
Negative keywords in dealership marketing
Dealership campaigns leak budget on searches that look relevant but are not: 'showroom jobs', 'car spare parts', 'driving school', or the name of a model the dealer does not stock. Each of those clicks costs the same as a real buyer's click.
Negative keyword lists should be reviewed from the actual search-terms report every week rather than set once, because the irrelevant queries change with the season and with what the OEM is advertising.
Related terms
- Advertising
Performance Max
Performance Max is a Google Ads campaign type that serves ads across Search, YouTube, Display, Discover, Gmail, and Maps from one campaign, using the advertiser's assets and audience signals to optimise automatically toward a conversion goal.
Read definition - Advertising
Conversion tracking
Conversion tracking is the setup that records when an ad click leads to a valuable action, such as an enquiry form, a WhatsApp click, or a phone call, so that campaigns can be optimised and judged on real outcomes instead of clicks.
Read definition - Leads & Sales
Cost per lead
Cost per lead (CPL) is the total marketing spend on a channel or campaign divided by the number of leads it produced, giving the average amount paid to generate one enquiry.
Read definition
Where it applies
AutoSutra services where negative keywords comes into play.
Further reading
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