Microsoft’s adCenter Expands Negative Keyword Limits

Aug. 22, 2010

Now that the Yahoo-Microsoft merger is underway, Microsoft has announced a new wrinkle to its advertising program – an increase in negative keyword limits.

The change enables advertisers to increase by “thousands of negative words…both the campaign and ad group levels,” reports WebProNews.

“If you’re not familiar with negative keywords, advertisers can prevent their ads from appearing in response to certain search queries using negative keywords (specific words or phrases that help prevent ads from being displayed to customers who are unlikely to click),” explains writer Chris Crum.

“Doing so will also keep your keyword-level negatives from overriding your newly expanded lists at the higher levels,” he quotes Microsoft’s Tina Kelleher.

Here is Microsoft’s explanation of its negative keyword limits in adCenter.

“Advertisers need to upload their expanded lists of negative keywords at the campaign or ad group level with the negative keywords migration wizard in the Desktop, then remove keyword-level negatives, the company says,” adds Mr. Crum.

“Unless, of course, you’re perfectly happy with your campaigns as they are now and don’t need the increased capacity for negatives at the higher levels, then there’s no action you need to take at all,” he quotes Ms. Kelleher.

From the Coach’s Corner, for an explanation of the Yahoo-Microsoft merger, see:

Web Publishers: Are You Optimized for Bing?