Add the words people are searching for as keywords or negative keywords

Want to know your customer's search terms? Learn how to add search terms to your keyword list.

With Microsoft Advertising, you can research search terms and then add them to your keyword list. You can also use this feature to identify search queries that you want to avoid by creating negative keywords.

The difference between search terms and keywords

A search term is the word or phrase that customers enter when searching on Bing, AOL, Yahoo, and their syndicated search partners. A keyword is the word or phrase you add to your Microsoft Advertising campaign to target your ads to customers.

Research search terms

You can get a list of search terms in three places in Microsoft Advertising. Each place shows the data a bit differently.

Where:

From the collapsible menu on the left, select All campaigns > Keywords > Keywords.

If you're using the new Microsoft Advertising navigation, from the navigation menu on the left, hover over Campaigns and select Keywords > Keywords.

How: Select the checkbox next to one or more keywords, and then select Search Terms.
What you see: A list of search terms that have had a significant number of clicks in the last 30 days and the Other search terms row, which shows metrics for all search terms that had impressions but didn't have significant clicks in the last 30 days.

Where:

From the top menu, select Reports > Dimensions > Basic > Search Terms.

If you're using the new Microsoft Advertising navigation, from the navigation menu on the left, select Reporting > Dimensions > Basic > Search terms.

How: Choose the accounts and columns you’d like to view in the report. You can also Download the report in a CSV format.
What you see: A list of search terms that have had a significant number of clicks in the last 30 days. This list is different than the Keywords tab because it doesn't have the Other search terms row.

Where:

From the top menu, select Reports > Reports > Performance > Search terms.

If you're using the new Microsoft Advertising navigation, from the navigation menu on the left, select Reporting > Performance > Search terms.Account.

How: Customize the report, and then select Run.
What you see: The impressions, clicks, click-through rate, and average position for search terms that have triggered your ads. Be aware that the search term report will have fewer impressions than the keywords report and the keywords tab because the search term report doesn't include the Other search terms data. The keyword tab and keywords report include all impressions.

Add search terms to your keyword or negative keyword list

  1. From the collapsible menu on the left, select All campaigns > Keywords > Search terms.

    If you're using the new Microsoft Advertising navigation, from the navigation menu on the left, hover over Campaigns and select Keywords > Search terms.

  2. To add a term to your keyword list, select one or more terms > Add as keywords.
  3. To exclude keywords that aren't relevant to your business, select one or more terms > Add as negative keywords.
  4. Choose to add the keyword to the campaign or ad group level, and then choose the Type.
  5. Select Apply.
Note

You can add negative keywords using the phrase keyword match type at the campaign level. If you do, be sure to run a negative keyword conflicts report after a day to identify any conflicts.

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