0 150+ Negative Keywords for Software Selling AdWords Campaigns

Selling software over the Internet with Google AdWords has a lot of traps that we should learn to avoid as good as possible, so that our ads reach more targeted prospects every day. One of the trickiest aspects we should be in control of is the use of negative keywords, because they are the toughest candidate for wasting our money and for getting on the nerves of Google users, as it was eloquently explained by Linda Bustos on Get Elastic blog.
Negative keywords in your AdWords keyword list are those for which your ads will not show in search queries containing them.  You can get the general information about negative keywords directly from the AdWords blog.
When you’re trying to sell software through PPC campaigns, your goal is to obtain qualified leads to your software selling business, not to get as much and as untargeted traffic as possible. And that’s when negative keywords come in. Or out, actually:).

 

How do you know which negative keywords are right for your campaign?

Although it’s somewhat easy to describe what your software is and does and thus come up with keywords for your AdWords campaign, the semantic mix-up generated by users around the globe always has some surprises reserved for each of your campaigns.
No matter how hard you try to associate all possible negative keywords to your campaign, there will always be room for more. That’s because beyond what your software does not do and what names it does not have, search terms used on millions of computers accessing Google every day have as limit the sky itself.
That is why enriching the negative keyword list must be an on-going activity for every effective PPC campaign out there.
Depending on the type of software you are selling, some search terms used in Google simply are not good for business because they are not targeting the people who are interested in your solutions.  I really liked the post written by Alwin Hoogerdijk about negative keywords specific to the software industry and felt I can add to it.
That’s why in this blog post I have listed more than 150 negative keywords that I believe could be used in a software selling campaign (from our experience managing PPC campaigns for our clients and for ourselves, as well as from an inspiring article on b2b negative keywords from komarketingassociates.com).
Nevertheless, don’t take it for granted – consider them as a starting point, as they are not meant to be general guidelines for each and every piece of software out there.

Here goes the negative keyword list for selling software:

Crack hunters
activation key
bittorrent
broken
burn
burner
cd
cd key
code
crack
cracked
cracks
crackz
disk
dvd
easyshare
faulty
hac
hack
hacked
hacks
image
key gen
key generator
key gens
keygen
keygens
keygenz
keymaker
license
license key
licensekey
password
patch
patches
pirate
pirate key
pirated
rapid share
rapidshare
reg key
registration
registration codes
registration key
regkey
serial
serial key
serial number
serials
serialz
shortcut
shortcuts
torrent
torrents
torrentz
unlock
unlocking
validation
wares
warez

Researchers
about
bad review
case studies
case study
community
comparison
comparisons
contest
creating
define
definition
error
example
forum
help
how-to
info
information
instruction guide
instructions
journal
journals
manual
model
negative review
picture
pictures
tutorials
user manual
video
project
review
reviews
support
tip
tips
tutorial Web/mobile
api
appz
desktop
iphone
mobile
pda
web
web based
webbased
Operating system
apple
linux
mac
macintosh
microsoft
os x
osx
unix
windows
Jobs hunters
career
careers
hiring
job
jobs

Developers
ajax
c++
dbase
delphi
developer
developers
DIY
do-it-yourself
excel
file
filemaker
files
flash
fox
java
libraries
library
mdb
mysql
open source
php
sample
schema
sheet
source
spreadsheet
sql
template
templates
vb
visual basic
xls
xml
xsl Freebies hunters
bargain
amazon
cheap
close out
close outs
closeout
closeouts
discount
discounted
eastbay
free
freebie
freebsd
freeware
giveaway
gnu
gratis
gratuit
kostenlos
no charge
no cost
retail
retailer
retailers
price
prices
pricing

Please add your suggestions to this list!