Managing negative keywords in OTTO PPC is fully supported for standalone Google Ads accounts — no linked Search Atlas business required. Connect your Google Ads account directly to OTTO PPC to access the features below.
✅ Available Features for Standalone Accounts
The following features are available as soon as your Google Ads account is connected:
- Negative Keyword List — View all negative keywords currently applied across your account and campaigns, including both account-level and campaign-level entries.
- Insights — See negative keyword opportunities flagged by OTTO PPC from your campaign performance data.
- Pending Review — Approve or dismiss OTTO PPC's keyword recommendations before they go live.
Note: The Negative Keyword Analyzer — which generates AI-powered suggestions using your business and product context — requires a linked Search Atlas business. Standalone accounts can view and act on existing insights but cannot run a fresh analysis.
📋 What a Standalone Google Ads Account Is
A standalone Google Ads account is a Google Ads account connected to OTTO PPC directly, without linking it to a Search Atlas business. All your campaigns are visible inside OTTO PPC, and most Negative Keywords features are available immediately.
🧭 How to Open the Negative Keywords Section
- Go to Ads in the left-hand navigation (OTTO PPC).
- Select your standalone Google Ads account from the account switcher at the top of the page.
- Click Negative Keywords in the OTTO PPC menu.
The Negative Keywords page (Ads → Negative Keywords) opens and shows a Campaign Type filter, Bulk actions, and the columns STATUS, ACTIVE, AWAITING REVIEW, SAVINGS (30D), and PROTECTION.
💡 How to Review and Queue Negative Keyword Insights
- Click the Insights tab on the Negative Keywords page.
- Review flagged opportunities. Each row shows the keyword, match type, and the affected campaign or ad group.
- Select the checkboxes next to the keywords you want to act on.
- Click Add to Pending Review to queue them for approval.
Selected insights move immediately to the Pending Review tab for final approval.
☑️ How to Approve or Dismiss Pending Recommendations
- Click the Pending Review tab on the Negative Keywords page.
- Review each recommended negative keyword and its target campaign or ad group.
- Select the keywords you want to apply and click Approve, or click Dismiss to remove a recommendation without applying it.
Approved negative keywords are pushed to your Google Ads campaigns immediately. Dismissed recommendations are removed from the queue and cannot be restored — re-add them from the Insights tab if needed.
🛠️ Common Issues and Fixes
🔒 The Negative Keyword Analyzer is greyed out
The Negative Keyword Analyzer is disabled for standalone accounts because it requires a linked Search Atlas business to generate contextual AI suggestions. If the button appears greyed out or unclickable, your account is running in standalone mode. To enable it, link your Google Ads account to a Search Atlas business — see Connecting a Google Ads Account to a Search Atlas Business.
⏳ Approved keywords are not appearing in Google Ads
OTTO PPC pushes approved negative keywords to Google Ads immediately after approval. If a keyword does not appear within a few minutes, check the following:
- Refresh the Negative Keywords page (Ads → Negative Keywords) in OTTO PPC and confirm the keyword status shows Active.
- In Google Ads, navigate to the exact campaign or ad group level where the keyword was targeted.
- Confirm the correct Google Ads account is selected in the OTTO PPC account switcher.
If the keyword is still missing after 10 minutes, contact support and provide the keyword, match type, and target campaign so the team can investigate the sync status.
↩️ A recommendation was dismissed by mistake
Dismissed recommendations are permanently removed from the Pending Review queue. To recover one, return to the Insights tab, locate the keyword, and re-add it to Pending Review. If it no longer appears in Insights, add the negative keyword directly in Google Ads or wait for OTTO PPC to resurface it from new performance data.
🔎 Understanding negative keyword match types
Each insight includes a recommended match type. OTTO PPC supports all three Google Ads negative keyword match types:
- Broad match — Prevents ads from showing for any search containing all keyword terms in any order.
- Phrase match — Prevents ads for searches that contain the exact phrase.
- Exact match — Prevents ads only for searches that exactly match the keyword.
Review match types carefully before approving — selecting an overly broad match type can inadvertently block relevant, converting traffic.
📊 Account-level vs. campaign-level negative keywords
The Negative Keywords page (Ads → Negative Keywords) displays both account-level and campaign-level negative keywords in a single view. Account-level keywords apply across all campaigns; campaign-level keywords apply only to the specified campaign. Each row is labelled with its scope, making it easy to identify which negative keywords have the broadest impact on your account.
🎯 To unlock the Negative Keyword Analyzer and run AI-powered suggestions, link your Google Ads account to a Search Atlas business — see Connecting a Google Ads Account to a Search Atlas Business for next steps.