The 3× Table: when to kill a search term, for every conversion rate
How it works
Three times your clicks per order, still no sale: it’s out. Clicks per order is 1 ÷ your ad conversion rate, so at 10% the line is 30 clicks. A term that truly converts that well shows a sale before then about 95% of the time, whatever you sell.
Find your line
Use your ads conversion rate (ad orders ÷ ad clicks), not your listing’s.
%
The full table, 1% to 40%
Your rate is highlighted. “Chance” is how often a term that truly converts at that rate would still show zero orders at the line.
| Conversion rate | Clicks per order | Negate after | Chance | How sure |
|---|
How to use it
- Pull your search term report and sort it by clicks.
- Find your ad conversion rate in the table. Its “Negate after” number is your line.
- Past the line with no sale: add it as a negative exact. Under the line: let it run.
- Ten clicks and no sale at a 10% rate isn’t a bad keyword. It’s an average one.
Good to know
- The odds: a term that really converts at 10% still goes 20 clicks with no sale about 12% of the time (0.9²⁰), and 30 clicks about 4% (0.9³⁰).
- Three times clicks per order works out near 95% sure at any rate (about e⁻³), and a little surer at high rates.
- One number for every product (say, 15 clicks) cuts slow converters too early: at 5%, 15 clicks isn’t even one order’s worth.
- Use a long enough date range that every term has had its clicks, and leave out the last few days, which are still filling in.
Dr. PPC runs this as a standing rule: no search term is negated before it has had its clicks, and every negative waits for your approval.
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