How to lower CPCs with intent clusters and negatives in SaaS

The High Cost of Irrelevance in SaaS PPC

If you’re running Google Ads for your SaaS company, you’ve felt the squeeze. Every click seems to cost more, your budget evaporates on vague “software” queries, and you’re left wondering if that last $75 click even came from a real business. You’re not just competing in an auction; you’re fighting a war of attrition against irrelevant traffic, budget waste, and spiraling Customer Acquisition Costs.

This is the SaaS PPC trap. The default approach—bidding on a broad set of industry keywords—is a fast track to burning cash. You end up paying premium prices for clicks from students, hobbyists, and people just looking for a free tool or a job description. The auction becomes a race to the bottom, where the only way to “win” is to keep bidding higher, sacrificing profitability for vanity metrics like impressions.

But what if lowering your CPC wasn’t about bidding less, but about bidding smarter? The real leverage isn’t found in the bid strategy alone; it’s in the fundamental architecture of your account. By building a system obsessed with user intent and ruthless exclusion, you can fundamentally change the game. Google rewards relevance with a higher Quality Score, which directly lowers your costs and improves your ad position. It’s a virtuous cycle that starts with structure.

In this article, we’re going to break down the two core strategies that form the bedrock of an efficient, scalable SaaS PPC account. You’ll learn how to:

• Organize for Intent: Move beyond generic campaigns by grouping Bottom-of-Funnel (BOFU) and Middle-of-Funnel (MOFU) keywords into intent-themed clusters, ensuring your ads and landing pages speak directly to a user’s specific stage in the buying journey.
• Implement a Rigorous Negative Keyword Strategy: Proactively protect your budget by building and continuously updating negative keyword lists, filtering out the junk traffic that inflates your CPC and sabotages your lead quality.

This isn’t about a quick-fix bid adjustment. It’s about building a machine that systematically attracts the right prospects and repels the wrong ones, turning your Google Ads from a cost center into a predictable pipeline engine.

The Foundation: Why Intent is Your New Campaign Manager

For years, the default playbook for structuring a Google Ads account was to group keywords by theme or product feature. You’d have an ad group for “project management software,” another for “task management tool,” and maybe one for “team collaboration platform.” It seems logical, right? The problem is, this approach scatters user intent to the wind, and that fragmentation is quietly draining your budget. A single keyword theme can contain queries from people at completely different stages of their buying journey—from just starting their research to ready to buy today. When your ad group tries to be everything to everyone, your ad copy becomes generic, your landing page feels mismatched, and Google punishes you with a low Quality Score. You end up paying more for clicks that are less likely to convert.

Moving Beyond Single Keywords

Think of it this way: someone searching for “what is agile methodology” has a fundamentally different goal than someone searching for “best agile project management software for software teams.” The first is seeking education; the second is conducting vendor comparison. By lumping them into the same “agile” ad group, you force a single ad to do two incompatible jobs. The ad relevance plummets because you can’t simultaneously answer a beginner’s question and convince a ready-to-buy evaluator. This lack of focus tells Google your ad isn’t the best result for the searcher, which directly hurts your Quality Score. In the world of PPC, intent isn’t just a marketing concept—it’s the most powerful signal for structuring your campaigns for profitability.

Decoding the Funnel: BOFU vs. MOFU Intent

So, how do we actually group by intent? It starts with a clear understanding of the two most critical stages for direct response in SaaS: Middle-of-Funnel (MOFU) and Bottom-of-Funnel (BOFU).

• MOFU (Middle-of-Funnel) Intent: These users are problem-aware and solution-aware. They know they have a pain point and are actively researching potential solutions, but they aren’t ready to talk to a salesperson. Their queries are often comparison-based or focused on finding the “best” option.

  • Example Queries: “project management software comparison,” “asana vs trello vs clickup,” “best tools for remote team collaboration,” “what are the key features in a saas crm.”

• BOFU (Bottom-of-Funnel) Intent: These users are product-aware and ready to take action. They’ve likely done their research and are now seeking a direct path to purchase, a demo, or a trial. Their queries are transactional and high-intent.

  • Example Queries: “buy [your software name],” “[your software name] pricing,” “sign up for [your software name] free trial,” “demo request [your industry] software,” “[competitor name] alternative cost.”

By separating these query types into distinct, intent-themed campaigns or ad groups, you stop the internal competition for ad relevance. You create a clean, focused structure where every component works in harmony.

The Quality Score Multiplier

This is where the magic happens. When you align your account structure with a single, clear intent, you directly influence the three core components of Google’s Quality Score, creating a powerful multiplier effect that lowers your CPC.

First, Expected Click-Through Rate (CTR) skyrockets. An ad in a BOFU “demo request” ad group that says “Book Your Personalized Demo Now” is infinitely more compelling to someone searching for “[your software] demo” than a generic “Learn About Our Features” ad. It’s a perfect match, and users click. Second, ad relevance becomes a given. Your keywords, ad copy, and landing page are all singing from the same hymn sheet, telling Google—and the user—that you have exactly what they’re looking for. Finally, the landing page experience improves dramatically. A BOFU searcher lands on a demo request page, not a generic homepage. A MOFU searcher lands on a comparison page or a feature breakdown. The path to conversion is short and frictionless.

When you build campaigns around intent, you’re not just organizing keywords—you’re architecting a system that Google rewards with lower costs and higher ad positions.

The result? A significantly higher Quality Score. And a higher Quality Score is your golden ticket to lower CPCs. Google’s system is designed to reward relevance. A high-quality ad that consistently meets user intent costs less to run and wins better ad placement than a lower-quality competitor, even if that competitor is bidding more. You’re not just cutting waste; you’re building a more efficient and profitable acquisition channel from the ground up.

Building Your Intent-Clustered Campaign Architecture

Think of your campaign structure as the foundation of your house. If you build it sloppily, everything on top will be unstable and inefficient. A messy account where “project management software” and “free task management app” compete in the same ad group is a recipe for budget bleed. The secret to lowering your CPC isn’t a magical bid strategy; it’s building an architecture so relevant that Google has no choice but to reward you with a higher Quality Score. Let’s break down how to construct this from the ground up.

Step 1: The Intent Audit

Before you build anything new, you need to sort the lumber you already have. Your first stop is the Google Ads Search Terms Report. This isn’t just a list of keywords; it’s a raw, unfiltered transcript of what your potential customers are actually looking for. Your job is to play archeologist and categorize every valuable query by its intent. Are they just starting their research, or are they ready to buy?

Start by exporting your last 90 days of search term data. Create three simple columns: BOFU, MOFU, and Irrelevant/Waste. Now, sort. BOFU terms are your “buy now” signals—they include words like “demo,” “pricing,” “compare,” “vs,” and “[competitor] alternative.” MOFU terms are research-oriented, like “best project management software for remote teams,” “what is agile workflow,” or “benefits of resource management tools.” Be ruthless. Anything that’s “free,” “open source,” “tutorial,” or “jobs” goes straight into the waste column. This audit is your blueprint; it tells you exactly what you’re working with and what you need to filter out permanently.

Step 2: Structuring Campaigns and Ad Groups

With your audit complete, it’s time to build. We’re moving away from the old-school model of one giant campaign for “Software.” Instead, create two core campaign pillars: one for BOFU (Conversion) and one for MOFU (Consideration). This allows you to set separate budgets and bids based on the inherent value of the intent. Your BOFU campaign will logically have a higher target CPA than your MOFU one.

Inside each campaign, you’ll create tightly themed ad groups. Don’t just have one ad group called “Project Management Software.” Think like a searcher. A BOFU campaign might contain ad groups like:

• “Software Name Pricing”: Keywords around [your software] pricing, [your software] cost.
• “Competitor Alternatives”: Keywords like [competitor a] alternative, switch from [competitor b].
• “Demo Requests”: Keywords such as [your software] demo request, demo [your industry] software.

Similarly, your MOFU campaign would have ad groups like “Project Management Software Comparison” or “Best Tools for Enterprise.” The golden rule here is that every keyword in an ad group should be able to share the same highly relevant ad copy and land on the same hyper-focused landing page. This alignment is what sends your Quality Score soaring.

A well-structured account doesn’t just save money; it communicates a clear value proposition to both Google and your potential customer at every single step of their journey.

Step 3: Expanding for Volume Responsibly

You’ve built a lean, mean, intent-focused machine. Now, how do you scale it without breaking it? The key is strategic expansion using keyword match types. Start by planting your “Exact Match” keywords as the core seeds in each ad group. These are your high-confidence, low-waste terms. Then, carefully add “Phrase Match” variants to capture adjacent queries you might be missing.

“Broad Match” is your risky, high-reward tool. Use it with extreme caution, and only when you have a robust negative keyword list in place. A better approach is to use Google’s Keyword Planner not for finding random new keywords, but for expanding your existing, high-performing themes. Look for related terms with strong commercial intent that fit neatly into your existing ad group themes. Found a new phrase like “enterprise resource planning software reviews”? Don’t just throw it into a generic group. Does it fit an existing MOFU ad group, or is it specific enough to warrant its own? By expanding thematically rather than randomly, you increase volume without diluting the intent that makes your campaigns so efficient in the first place.

The Art of Strategic Exclusion: A Guide to Negative Keywords

Think of negative keywords as your campaign’s bouncer. While your positive keywords are actively inviting people in, your negatives are standing at the door with a clipboard, politely but firmly turning away the party crashers. At its core, a negative keyword is a filter. When you add a term like “free” as a negative, you’re instructing Google: “Do not show my ad for any search query that contains this word.” This happens at two levels. At the ad group level, you’re fine-tuning the intent for a specific theme. At the campaign level, you’re setting broader guardrails to protect your entire budget from irrelevant, costly clicks that will never convert. It’s the most direct way to tell the difference between a serious buyer and a window shopper.

Building Your Foundational Negative List

You don’t need to start from scratch. Over the years, a clear pattern of unqualified traffic has emerged for B2B SaaS companies. Building a master negative list is your first line of defense. I recommend categorizing it to make management and auditing easier. Here’s a definitive starter kit you can implement today:

• The “I Need a Job, Not Your Software” Cluster: This is non-negotiable. Block career-related terms like careers, jobs, salary, interview questions, and indeed. You’d be shocked how often your ad for “project management software” shows for “project management jobs.”
• The “I Want It For Free” Cluster: This group seeks freebies, discounts, or pirated software. Key terms include free, free alternative, cheap, discount, crack, keygen, nulled, and pirated. These users have a fundamentally different budget and intent than your target B2B customer.
• The “I’m Going to Build It Myself” Cluster: These are the DIYers. They aren’t looking to buy a solution; they’re looking for instructions to build their own. Block terms like open source, how to build, tutorial, DIY, template, and github.
• The “I’m Just Researching Your Competitor” Cluster: This is a nuanced one. You want to appear for “[competitor] alternative” but not for navigational searches for the competitor itself. Negate pure navigational terms like [competitor name] login, [competitor name] pricing, and www.[competitor].com.
• The “I’m a Student” Cluster: Unless your product has a specific student plan, terms like for students, student discount, and .edu often lead to low-value sign-ups that won’t convert to enterprise contracts.

A well-maintained negative keyword list isn’t just a cost-saving measure; it’s a lead quality assurance system for your sales team.

The Negative Keyword Minefield

However, with great power comes great responsibility. The most common mistake I see is over-negating, where advertisers get so aggressive with their exclusions that they accidentally block valid, high-intent traffic. This is like the bouncer turning away the VIP guest because he didn’t like his tie. It’s a silent killer because you never see the conversions you missed.

Let’s look at some dangerous examples. Adding free as a broad match negative keyword seems smart, right? But this will also block searches like “how to get a free trial for [your software]“—a quintessential BOFU query! Similarly, negating open source broadly could block a high-value enterprise searcher looking for “enterprise project management software vs open source alternatives,” which is a classic comparison query from a serious buyer.

The key is precision. Instead of broad match negatives, lean heavily on phrase and exact match for your exclusions. For instance, use [free trial] as an exact match negative if you don’t offer one, rather than broadly negating free. This prevents you from accidentally blocking adjacent, valuable queries. Your goal isn’t to create a ghost town with zero clicks; it’s to create a vibrant, qualified marketplace. Regularly auditing your Search Terms Report is your best defense against both waste and over-exclusion, allowing you to refine your filters and ensure you’re only blocking the true time-wasters.

The Continuous Improvement Engine: Mining for Gold in Your Search Terms

You’ve built your beautiful, intent-clustered campaign architecture. But here’s the uncomfortable truth: it starts decaying the moment you hit “enable.” Search behavior is a living, breathing entity. Users will surprise you with the queries they use, and broad match keywords will inevitably pull in some bizarre and wasteful clicks. This is why your work isn’t done; it’s just entered its most critical phase. The key to sustaining low CPCs and high lead quality isn’t a one-time setup—it’s a continuous improvement engine powered by your Search Terms Report.

Think of this report not as a boring spreadsheet, but as a live feed of market intelligence. It tells you exactly what people are typing when they see your ad. More importantly, it shows you where your money is going. Ignoring it is like leaving the tap running on a sinking ship. You might have the best boat (campaign structure) in the world, but you’ll still go down if you don’t plug the leaks. A regular review ritual is what separates stagnant accounts from scaling machines.

Making Search Term Analysis a Non-Negotiable Ritual

So, how often should you be doing this? For any SaaS account with consistent spend, a weekly review is non-negotiable. This isn’t a monthly, “when I get around to it” task. Irrelevant clicks burn through your budget daily, and new, high-intent query variations are appearing all the time. By making this a weekly habit—putting it on your calendar as a recurring, sacred appointment—you create a feedback loop that constantly refines your targeting. You’re not just cutting waste; you’re actively discovering new gold mines of intent that you can add to your exact and phrase match ad groups.

Your Search Terms Report is the most honest conversation you’ll ever have with your market. Are you listening?

A Practical Workflow for Negative Mining

Let’s move from theory to a tangible, repeatable process you can implement today. This isn’t about scrolling aimlessly; it’s a surgical strike on wasted spend.

1. Filter for the “Money Drains”: Start by pulling your Search Terms Report for the last 30-60 days. Immediately apply a filter to show only terms that have generated clicks but zero conversions. This is your primary hit-list of budget-wasters.
2. Sort by Cost: Now, sort this “zero-conversion” list by total cost, descending. Tackle the most expensive irrelevant terms first. A single misguided query can sometimes burn hundreds of dollars before you catch it.
3. Categorize and Add Negatives in Bulk: Don’t add these terms one-by-one. Group them thematically. You’ll likely see patterns emerge—another wave of “cheap” or “open source” variants, or maybe a new competitor’s name you hadn’t considered. Add these as phrase or exact match negatives in bulk to the relevant campaign or across your entire account.
4. Scan for New Intent Gold: Finally, scan the converting search terms. Look for new, unexpected phrases that led to a lead or demo. These are your expansion opportunities. Add these high-performing queries as exact match keywords to the most relevant intent cluster to solidify your presence for those terms.

Case Study: How We Cut CPC by 34%

We implemented this exact workflow for a B2B SaaS client in the project management space. Their campaigns were “okay,” but CPCs were creeping up and their sales team was complaining about unqualified demo sign-ups. We committed to a rigorous, weekly search term mining session.

Within the first month, we identified and added over 200 new negative keywords. The most significant culprits were variations of “free forever plan,” “cracked version,” and surprisingly, a slew of job-related searches like “project manager jobs” and “[Software Name] careers.” These were clicks that had absolutely no path to a paying customer.

The impact was immediate and dramatic. Over the next full quarter, the results spoke for themselves:

• CPC decreased by 34%: Improved relevance led to a higher average Quality Score, directly lowering costs.
• Wasted Spend reduced by 41%: Money that was previously burned on irrelevant clicks was now being reallocated to high-intent BOFU terms.
• Conversion Rate increased by 22%: By filtering out the “noise,” a higher proportion of the remaining clicks were from genuinely interested prospects.

This process transformed their Google Ads from a leaky faucet into a precision-guided pipeline. The lower CPCs weren’t achieved by lowering bids, but by systematically making every click count. Your search terms are waiting to tell you the same story—you just need to start listening.

Advanced Tactics: Layering Match Types and Funnel Defense

You’ve built your intent-clustered campaigns and have a solid negative keyword foundation. Now, let’s shift from a good structure to a high-performance machine. The real magic happens when you start layering your strategies, creating a self-optimizing system that defends your budget while aggressively pursuing high-quality traffic. This is where you stop just managing campaigns and start engineering them for peak efficiency.

The Exact & Phrase Layering Technique

Think of your match types not as separate tools, but as parts of an integrated team. One of the most powerful yet underutilized strategies is running Exact and Phrase match keywords in separate ad groups, with a strategic negative keyword bridge between them. Here’s how it works in practice:

• The “Control” Ad Group: This is built entirely on Exact match keywords like [saas crm software]. Its job is to capture the high-intent, predictable searches you already know convert. The ads and landing pages here are hyper-relevant, leading to stellar Quality Scores and lower CPCs.
• The “Discovery” Ad Group: In a separate ad group, you use Phrase match (or Broad Match Modified, if you’re feeling bold) for the same core themes, like "saas crm software". This group’s purpose is to find new, relevant search variations you haven’t thought of yet.
• The Connecting Bridge: This is the crucial step. You add all the Exact match keywords from your Control group as Exact match negative keywords in the Discovery group. Why? This prevents the Discovery group from stealing clicks for the terms you already have on lockdown in the higher-scoring Control group. The Discovery group is forced to go find new traffic, not just rebid on what you already own.

This setup creates a perfect feedback loop. The Discovery group finds new, converting search terms. You then harvest those terms and add them as new Exact match keywords to your Control group, further strengthening it. It’s a continuous cycle of control and expansion that systematically improves your account’s overall relevance.

Building a Multi-Layered Funnel Defense

Intent clusters separate your MOFU and BOFU traffic, but a true funnel defense system ensures they never cross-contaminate. This is where shared negative keyword lists become your account’s immune system. By creating and applying master lists across campaigns, you protect your high-value, bottom-funnel terms from being diluted by top-of-funnel curiosity.

For instance, your “BOFU - Demo Requests” campaign, targeting terms like [buy marketing automation software], should be shielded by a negative list that includes all the common informational and research-based queries. This list might contain terms like:

• what is
• how to
• guide for
• vs competitor
• benefits of

Conversely, your “MOFU - Research & Reviews” campaign needs protection from your brand terms and other bottom-funnel language that would be better served by your dedicated BOFU campaigns. This prevents your educational content from being shown to someone who is already typing in [your software name demo]. The result? Each campaign becomes a pure intent environment, allowing for more precise bidding, ad messaging, and landing page experiences that dramatically boost conversion rates.

Automating Your Defenses for Scale

Manually sifting through search terms reports is effective, but it doesn’t scale. The final piece of the advanced puzzle is implementing automation to handle the grunt work. You don’t need a complex AI; simple rules and scripts can do the heavy lifting.

Consider setting up an automated rule in Google Ads that runs weekly. A powerful one I’ve used is: “If a search term receives more than 10 clicks and has generated 0 conversions, automatically add it as a negative keyword.” This is a ruthless, data-driven way to cut waste in real-time. For more nuanced control, you can use Google Ads scripts to parse your search terms report and add non-converting terms to a specific negative list, which you can then review or apply as needed.

Automation isn’t about setting and forgetting; it’s about creating a system that consistently enforces your best practices, freeing you up to focus on strategy.

The goal is to build a campaign architecture that gets smarter with every click—one that automatically reinforces what works and systematically eliminates what doesn’t. By layering your match types, building a fortified funnel defense, and implementing smart automation, you transform your PPC account from a cost center into a highly efficient, self-optimizing growth engine.

Conclusion: Building a Sustainable, Low-CPC Machine

Mastering your SaaS PPC isn’t about finding a magic bullet or a single secret setting. It’s about building a system—a machine that runs on two core principles. First, you structure your campaigns around pure user intent, separating the researchers from the ready-to-buy prospects. Second, you adopt the mindset of a relentless gardener, constantly pruning the weeds of irrelevant queries so your best keywords can thrive. This isn’t a one-time project; it’s the new foundation for how you manage search.

The payoff for this disciplined approach extends far beyond just seeing a lower CPC in your dashboard. When you get this right, you set off a powerful chain reaction:

• Higher-Quality Leads: Your sales team stops sifting through junk and starts having conversations with genuinely interested buyers.
• Healthier Account Structure: Google rewards your clarity with higher Quality Scores, which in turn lowers your actual costs.
• Smarter Budget Allocation: Every dollar is pushed away from waste and toward the audiences most likely to convert.

This creates a virtuous cycle where improved relevance begets lower costs, which allows for more strategic bids and even greater visibility among your ideal customers. You’re not just cutting costs; you’re actively investing in a higher-performing pipeline.

Your First Step Toward a Leaner PPC Engine

The best part? You don’t need to overhaul your entire account in a day. The most impactful progress starts with a single, focused action.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to conduct an intent audit on your top three campaigns. Go in and ask the tough questions: Are my BOFU and MOFU queries tangled together? What irrelevant terms are lurking in my Search Terms Report from the last 30 days? You’ll be amazed at how quickly the opportunities for improvement reveal themselves.

Sustainable PPC success isn’t built on grand gestures, but on the consistent, weekly habit of refining your intent clusters and negative lists.

Stop letting wasted clicks dictate your budget. Start building your low-CPC machine today, one intentional cluster at a time.