If we learned anything from the presidential election in the U.S., it is that negative campaigning still works. But negative campaigning does not only belong in the political arenas. Pay per click marketers also use negative campaigning to promote products, and it is one of the most effective methods to make a killing on Google and other search marketing networks.

PPC negative campaigning is a little bit different than its counter part in the world of politics. In politics, you are trying to keep folks from voting for the other guy. In the PPC world, you are trying to raise doubts about a product and make folks read through your sales-letter to find out why they NEED to get the product.

You have probably seen it on Google before. Let’s say you want to get John Reese’s Traffic Secrets 2.0. If you take a look at paid listing, you’ll see some of the following headlines:

• Don’t buy John Reese’s TS2 before reading this
• The Shocking Truth about TS2
• Is TS2 a Scam?
• TS2 is a waste of money

Now, none of these headlines are complementary for TS2, but they raise questions in shopper’s minds. If you are 50% sure about buying TS2, you are likely to click on one of these ads to figure out what all the drama is about. Of course, once you do that, you are going to be presented with a sales-letter that encourages you to get TS2 in addition to the bonus that these guys provide to complement what’s included with TS2.

The moral of story is, negative campaigning pays in the paid search channel. Information seekers and shoppers are likely to click on your ads just to figure out if there is any truth to your claim. That means your CTR will be up, and your quality score will be up, and you’ll pay less to get folks to your site. Who knew negative campaigning could be so positive?