Negative Keywords vs Excluded Words — When to Use Which

Two different "do not link this" tools

Linkilo has two features that both look like "block this keyword" — but they work at different scopes and you'll use them for different jobs.

If you want a phrase ignored everywhere, use excluded words. If you want a phrase ignored only on one specific post, use negative keywords.

When per-post negative keywords help

The classic case is a post that keeps surfacing as a link source for an anchor you don't want it linking on. Example:

You wrote a post called "Why I switched from Mac to Windows." Linkilo keeps suggesting that the word "Mac" anywhere in that post should link to your Mac review hub. You don't want that link on this particular post — but the word "Mac" still needs to be linkable everywhere else on your site.

Solution: open the post → Linkilo metabox → add Mac as a negative keyword. The phrase is now ignored on this post only. Other posts can still link the word "Mac" normally.

Other times this is useful

• A round-up post where you mention many products but don't want links inside the comparison table.
• A glossary entry that defines a term — you don't want Linkilo turning the term into a link to itself or to a different page.
• A post that's already heavily linked and you want to suppress further suggestions for one specific anchor.

How to add a negative keyword

1. Open the post in the WordPress editor.
2. Scroll to the Linkilo panel below the editor.
3. Find the Negative keywords section (sits near Focus Keywords and Custom Keywords).
4. Type the keyword (or paste a comma-separated list).
5. Click Add.

The keyword is now stored against that post and Linkilo will skip it on future suggestions for that post.

To remove one, click the small x next to the keyword in the same panel.

Does the AI suggestion engine respect negative keywords?

Yes — Linkilo's AI keyword extractor reads the per-post negative-keyword list and filters those phrases out before scoring candidate links. The AI doesn't override your negative keywords; it treats them as a hard exclusion the same way the legacy engine does.

If you reject an AI suggestion three times for the same source → target pair, Linkilo also hard-blocks that pair forever (separate from the negative-keyword list). The two systems combine: negative keywords block by anchor phrase; the rejection ledger blocks by source → target pair.

When NOT to use negative keywords

• Don't use it for sitewide terms. If a phrase should be ignored on every post, use excluded words instead — adding it to 1,000 posts as a negative keyword is the wrong tool.
• Don't use it as a substitute for editing your content. If a post is generating bad suggestions because the focus keyword is wrong, fix the focus keyword.
• Don't use it to block link targets. Negative keywords block by anchor phrase. To prevent a URL from being a target, use Settings → Content & Ignored Words → Do not suggest these URLs.

See also

• How to exclude words and phrases from link suggestions — the site-wide version.
• How to add custom keywords to a post — the opposite tool, used when you want a phrase associated with a post.
• Content Filters — the full settings-page walkthrough.