Successful Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising goes hand in hand with quality keyword research. The main aim is to choose the right keywords to bid on that have a low cost per click and are most likely to result in conversions. Getting this right takes time, practice and expertise as you have to understand your customers and uncover the search terms they use to find products or services such as yours. This article includes methodologies that will help you acquire, refine, and organise your PPC keywords.
When you create an ad on a platform like Google Ads or Microsoft Advertising, you’ll need to choose phrases related to your brand/ product or service. These are known as keywords.
Your PPC Keyword research should begin with Google Search Console to determine which keywords are generating the most clicks currently to your website, along with Google's Keyword Planner to determine what search volume each keyword has.
Make sure to align your PPC campaign keywords with the keywords that you have refined the landing page for, as users are expecting to see the most relevant page when they click your ad.
If your sessions on Google Analytics are high but your time on page is low, or if your click-rate is high but your conversion rate is low, it is advisable to optimise those pages to better align with your target keywords. Your ads and landing pages will then make sense to visitors who search your keywords.
After reviewing your landing pages, you will need to harvest them for primary, secondary, and tertiary keywords. You should have enough material to put together a comprehensive list of keywords that directly relate to your products and/or services. Don’t forget to define the search intent for your ads as you create this keyword list. This means asking yourself what terms customers use to find your business/ product online.
It's time to establish what action you want your audience to take to move down the conversion funnel as well as how many clicks or conversions you want to gain in a set time.
How to make sure you don’t miss any valuable keywords? Separate your keywords into sections and expand your lists, for example:
Brand related keywords- V-scooters, V-scooter.com, V-scooter shop etc.
Short tail keywords- scooter, scooters, escooter etc.
Long-tail keywords- electric scooter, retro scooter, secondhand scooter etc.
Related terms- hover board, skating etc.
The list size will vary depending on your budget, industry and company type.
Bidding on competitor keywords can easily take up a big portion of your budget, therefore consider it only if you have a substantial amount to spend on Ads and you believe it will be worth the investment.
When considering which keywords to choose for your campaign it is important to think about:
Sometimes it may seem beneficial to bid on root keywords (broad terms describing the topic or subject you want to promote in your PPC campaign) that have higher search volume, compared to very specific long-tail keywords. However, these terms could include products or services that do not describe your offering well and therefore bring users to your website who will not convert.
For example, if you use broad search terms such as 'shoes' users looking for all types of footwear (high heels, boots, flip-flops) will click on your ad, at your expense, but if you only sell hiking shoes, your product won’t be relevant to them.
There is plenty of software out there that can help you decide which keywords to keep and which to avoid. Google Keyword Planner is among the most popular as it is a part of Google Ads and is free to use. It will show you the terms that people are actually typing into search engines, making it more reliable than just your judgment.
The Keyword Planner also shows a “Competition” rank of high, medium, or low. If the score is high it means that more advertisers are bidding on these terms, in turn resulting in having to pay more to get your ad to the top positions.
The sweet spot is finding keywords that are high in volume, but low in competition.
Using keyword search tools will not only help you add new keywords to your list but also remove terms that are too high in competition or too low in volume.
Your keyword strategy will require constant revisions and reviews, which is where a PPC agency is useful as they can keep tabs on the latest search trends in your industry and adjust the campaign accordingly.
Google is further improving its natural language and developing processes. It can now understand syntax, entities, sentiment, conversation and context. All this is in the effort to make it easier for people to get answers based on what they mean, not what they type or speak. Google's research area stats:
"Recent work has focused on incorporating multiple sources of knowledge and information to aid with analysis of text, as well as applying frame semantics at the noun phrase, sentence, and document level." (Google Research, 2021)[1].
Voice Search is a function that allows a user to search the Web using Google through spoken voice commands rather than typing. With the rise of voice led queries, search engines are increasingly able to understand longer strings of words. It is therefore beneficial to include search terms that reflect how people speak. Recent Google statistics show that almost 30% of the online global population is using voice search on mobile [2].
This changes how we do keyword research as voice searches can be more long-tail than traditional searches made on mobiles and computers.
To find out more about Voice Search make sure to read our Voice Search - Should It Play a Part in Your SEO and Marketing Plan article.
Keyword research has a massive impact on PPC campaign performance and it is highly beneficial to spend considerable time putting together a solid keyword strategy, plus constantly assessing and tweaking the search terms you bid on to yield the best results. However, it’s not the only deciding factor.
Consider carefully budget size, research what the expectations are around ad quality and the types of ads you should be serving to your audience. Ensure that before you spend any money on PPC that the landing page is optimised with all the relevant information, keywords and has a clear CTA.
The top quality advice given above is a great place to start your PPC journey, however, if you want to see long term results then make sure to get in touch with our Digital Marketing Team.
If you want further advice on PPC strategy, keyword research or you don't have the time to run effective PPC campaigns for your business, then why not speak to our PPC team who are Google Partners.
For more information on PPC make sure to get in touch.
[1] Google Research. (2021). Natural Language Processing. [online] research.google.com Available at: https://research.google/research-areas/natural-language-processing/ [Accessed 10 Jan. 2022].
[2] Think with Google. (2018). Global Web Index, Voice Search Insight Report, Global Data. [online] thinkwithgoogle.com Available at: https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/marketing-strategies/search/voice-search-mobile-use-statistics/ [Accessed 10 Jan. 2022].
Digital Marketing Executive
Wiktoria lives to create, she is a marketing postgraduate who loves social media and content creation. Customer satisfaction and driving engagement is at the heart of her work. She has worked with different clients including fintechs, affiliate marketing agencies and NGOs for over 3 years to grow their brands, as well as provide them with original and creative content. Since joining Blue Frontier, Tori has focused on content creation and social media marketing.
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