A PPC campaign is only as good as its keyword lists. Knowing how to research for keywords and experiment with modifiers and groupings is becoming an increasingly essential skill for any digital marketer. This is especially true in PPC where the effectiveness of your research will reflect in the directness of your advertising.
There are many moving parts that work into an effective keyword research. But if you’re stuck or are unsure of where to start, here are a few tips to that will get the ball rolling:
- Keep an Eye Out for Opportunities
Researching new keywords should be a constant for any PPC professional. Exploring new markets and experimenting with lists is one of the best ways to maintain a competitive edge over your competition. However, if you’re working with a tight budget, then the frequency of your keyword research may narrow to a few key instances with the account:
- Increase in Budget: An increase in budget is the best time to begin a thorough keyword research. It allows you to experiment without taking money away from successful campaigns.
- Leads from Sales and Marketing: PPC should always strive to work closely with sales and the rest of the marketing team. Especially other professionals that work primarily with search engines like SEO and content development.
- Information from The Field: Analyzing your search queries and scouting the competition is one of the most effective methods of keyword research. Keep a close eye on growing search trends, emerging markets, and changes in your competition for direction.
- Bid on Customer Experiences
One of the biggest challenges in researching keywords is finding where to start. If you feel like you’ve exhausted supplementary keywords for your products and services, branded terms, or competitor terms, then consider experimenting with long-tail keywords that speak to customer experiences.
Long-tail keywords are effective in your campaign because there’s a high chance for originality and they establish a direct line of advertising with customers. For example, bidding on the keyword “shoes” will receive a high diversity of search queries. Perhaps even too much diversity that leads to a diluted focus for your campaigns. However, bidding on “brown dress shoes for boy size 9” is highly specific, and it allows PPC marketers to further segment their campaigns.
When researching for long-tail keywords, look to your search queries for direction. If you’ve been using broad keywords in your campaigns, chances are the search queries will also be broad. If that’s the case, then experiment with experiences. For example, if you’re offering a dog grooming service, then create a list of potential search queries that deal with pain points and desires, like “fast dog groomers downtown” or “small dog groomers and vets”.
- Experiment with Groupings
Well organized keyword lists are divided into Ad Group and Ad Copy topics. This allows PPC marketers to manage their bids and optimize their targeting for the most conversions at the lowest spend. However, dividing keyword lists this way can limit the scope of your creativity.
Consider experimenting with the semantic groupings of your keyword lists to find new topics and targets. For example, “best seo tool” and “best seo service” may have settled under the Best Seo Ad Group topic. However, targets who are searching for tools may not necessarily be interested for services.
Someone who is familiar with SEO enough to search for tools is more mid-funnel with services being top-funnel. These distinctly different targets have enough weight to justify a separation into their own groupings. – “tools” and “services”
Researching keywords is an essential part of expanding your PPC campaigns and claiming footholds into potential markets. Like everything else on the internet, search trends and traffic are rarely static. Your keyword groupings and structures should gradually change to best reflect the needs of your markets overtime.
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