Pay-per-click advertising, also known as PPC, works off the simple premise of keywords. But there’s a lot more that goes into it than just a random bunch of words.
Well-researched keywords form the backbone of any PPC campaign. Without this, you’re setting yourself up to fail.
A large part of PPC keyword research is based on science and algorithms, but also a keen sense of intuition when it comes to your target audience.
Perfect your next PPC campaign with these 7 handy tips on mastering your keyword research.
How to Dominate Your PPC Keyword Research
Your ultimate goal with any PPC campaign is choosing the right keywords to bid on, resulting in increased website traffic and conversions.
Sounds simple, right? But it can be tricky with thanks to Google’s changing algorithms and unpredictable consumer trends.
Here are 7 simple steps to keep in mind when creating your PPC marketing campaign and selecting your PPC keywords…
1. Align Your Keywords with Your Business Goals
Ask yourself what you want to achieve from your PPC campaign. Yes, the end goal is conversions and sales. But holistically, how will your campaign align with your business?
The keywords you use should essentially reflect all the different types of customers that would be attracted to your business.
They should also reflect the different types of search queries that consumers would use.
Overall, this will help in attracting the right kind of traffic and not just any kind of traffic to your website.
2. Think Like Your Customer
You’ll need to put yourself in the shoes of your customer.
Consider where your customers could be from, their background, their demographics and what kind of English they would use.
This tool of thinking will help you to cover all your bases when targeting the right kind of customer for conversions.
3. Begin with Broad Terms
Incorporating broad, generic terms is a good place to start as this helps to cover your bases and gives your ad a higher chance of being seen.
But from here, you’ll need to begin incorporating more specific terms in order to really pin down your target audience and their specific search queries.
For example, you’d begin with a basic search term: ”chocolate muffins”; then move to a more specific term: “gluten-free chocolate muffins”.
4. Include Variations of Keywords
Don’t be afraid to incorporate a range of keywords which are related to your services, but not an exact match.
Google has become adept at making connections between related terms i.e. chocolate muffins and chocolate cakes.
To this end, it’s a good idea to incorporate a few related terms in your keyword list. Consider using shortened forms of words, abbreviations, and plurals.
5. Consider Using Long-Tail Keywords
While we touched on the use of broad, generic terms, it’s also a good idea to consider the use of longer, more detailed search terms.
By this, we mean the use of realistic, specific search terms your customers would actually type into the search bar.
A good example of this would be ”the closest Italian restaurant to me” or ”where can I find the best chocolate muffins?”.
While these longer terms may only produce a handful of clicks a month, they almost always guarantee a conversion as they are very specific.
6. Capitalize on Related Search Topics
Here we’re talking about related topics to what your business specializes in.
Consider products and services which are similar to yours and incorporate search terms based on this into your PPC keywords.
For example, if you sell furniture, keep in mind that your target audience could also be searching for bedding and cushions.
7. Don’t Forget About Negative Keywords
Negative keywords are important because they minimize the chance of your ad being triggered by keywords which aren’t relevant to your business.
Essentially, they help to control your campaign costs and keep your ad targeting as relevant as possible.
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