The selection of right keywords is extremely important for success in the world of Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising.
PPC Keyword Research is used to identify the terms that the target audience are using to find the products or services you offer. The identified keywords or phrases are with high search volume.
In this guide let us explore what PPC Keyword Research is and how to use it to drive high-quality traffic, lower ad costs and improve the overall campaign performance.
What is PPC Keyword Research?
The process of finding and choosing keywords that will cause your PPC ads to appear in search engine results is known as PPC keyword research.
This is an important step in campaign creation and optimization. Because the keywords you select will determine when and where the ads should appear.
PPC keyword research is centered on paid search, as opposed to SEO keyword research, which is more concerned with organic traffic.
This means you are bidding for specific keywords in real-time auctions where advertisers pay for each click they receive on their ads.
Importance of PPC Keyword Research:
The PPC campaign succeeds or fails depending on the selection of the keywords. Here is why it is so important:
- Maximize the Quality Score and Ad Relevance – When ads closely match user queries, search engines like Google provide those with a higher quality score. So, using the right keywords will improve the relevance.
- Reach the Right Audience – Researching keywords helps to learn what search terms that the target audience is using. So, you can show your advertisement to people who are ready to buy or engage.
- Reduce the Cost Per Click (CPC) – Better selection of keywords and relevance helps to lower the CPC. This can be achieved by maintaining high-quality ads and focusing on most relevant search terms.
- Increase Return on Investment (ROI) – By targeting the most relevant keywords, the chances of converting clicks into sales or leads gets increased. This will lead to a better ROI.
Types of PPC Keywords:
It is essential to understand the different types of keyword match types available, when creating a PPC Campaign.
The types of PPC keywords includes,
1.Broad Match Keywords – Broad match keywords trigger the ad when the search query includes any word from the key phrase, in any order. Although it offers a wider reach, it also results in irrelevant clicks.
For Example – The keyword is “Digital Marketing Tools”. The ad will show up for searches like “Digital marketing Strategies” or “Tools for Marketing”
2.Exact Match Keywords – Exact match keywords only trigger ads when a user searches for the exact keyword or close variations. It gives you more control, but limit impressions because of smaller reach.
For Example – “social media tools” will show ads only for searches like “social media tools” or a slight variation like “social media tool.”
3.Phrase match Keywords – When users search for a specific phrase in the exact order, these keywords trigger ads. It includes additional words before or after it.
For Example – The keyword “Marketing Software” trigger ads for “best marketing software” or “marketing software for businesses”
4.Negative Keywords – These stop the ads from appearing in irrelevant searches and help to save on clicks that are unlikely to convert.
For example – For selling premium software, a negative keyword “free” is added to avoid clicks from people looking for free products.
How to conduct effective PPC Keyword Research?
The breakdown of the steps involved in conducting PPC Keyword Research is as follows:
Step 1: Establish Campaign Goals
It is important to clearly define the goals of the campaign before beginning the keyword research.
This sets the foundation for all the keyword strategies. For PPC Campaigns, the common goals include,
- Increasing Brand Awareness – To attract a wider audience, the focus needs to be on targeting broad keywords.
- Lead Generation – For generating leads, pay attention to keywords like “best PPC tools for small businesses” which indicate the intent of the user to take action.
- Driving Direct Sales – Keywords with strong purchase intent, like “buy,” “best price,” or “discount,” are essential for generating direct sales.
When the objectives are clearly defined, the keyword choices are aligned accordingly. This makes sure that the ads speak to the right audience.
Step 2: Make use of Keyword Research Tools
Using Keyword Research tools are important to discover new keyword opportunities, assessing the level of competition and evaluating the search volume.
Some of the widely used tools include:
- Google Ads Keyword Planner – It is a free tool from Google. It helps to find new keywords, estimates Cost Per Click (CPC) and provides search volume data.
- Ahrefs – Ahrefs provides competitor analysis and in-depth keyword metrics.
- UberSuggest – Ubersuggest tool provides search volume, competitor analysis and keyword suggestions.
- SEMrush – SEMrush is an all-inclusive tool. It tracks keyword performance over time, analyzes competitor campaigns and performs researching keywords.
These tools helps us to,
- Analyze competition, search volume and estimate Cost Per Click.
- Identify Long-tail Keywords that can improve the relevance of the campaign.
- Generate new keyword ideas based on seed keywords.
Thus a more thorough understanding of the keyword landscape can be obtained by utilizing a variety of tools.
Step 3: Identify Seed Keywords
Seed keywords are the fundamental terms that can be used as a starting point for the research.
These terms are usually broad and related to the product, service or industry.
For Example, For advertising a Shoe Store, the seed keywords could be “running shoes”, “sneakers” or “sports shoes”
So in order to generate seed keywords,
- List all the terms that are related to the product or service.
- Examine the webpages. Look for ideas in the page content, headlines and product descriptions.
- Analyze the Competitors. Review the competitor ads or websites to identify the common terms.
- Make use of keyword research tools. In order to find the related terms, enter the seed keywords into tools such as Google keyword Planner.
After having the list of seed keywords, begin extending them into long tail keywords which are more specific and relevant.
Step 4: Examine the Keywords of Competitors
Gaining an understanding of the keywords that the competitors are bidding on gives a significant advantage.
Analyzing competitors keywords helps to,
- Identify Gaps – This means finding the high-performing keywords that you have missed, but the competitors are focusing on.
- Understand Strategies – Discover which keywords bring them traffic and how you can compete or find alternatives in a similar niche.
- Benchmark performance – Check how much the competitors are paying for similar keywords.
PPC Competitor Keyword Research Tools help you to find out which keywords the competitors are targeting in their PPC campaigns.
This data helps to refine the keyword strategy, identify opportunities to target less competitive but highly relevant keywords.
Step 5: Organize Keywords into Groups
Organizing the keywords into relevant groups is extremely important to structure the PPC Campaign effectively.
This helps to,
- Make the ads more targeted – Every group of keywords should have a customized landing page and ad copy. This improves the ad relevance.
- Boost Quality Score – Using ad copy and keywords that are closely related, it is possible to raise the quality score. This reduces the Cost Per Click (CPC).
- Optimize Campaign Management – When keywords are grouped, it makes it easier to manage bids, tracking performance and A/B testing.
For more better understanding, consider an example:
To sell a variety of shoes, separate ad groups for “running shoes”, “dress shoes” and “casual sneakers” should be created.
Each ad group should have its own targeted ad copy and landing page. It should also match the intent of the user.
Step 6: Utilize Negative Keywords
Negative Keywords keep your ads from appearing in irrelevant Searchers. By filtering out these terms, the effectiveness of the campaign can be increased and money can be saved.
For Example – For Selling high-end products, the terms like “cheap” or “free” can be added to the negative keyword list.
To find Negative Keywords:
- Analyze the search terms – Examine the actual search terms that brought up your ads to find irrelevant searches.
- Utilize Keyword Research Tools – Depending on your Current list, Some keyword research tools will recommend negative keywords.
- Monitor Performance – Review the campaign regularly. This ensures that the negative keyword list is up to date.
Thus, by using negative keywords the budget is being spent on clicks that are more likely to convert.
Step 7: Refining and Optimizing the Keyword List
After conducting the initial research, the keyword list should be refined and optimized based on performance and search intent.
It includes,
- Expand Long Tail Keywords – Long Tail Keywords have lower search volume, but bring in more qualified traffic with a higher conversion potential.
- Give high-intent Keywords Priority – Consider keywords like “best”, “buy” or “discount”. These keywords indicate a higher intent to purchase or convert.
- Remove under-performing keywords – Track the keywords that have high Cost Per Click but low conversion rate. Eliminate these keywords regularly.
So, regular optimization of the campaign ensures that the campaign remains efficient and aligned with the goals.
Conclusion
PPC Keyword Research is essential to any successful PPC Campaign. So,
- invest time into understand the search behavior of the audience,
- Utilize the right tools and
- Continuously optimize the keywords.
By doing so, you can
- Improve the ad relevance,
- Reduce costs and
- Maximize the Return On Investment (ROI)
Remember that, the selection of right keywords helps to generate traffic and convert that traffic into valuable business outcomes.
