When talking about search marketing it starts and ends with keywords.
The concept of understanding the keyword the user is searching for and matching it with what your brand is offering has created one of the most successful and profitable companies of all time.
Recently, we have been having a lot of conversations about keywords and how they should be used. I would categorize these into three strategic discussions:
1.Specificity: How detailed should any company get in their keyword list? Example; Running shoes for men with flat feet in the summer vs. Running shoes
2.Campaign Structure: How should these keywords be grouped to be the most effective and map to their corresponding ad copy?
3.Brand vs. Non-brand: Should I be bidding on my branded terms? What is the value of non-branded keywords if they are below my ROI goals?
This article will focus on specificity – how to determine the starting point of your keyword list and then how to refine it using available search query report data that is made available by Google.
Getting started
If this is your first campaign you are running, welcome. If not, then you should skip this section.
There are lots of various keyword tools you can use to help set up your account. While they might be slightly different I find that any are good enough to start with.
I typically use Google’s tool. Enter in your website or some base keywords you know you want included and let the tool derive your list.
From there it is all your own intuition. You won’t know just yet what your results will be and there really isn’t a way to know prior to getting real data how deep you should go, especially considering your product set. You just have to start somewhere.
Some common questions are:
• Are you a local business? If so, including some of those local keyword variations makes sense
• How big is your budget? Your ability to fund a broader keyword list or target the more expxensive head terms will be informed by your budget
• How much volume do your search terms get? If you are in a heavy volume area you might see more volume on larger tail terms that make sense to include.
Starting with some grouped structure that keeps your related keywords together and aligns well with your ad copy and landing page. This is important for relevance and quality score.
Don’t try to overstuff an ad group. If a keyword doesn’t belong, put it where it does, even if it’s alone.
Here is the List:
