How to Find Keywords for Your PPC Campaign?

In the first part of our series on PPC, we explained some basic things about Pay Per Click. And we also defined some terminology you should be familiar with.

One of the most important terms related to PPC is keywords. Our main focus in this article is on –

How to find keywords for PPC?

We will discuss them in greater detail. That is because they are the cornerstone of a great and successful PPC campaign.

What are Keywords?

(how to find keywords for PPC)

Keywords are the basic and the simplest units that make a PPC ad. However, even though they are simple, they are also extremely important for a great PPC ad. Since the purpose of the keywords is to improve the number of clicks on the created PPC ad.

That is why it is very significant to select an appropriate and suitable set of keywords. So you can craft a persuasive and succinct ad that can increase your traffic.

Different keywords can have a unique meaning and purpose. For example, we have usual and typical keywords that are mostly used by regular users. But we also have keywords that are generally used by professional researchers.

Categorizing the Keywords

The main criteria for categorizing and arranging keywords is their efficiency in the PPC ad and they are all classified and arranged in a number of categories (how to find keywords for PPC).

User phrases

The words that are in this category have a tremendous impact on the number of times the PPC ad in question is seen. It is determined by interests and hobbies that users who search the keywords have. They also have the lower conversion rate and higher Cost Per Action (CPA) rate than all the other keyword categories, which means that the user didn’t really want to search for that specific service or product.

Product-complementary phrases

These are the keywords that are used along with the product in question and can even be other product keywords.

Competitor phrases

It was a good idea before to use competitor phrases to boost your CPA, but that has changed in recent times and it is now not possible to increase your CPA this way anymore, so you shouldn’t even try.

Product Phrases

Any service or product that a company provides is placed on the list that falls into this category. It has higher CPA rate than the brand terms do because users that are looking for these keywords are already prepared to take the desired action.

Brand Phrases

These terms will probably not boost your page views or ad clicks, but the users that are searching for these keywords are easier to persuade into taking the desired action. This means that these terms have the highest conversion rate among all other keywords.

Creating a Keyword List

Making your own keyword list is an important part of the PPC process and you should do it with a lot of effort and care.

Building a seed list

The first step in creating your keyword list is making a seed list. This is basically an initial list of the company’s keywords. You can start building this list by marking down six keyword categories in which you will place all the basic keywords. You should focus on the brand and product attributes when you start and then you will need to use a mix of brainstorming and research to properly place the keywords into these six categories.

A great research is the basis of a great seed list. Keep that in mind and do a thorough job, but don’t forget to always focus on the product or service attributes and features that your client or company that hired you is providing.

You need to do extensive research on:

The audience – Use the Internet to find out what are the most common keywords that your targeted users search for when they are looking for a product or a service, as well as what are the everyday terms they search for regarding your client’s service or product.

Search terms used at the moment – Find out what are the most popular search terms at the time that people use to contact the seller by utilizing your analytics tool, Google Webmaster tools, as well as your weblogs.

More suggestions – There are many tools that can be used to suggest keywords for you, like Keyword Planner or Soovie, to name just a few.

Competitors – it is always good to know what your competition is up to, so you can be up to date and ready to respond. Tools like SpyFu or SEMrush can let you see your rivals, just in case you have missed some useful keywords and terms.

SEMrush - how to find keywords for PPC

Expanding the list

After you have thought of a certain number of initial keywords it is time to first expand your list and then, in the end, refine it. When you are expanding it, you will put new keywords in the already existing seed list so you always keep it updated. To do this, you will need to:

  • Look periodically at your client’s web page to see if he has any new or upcoming products or services.
  • Think deeply about the way people discuss the product and its attributes.
  • Recognize specific and keywords that are performing great to eventually add them to your list.
  • Utilize keyword research tools that can provide you with extra suggestions.

Refining the list

Refining your seed list or extended list is important because there is always a chance that you have added a keyword that isn’t performing well or shouldn’t be on the list for any other reason (how to find keywords for PPC).

For example, you will need to eliminate those keywords that are simply not interesting and keep only the best-performing ones. But you also need to be careful not to make a mistake in this step since it can have negative consequences on your existing list.

Use keyword categories to understand the search intent

You need to make sure that you have a good ratio of both audience keywords and product keywords.

You can achieve this by getting rid of some unpopular and not so interesting audience terms and keeping the terms that are greatly related to the products and services.

Take part in Google keyword competition

Google has online tools that are used to rate keyword competition. These keywords can be marked as high or low.

By using these tools you might find some better-performing keywords to add to your list.

Check your results for relevance

When you search your most important keywords in the search engine, pay close attentions to results and suggestions that are shown.

Those terms that don’t have concise and straight meanings should be removed from your list. You can also create a list of possible negative keywords when you see the results.

Organize the keywords semantically

Make sure that your list is organized well and that your keywords are placed in semantical groups.

This means that all similar keywords need to be categorized under one name. So they can be later also used as the PPC Ad Groups.

The length of your keyword list

How long will your keyword list be, depends on few important factors. First, it is related to the complexity of the client’s company.

Second, it is related to the complexity of the client’s services and products. Finally, it also depends on the product or service scope and variety.

Keyword Match Types

Keyword match types show you how related a user’s query is to the keywords offered by the advertiser. Keep in mind that keywords will be matched regardless of the casing. For example, “tablet”, “Tablet” and “TABLET” are all the same in the search engine.

When you employ keyword match types, you are able to determine what searches will trigger your ad. You should be aware that you can have higher conversion rate when the match between a keyword and the user’s query is closer and more precise.

Negative Keywords

Negative keywords can also have a great impact on your PPC ad and they present a significant part of your keyword list. It can be regarded as ad filters since they make sure that the ad doesn’t show up for the selected term. That way, you are sure to reach only the desired and targeted audience.

Negative keywords have many useful functions. For example, they can make sure that you don’t pay for useless clicks. Thus decreasing the average Cost Per Click (CPC) and reducing the investment expenditures. They also stop users from searching for the products that your client is not providing.

Conclusion –

We have reached the end of the (how to find keywords for PPC) second part of the series. And now that you know how to use keywords, the most crucial part of the Pay Per Click campaign. It is time to move along!

All these reasons and some not mentioned should make you schedule a regular, monthly or weekly, addition of negative keywords. They are a significant part of successful PPC campaign and you need to treat them that way.

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