Keywords are center to any Google Adwords campaign and largely determine an account’s success. Keywords in Adwords connect audiences to your website by serving as the bridge between a customer’s need and your product or service.
Choosing the wrong keywords in an Adgroup can lead to low quality scores and ads that stop running. They can also generate low Click-Through-Rates (CTR) or limit goal conversions. If your keywords aren’t helping your target audience find you, then you may be spending your monthly budget on uninterested consumers.
The last thing any organization wants to do is spend money with no returns to show for it.
5 Tips When Adding Keywords in Adwords
Ideally, you’ll want to select keywords in Adwords that fall into a sweet spot—Google deems them relevant to your landing pages and so do consumers. After narrowing down Ad Groups centering around a specific product or service, you’re ready to bring in the keywords. Check out these five simple tips to add new keywords in Adwords.
1. Refer to Landing Pages
If a keyword is unrelated to the landing page you’re linking ads to, its quality score will suffer. Your landing page need to show both Google and the viewer that the searched keyword is relevant. Someone who searches “flower delivery” on Google and lands on a page about “flower vases” probably won’t stick around to buy.
As an example, say Markitors is using Google Adwords to advertise PPC services. For a landing page, it would make sense to link to the page specifically about our PPC advertising (pictured in the screenshot below). To find related keywords that will fit the bill, scan through the page to find repeated words closely connected to the service. In this example, a quick look tells us that “pay per click advertising” is a strong contender.
We could assume that “per per click advertising” would have a high quality score, decent CTR, and would lead interested clients to the right place based off what they search.
2. Use Adwords Search Terms
Search Terms in Adwords reveals what users input into their search browser that triggers your ad for a selected period of time. If you find there are specific query phrases that have a high CTR and are relevant to your Ad Group, then you should add them. An even better indicator of a valuable keyword to add is the conversion rate. If you have conversions set up in your Adwords account, keep an eye for any Search Terms that are completing goals.
In the example below, the Search Terms for the previous seven days list a few potential keywords. Before getting trigger happy and adding all terms, check to see if any variation of these words have already been added as modified broad match, phrase match, etc. Also, be sure the words fit the Ad Group’s focus.
BONUS: Can you spot the negative keyword to exclude for this IT management company?
3. Research Competitors on Adwords Keyword Planner
Thinking of adding a keyword in Adwords, but not sure on how it’ll measure up to the competition? Keyword Planner is a free tool within Adwords that lets you anticipate each keyword’s performance. This tool generates a list of related keywords after you type in a phrase suggestion.
You can then compare search volume, competition, ad impression share, and the estimated cost to show your ad at the top of the search result page. Of course, the Keyword Planner will also notify you if a keyword is already in your account.
4. Check Search Volume
Keywords in Adwords will only run if they have a high enough search volume. Google measures search volume using the past 12 months, so this can change as keywords lose or gain popularity. A free tool to check search volume before adding them to Adwords is the Keywords Everywhere plugin. The plugin runs on the background of your internet browser and can be turned off when not in use.
This plugin is free and highlights search volume, average cost per click, and competition right under each query in the search bar. In addition to Google, Keywords Everywhere also works on Bing, Amazon, Youtube and other sites.
5. Google Search With Autocomplete
What are others looking up? This straightforward way to pick keywords in Adwords just requires a Google search bar and a starting word. Once you start typing in a few words that you may be interested in, Google will suggest some popular long-tailed keywords.
Chances are the auto-generated keywords are common searches, so search volume won’t be an issue. To be extra sure, you can check search volume with the Keywords Everywhere plugin.
Using this method can also hint at keywords to add to your negative keyword list. For example, let’s say you own an online printing company that covers most services except for photo. If you want to add a broad match or modified broad match keyword containing “online printing”, you should be aware that “photo” can come up. Based on the autocomplete results above, it’s a good idea to add “photo” as a negative keyword.
