Do You Have The Right Keywords For Your Ad Campaign?

Chad Faith
Chad Faith

Director of Content

Ad Campaign

Are you ready to launch your first PPC ad campaign? Before doing so, you will need to have a good idea of the keywords you are going to use. Choosing the wrong keywords can result in a lower level of traffic than expected or attracting the wrong kind of customers to your website. How do you know which keywords to use if it is your first time? Will generic keywords do, or should you go for something more specific? Read on to find out how you can choose the right keywords for your ad campaign in this article.

Start with Brainstorming

If you are completely new to the game, don’t panic. It is easy to come up with a list of keywords before conducting more thorough research and narrowing them down. For starters, think of the broadest category your product or service falls under. This can be something such as “hiking backpacks”. Now that you have got that, narrow it down even further. Maybe you specialize in “lightweight hiking backpacks”. The more specific you can get, the better. Let’s say you end up with “lightweight hiking backpacks with water bladders”. Now, that is something very specific and if a customer were to use that search term, you can bet your product is what they are looking for. This is also known as a long-tail keyword, as opposed to a generic keyword like “hiking backpacks”.

Form Associations

Now that you have got a basic idea of what keywords you should use, think about the terms and phrases associated with it. For instance, “hiking backpacks for women” or you may decide to make use of local PPC such as “hiking backpacks in Tulsa, Oklahoma”. Keep in mind that you may not end up using all these keywords, and that’s okay. This is simply the first part of your research process. If you need help finding keywords, you can turn to these tools:

  • Customer research: Do you know what terms your target market is searching for? Chances are, it’s not what you would use to describe your product or service in the office. Conduct customer research and send out surveys if required.
  • Google Analytics: If you already have Analytics for your site, you can use it to find out what keywords your customers searched for in order tor each your site. It may not show you every single one, but it will give you a pretty good idea.

Make Use of Google Keyword Tool

Google Keyword Tool is built into Google Ads, and you can be assured that the data you receive will be coming from a primary source. Simply click on the Tools icon, select “Keyword Planner” and go to “Planning”. From there, choose “Find New Keywords” and enter one or more select phrases into the bar. It will automatically generate a list of associated keywords alongside important information such as their bid ranges and search volumes. This is a good tool to use after you have conducted your initial research to ensure that you aren’t missing out on anything or overlooked common typos and misspellings. Who knows, you just may come across a keyword you weren’t expecting.

Conduct Competitor Research

Regardless of which industry you are in, chances are, a competitor has already launched a PPC campaign. This can be used to your advantage. Based on the success or failure of their ads, basically, you can get an idea of how certain keywords can help or work against you. There are a handful of third-party apps and websites that allow you to spy on the keywords your competitors are using. From there, you can gain useful insights such as what keywords they are bidding on, how useful they are, the average ad position for any particular keyword and many more. Learning from the failures and successes of the research your competitors have already done can allow your own PPC ad campaign to go as smoothly as possible!

Engage A PPC Digital Marketing Agency

One thing to remember is that running a PPC ad campaign doesn’t stop after the ads have been successfully launched. After all the effort you have gone through identifying the right keywords and conducting research, you will have to monitor the number of clicks, your website traffic, visitor activity, conversion rates and more in order to derive actionable insights. If that sounds like a lot of work, outsourcing these efforts can help. A PPC digital marketing agency are well-versed with all aspects of PPC marketing and can help you with every step of the process, from keyword bidding to landing page design. Outsourcing your marketing efforts is sure to be an investment that will pay for itself quickly.