Effective Keyword Research for PPC Campaigns: Tips and Tools
Keyword research is the real cornerstone of any successful PPC campaign. It helps advertisers understand what their customers are searching for and it allows them to align their offerings accordingly.
93% of the time, an online session begins by someone searching keywords on a search engine so by implementing the right keywords into your strategy, your business can increase exposure within the SERPS, earn more traffic, and boost conversions and sales.
In the following post, we'll guide you through some of our favourite tips and tools to enhance your PPC campaigns and ensure they're as powerful as they can be.
Our top tips for keyword research:
Get to know your audience: Before starting your keyword research, it's essential you have a real understanding of your target audience. What are their needs? What are their interests? How might they phrase their searches? This understanding will help you anticipate and match the search queries they are likely to use.
Analyse your competitors: Analysing your competitors' keywords for PPC campaigns will provide you with insights into market trends, will help you identify gaps in your strategy, and will reveal successful keywords that could improve your campaign's effectiveness. Understanding what others in your industry are targeting also allows you to optimise your keyword strategy, potentially leading to a better ROI and a stronger competitive position.
Use long-tail keywords: Short, generic keywords may have a high search volume, but these typically face lots of competition and offer lower conversion rates. In contrast, long-tail keywords—lengthier and more detailed phrases—tend to attract more qualified traffic, leading to better conversion rates. In fact, keywords that are roughly 10-15 words long get 1.76x more clicks than single-word terms. So, with fewer advertisers going after these specific terms, the cost per click tends to be more affordable, which means a greater return on investment.
Understand user intent: Keywords can be informational, navigational, or transactional. Understanding user intent in your keyword research is crucial because it helps you tailor your strategy to the particular objectives and requirements of prospective customers. Understanding the purpose behind search queries will also help you create ads that are more focused, better address user needs, and increase the likelihood of conversion.
Incorporate negative keywords: Adding negative keywords to your PPC strategy enhances efficiency and reduces costs. These keywords will stop your ads from showing on irrelevant searches, cutting down on wasted spend and helping your ads reach the most engaged audiences. By eliminating irrelevant traffic, you'll not only conserve your budget and attract higher-quality visitors, you'll also boost your CTR and improve conversions.
Our top tools for keyword research:
Google Keyword Planner: a free tool offered by Google Ads that provides data on keyword search volume, competition, and trends. It's a great starting point for any PPC keyword research.
SEMrush: a comprehensive tool that offers detailed insights into the keywords your competitors are using, their position in search engines, and the traffic they’re receiving.
Ahrefs: Known for its backlink analysis capabilities, Ahrefs also offers extensive keyword research tools that show you the keywords' ranking difficulty, search volume, and the potential traffic you could receive by incorporating a given keyword.
Ubersuggest: a simple and user-friendly tool that provides insights into the search volume, competition, and even seasonal trends of keywords.
Moz Keyword Explorer: Moz offers keyword suggestions, SERP analysis, and search volume data. Its unique feature is the "Organic CTR" score which estimates the click-through rate of the keywords.
Keyword research is an ongoing process that will have a significant impact on the success of your PPC campaigns. Our tips and tools above will help you can attract more qualified traffic, increase your conversion rate, and ultimately, achieve a better return on your investment.