Challenges in Choosing Keywords for Pay Per Click (& How To Squash Them). //

While Microsoft and Google have both introduced new tools over the years to help you get your business in front potential customers, I find that Search is still my favorite tool. These users are more likely to be actively searching for solutions to problems than just browsing content, and they have the highest intent of buying.

However, there’s a problem: it can be hard to conduct right paid search campaigns.

Search campaigns are probably the most complicated PPC campaign types. They allow you to control where your ads appear and how you present yourself. However, just like Spiderman’s great power, great responsibility comes with it. I often see accounts where Search campaigns aren’t being treated well.


Keywords are the driving force behind Search campaigns.

This post will cover the best practices for keywords and highlight some common mistakes that account managers make. There is no single solution. I will be sharing my experience with you in these sections. You’ll learn how to approach keywords and set up your Search campaigns for success.

Challenge 1: How many keywords can you include in your account?

It can be difficult to determine how many keywords you should have in your account. However, it is easy. Answer: As many keywords as you need.

How do you know which ones are essential?

Start by doing thorough keyword research. This includes creating a keyword list using keyword search tools such as the following:


Download our free guide!

>> A Big, Easy Guide for Keyword Research

Let’s say I want to promote women’s running shoes. I do keyword research and find the following terms:

Once you have a list of items, it is time to begin culling it. Find the ones that make it into your account structure.

#2 Challenge: Variants, variability and redundant keywords

You may be able to see one thing about this list: Many keywords are very similar with little variation in order or word choice.

There is no difference between “running shoes for women” and “running shoes for women”. This is also true for “women’s nike running sneakers” and “nike shoes for women”. It could be argued, however, that both have “for” and are the same keyword.

I would have received little pushback years ago on including both these keywords in a keyword listing and campaign buildout for clients. With all the Google recommendations expanding to account management tasks, we often see pushback for redundant keywords.

A suggestion may appear in your account that suggests you swap one keyword for another.

This is a problem because it doesn’t take into account actual performance. Google flagged some keywords as redundant, but they perform very differently.

This example shows that the keyword Google wants to me remove has the largest volume and highest conversions. Although the cost/conversion of the other variant is lower, Keyword 2 still meets my account-level goals. If they are the same keyword, why does Keyword 1 miss impression share during the auction? It isn’t being shown at the same speed as Keyword two.

My experience is that if Keyword two was turned off, Keyword one would get a little more volume. Keyword one does not usually take all the impression shares Keyword two loses when it is paused. This is not a good scenario for me.

Suggestion

Although it is contrary to almost all campaign structure suggestions nowadays, I almost always recommend including each “redundant variant” in a new campaign build with one condition: they both have an estimated search volume in Google Keyword Planner.

If both keywords in my example have volume, I would add them both and let the performance play, then only pause one if it wasn’t meeting my goals.

If neither have an estimated volume, or one has very low traffic, I might consider removing it from a new building.

Challenge #3: Head terms or long tail variants?

Pay-per-click advertising is a highly targeted industry. The more specific your keywords, the lower the cost of your ads, and the higher your volume. Keywords with four words or more are considered “long tail” keywords, while keywords with three to three words are “head terms”.

The list of keywords can be seen above. Some keywords make more sense than others.

Although “Running shoes” may sound technically correct for our business model, it is not as precise as we would prefer. This head term is not appropriate for our goal of selling women’s running shoes.

A quick search will usually provide the answer to your question if you are unsure whether a head-term is too broad.

As you can see, “running shoes” has a wide range of results. If we try to target only women’s shoes, it’s likely that this isn’t a good fit.

On the other hand, you might be curious about the use of “best running shoes womens” and “running shoes womens”. While they may seem identical, there are many performance options within these terms.

You can see the Google Ads Keyword Planner to find these variants.

Although they may seem similar, you can make the keyword longer by adding “best” or “for”. This effectively creates a long tail term.

Both have an estimated volume of approximately 50,000 units. However, the costs for long-tail sales are significantly higher.

The five-word tail version, which is a five-word term, is 15% to 56% less than the three-word head terms.

You can take advantage of both the high volume head terms and save a little on specific queries that your longer tail keywords will likely match.

It may seem like keywords are one and the same, but that does not always mean that it is true.

Suggestion

Always add the long tail variants with estimated volume to your account. Google may send you some “redundant keywords” alerts, but the best thing is to let the performance speak for themselves. Later, we’ll discuss how to monitor these keywords to decide whether you want to keep them or make changes.

Challenge #4: Match type myopia

There have been many modifications over the years to how search campaigns work. Exact was precise, Phrase matched phrases only, and Broad was much more broad than it is today.

Many accounts are missing Broad match keywords, either because of lack of knowledge or pressure by Google.

These match types are not the same and you might have success with Search campaigns depending on which one you choose.

Broad match can be very broad and target a lot of search terms that may not be relevant to your business.

Search campaigns are a great success story…

Get our free guide! The All-Star Online Advertising Playbook

You can go beyond the best practices to achieve exceptional performance.

Suggestion

Instead of starting with Broad match keywords I recommend that you start with Phrase or Exact match terms. These are less flexible, but they can give you the same scale as Phrase.

If your team is having good results with them over the next few months, then you can expand into Broad match. However, there are some other things you should do first, and then you can implement best practices that you will find in this.

Challenge #5: Keyword list maintenance

My favorite problem is now solved. They are those who do not pay attention to the notes above and may not have done enough research in the initial campaign build-out. However, they don’t make any ongoing changes to keywords. They have never changed. They are still the same campaigns they were many years ago, when they were first created.

This might not necessarily be a problem if you have a strong performance. However, it is likely that an account set up more than a year ago won’t be performing as well as it did the first day.

What is your performance like? Use the Google Ads Grader to find out!

There are many ongoing maintenance tasks you can do to keep your keywords active and healthy. We’re going to create a second part of this post that covers ongoing optimizations.

In the meantime, here’s a checklist to help you get back on track if you haven’t looked at your keywords in a while.

Suggestion

Part two will be available soon. This part will cover regular maintenance tasks that you should do on your keywords in order to keep your accounts (and lists) healthy and happy.

Keep your keyword health in check

The campaign’s success depends on keyword health. These best practices are recommended. To ensure that you don’t cut your nose with your keyword strategy, please visit the soon-to-be-published ongoing maintenance tasks posting.

The post 5 challenges to choosing keywords for PPC (& how to squash them) was first published on WordStream.

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