Effectively Selecting Search Terms for Pay Per Click Campaigns
Choosing search terms is one of the most important aspects of a pay per click campaign. The right keywords can make or break any online advertiser’s campaign. Irrelevant keywords can result in low conversions and little exposure to the proper online audience. Therefore advertisers should consider relevancy, spelling, and length when choosing search terms to assure target traffic is directed to their site, increasing the chance of higher sales conversions from their PPC campaign.
Initially Choosing Search Terms
Keywords should accurately portray the business and the product being marketed. First, when choosing search terms advertisers should be specific, while still increasing the span of keywords. There are a few great ways that this can be accomplished. Advertisers should initially review their product line. If one is marketing clothes, include more specific terms that describe your product line, such as pants or jackets. Another way to increase the span of keywords is to consider adding plurals to your list of keywords by submitting keywords like “pants” and “jackets.” Also, advertisers can add descriptive words to the main product name. I.e. When submitting the keyword “jacket” an advertiser could include adjectives to further describe his product by submitting the keywords sets “boys jackets” or “leather jackets” or even “size large jackets.”
Second advertisers should know product trends for their specific online audience. Trends could include a new names or slang terms for products. Let’s say that an advertiser was marketing mascara on the Internet, and a new slang term emerged, naming mascara as “masc.” The advertisers keywords should then include the term “masc” because potential customers would then search the Internet for that term. Slang terms should not replace traditional words or phrases, but simply be included as additional search terms. Although trends change constantly, there are some key facts about target audiences that remain static for certain products. For example, one should consider product user patterns for certain demographic or psychographic groups.
Finally, advertisers should know their end user. Who is interested in the product or service being marketed? Sometimes it helps to apply the right “mood” to search terms. Terms do not have to be the exact name of the product, but they should still be connected to the product. For example, if you are advertising makeup, you could use terms like “beauty tips.” Because a customer searching for beauty tips, might be interested in the products that are related to beauty, such as makeup.
Relevancy Issues
Many common mistakes that occur when choosing keywords relate to relevancy issues. For example, many people submit keywords that describe the individuals that might find a site’s content useful, instead of choosing keywords that target individuals interested in purchasing their product. For example, when submitting keywords for a site like Planetickets.com some might choose to include the keyword “plane retailer.” True, a plane retailer might find it interesting to look at the content on a site that sells tickets for popular airplanes, but he would not actually be searching to buy the plane tickets. A much more relevant keyword and site pairing could be site: Planetickets.com, with a keyword of “plane tickets.” This can better guarantee that the Internet user is searching to buy plane tickets.
Search Term Spelling and Length
Finally when choosing keywords, advertisers should keep spelling and length in mind. When considering length, search terms should not exceed 30-35 characters, which is about four of five words. As for spelling, consider words that are commonly misspelled and then leverage off those misspelled words. An example of a commonly misspelled word is government, which is commonly spelt as goverment. Therefore someone marketing government coins could include “goverment coins” in their keyword list. Other then spellings, advertisers should also consider product abbreviations when compiling a complete keyword list.
Researching Search Terms
Many search advertising firms have research tools, specifically keyword suggestions tools that are available to advertisers who are in the process of creating a campaign. Such firms include Overture and their Bid Suggestion tool, Searchfeed.com with their Keyword Statistics tool, and another firm who specialized specializes in campaign optimization is WordTracker.com. An advertiser can use these tools and include the suggested terms based on actual visitor searches into their keyword lists and incorporate them into product names. Also when researching keywords, advertisers should be conscious of issues surrounding the use of copyrighted terms. Being mindful of using copyrighted terms can helps to avoid sticky legal situations in the future.
Conclusion
Overall, when using search engine marketing, choose your search terms precisely and manage your search terms sensibly. Here are some quick tips for managing your search advertising campaign.
Quick Tips for Choosing Search Terms
- Relevancy is key
- Know the end user
- Increase the span of search terms
- Use the tools made available by your PPC provider
Just remember to keep things relevant for maximum impact to covert to high sales leads, because that is the overall goal of any search marketing campaign!
