Keyword List Generation & Expansion
An accounts success depends on its Keyword Inventory. Keyword Expansion is not simply adding Keywords to your account, it is researching the best ones that describe your products/services and knowing what your competitors are using/bidding on.
There are a lot of Keyword Research Tools in the market, some for free some on a monthly subscription basis which can be used to generate a solid Keyword List. Search for Keyword Research Tools on any of the search engines or simply use tools available through your Google AdWords, Yahoo (Overture), or MSN (AdCenter) accounts.
Segmenting Keyword Expansion:
- Keyword Research: Always research traffic volume for Keywords related to your product/service before adding them to your account - Caution: High volume Keywords are good to bid on, however, be aware of your accounts Conversion Rate, & don’t expect 100% Conversion - which means it is good to be a little conservative when setting Max. PPCs for such high volume terms as they have a tendency to burn through budgets quickly and before you know it, you will end up with a high Negative ROI
- Misspellings: It is good practice to add misspellings to your Keyword List - Example: I have seen conversions from Keywords like caars (cars); & motgage (mortgage)
- Competitive Research: Some Keyword Research Tools show what competitors are bidding on. Good place to begin this would be to use Google Keyword Research Tool and simply adding your competitors domain to generate a lit of Keywords from their website
- Short Tail & Long Tail Keywords: Good strategy to include both, even though more often than not Long Tail Keywords tend to have less volume and therefore lower conversions
Tips on researching Keywords & usability of your list:
- Your Website & Content: Your own website and its content is a great please to get your keyword research started. AdWords allows you to specify a URL that should be used to generate a proposed list
- Competitor’s Website: If you don’t have a website set up already, or are still working on the content, try inputting your competitor’s URL(s) and you will have a great list to begin with
- Usability: Your Keyword list can be used for both Pay Per Click campaigns as well as your SEO campaigns - I will have some information on managing SEO campaigns and generating a keyword list for those campaigns soon
Know your product/service, know your competitor well, and it will help you generate a solid keyword list for your Pay Per Click Advertising as well as Search Engine Optimization Campaigns for all your landing pages and overall SEM efforts.
