PPC Keywords: The Ultimate FAQ Guide

Why are keywords important?

Keywords are the foundation of a successful paid search program. A list of keywords that have been customized and curated for your business will target the users who are actively looking for the product or service that you provide.

How do keywords target users?

 Keywords target users by determining user intent. There are three kinds of intent that a user may have when conducting a search:

Informational: When the user enters a search query with the intent of learning more about a topic

Navigational: When the user enters a search query with the intent of arriving at a particular website or webpage

Transactional: When the user enters a search query with the intent of taking a particular action, like making a purchase

Users that have transactional intent are very valuable; they have made their way through the awareness, interest and consideration phases of the marketing funnel (as pictured below) and are much closer to a making a purchase. A carefully thought-out keyword list will target these high-value users.

But, it doesn’t stop there. The Search Demand Curve demonstrates the general search volume of the keywords for any particular product or service.

The graph is broken into two parts: a fat head (in green) and a long tail (in orange). The keywords falling in the “fat head” are generic and have very high search volume; for example, these keywords could include “cookie” or “chocolate chip cookie”. Because these keywords are generic and have a high search volume, they are very competitive and are less valuable because the search intent is not clear; we don’t know if the user wants to find a recipe, learn about the history or purchase cookies.

The keywords falling in the long tail are lower search volume but are extremely targeted; for example, these keywords could include “cookie delivery austin tx” or “deliver cookies near me”. These words are less competitive because there is a lower search volume and are also extremely valuable because the intent of the user is clear; they want to purchase cookies near their current location.

A well-thought-out keyword list will not just target keywords that have a high search volume, but rather, will target the highly valuable long tail keywords that exhibit a clear search intent.

Why not just use a keyword list creator?

A carefully crafted keyword list will include many variations of keywords, so sometimes a keyword list creator is a good place to start in helping to identify additional variations. However, keyword list creators generally create lists of generic, high search volume keywords; these keywords are very competitive and do not exhibit the search intent of users. Therefore, these keywords will be expensive and will not produce good results in your paid search program. It is necessary to hand-curate lists of keywords that target the highly valuable long tail keywords that exhibit a clear search intent. These keywords will give you “more bang for your buck” because they are less competitive (meaning that, in general, they are less expensive) and highly targeted, which will bring the right users to your site.

What is the difference between a keyword and a search query?

A search query is what a user types when they go to Google (or any other search engine). On the other hand, keywords are words, or phrases of words, in your paid search program that are meant to target the search queries that users type in Google (or other search engines).

Do my keywords need to match the search queries exactly?

 A good keyword list that has been carefully researched will include many variations of terms or phrases that users may look for. Search Engines (Google, Bing, etc.) will take your keyword list into account when a search is made by a user and will decide whether or not your ads should be shown depending on how relevant your keywords are. Therefore, it is not a necessity to make your keywords a word-for-word match of user search queries (although this can be done for strategic reasons using match types if desired). The closer your keyword or keyword phrase is to the search query that is being made, the better the results; the cost per click will tend to be lower and the user intent will be highly relevant, resulting in a more qualified lead coming to your site at a lower cost. It is important to continuously monitor the search queries that are being made so that relevant queries can be added to your paid search program as keywords; this optimizes your paid search program. Over time, optimizing your program will lower your costs and increase your ability to target high-quality users, producing even better results.

What if I don’t want to show up for certain terms or queries?

A negative keyword list, which is a second list of keywords that includes variations of unwanted search terms, should be created and should be consistently maintained to prevent your ads from showing up for irrelevant terms or queries, which wastes your marketing dollars. According to Google, 15% of search queries are new and have never be searched for; for this reason, it is important to consistently monitor the search queries that are triggering your ads to add unwanted terms to the negative keyword list (as well as add additional high-quality terms to the keyword list) to keep your paid search program efficient and effective.

How long should my list of keywords be?

The length of your keyword list will depend on your business. It is not possible to designate a “correct” length of keywords and assume that this will apply to every business who wants to run paid search advertising. Rather, the product or services that you want to advertise for should be taken into account and relevant variations of high-quality keywords should be included when conducting research.

What are match types and how are they used?

Keyword match types are conditions that you can place on a keyword that tell the search engine how restrictive (or “picky”) you want the search engine to be when showing your ads. There are currently four match types:

Broad Match: This is the default match type for keywords. For this match type, your ads can be triggered when a user types in a search query that includes any word in your keyword phrase, and in any order. Therefore, this is the least restrictive (a.k.a. the least picky) match type, meaning that it will reach the largest amount of users.

Broad Match Modified: This match type is similar to broad match, but allows you to specify words in your keyword phrase that must appear in the user’s search query by using a “+” in front of the words that you want to “lock”.

Phrase Match: This match type is quite a bit more restrictive than the two previous match types (Broad Match and Broad Match Modified) because it requires a user to search for the keywords in the exact order that they appear in your keyword phrase; however, the user can and include words before or after the keyword phrase.

Exact Match: This is the most restrictive match type, requiring the user to enter the keyword phrase exactly as it appears in your keyword list; if the user adds additional words, or the words are not in the correct order then your ad will not be eligible.

There are multiple factors that determine which match types to utilize in your paid search program. It is very important to analyze historical performance when determining whether or not to change a keyword’s match type. For example, what search queries have triggered your ads to be shown for a particular keyword, and are these search queries relevant? In addition, what is the average cost per click? Match types should be utilized strategically with the goal of improving your targeting and reducing wasted clicks.

The bottom line:

Keywords are an integral piece of the framework that makes up your paid search program. Understanding the complexities having to do with designing your keyword lists can be the difference between a program that produces excellent results and efficiently spends marketing dollars and a so-so program that leaves too much on the table.